A multi-stage fuzzy-grey approach to analyzing software development cost

Abstract

Analysis of software development cost is an important issue for both the academic and the commercial circles. There have been many methods proposed to analyze benefits and costs of software development. However, in practical applications, these methods are usually not applicable owing to various unpredictable factors, such as depression, which may affect the budget of software development, the changes of computer techniques, which may affect the cost of software development, and the adoption of different management concept, which may affect the enterprise's willingness of investing in software development. On the other hand, it is hoped that software development cost could be controlled appropriately while considering multiple requirements. In this paper, we proposed a Multi-Stage Fuzzy-Grey (MSFG) method to cope with these problems. A case study for the development of an e-training system is also given to demonstrate the benefits of our approach. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.