ABSTRACT Methodology In this research, we conducted a case study to establish a foundation for size measurement and effort estimation in DWH projects. We first applied a productivity‐based estimation approach using linear regression with the ISBSG repository to assist organizations without historical data. We then evaluated various machine learning algorithms to improve estimation accuracy. Finally, we tested a combined model that integrates both approaches for estimating effort in external projects. Results Using the ISBSG dataset, linear regression models based on productivity achieved a Mean Magnitude of Relative Error (MMRE) of 0.285. Machine learning algorithms improved accuracy by 22.81%, reducing the MMRE to 0.220. The final model, applied to external projects, yielded MRE values between 0.010 and 0.245. Conclusion The ISBSG repository is a valuable resource for effort estimation in DWH projects. Combining productivity‐based estimation with machine learning enhances accuracy and predictive performance, making it a more reliable approach than traditional models.

Software Size Measurement (SSM) plays an essential role in software project management as it enables the acquisition of software size, which is the primary input for development effort and schedule estimation. However, many small and medium-sized companies cannot perform objective SSM and Software Effort Estimation (SEE) due to the lack of resources and an expert workforce. This results in inadequate estimates and projects exceeding the planned time and budget. Therefore, organizations need to perform objective SSM and SEE using minimal resources without an expert workforce. In this research, we conducted an exploratory case study to predict the functional size of software project requirements using state-of-the-art large language models (LLMs). For this aim, we fine-tuned BERT and BERT_SE with a set of user stories and their respective functional size in COSMIC Function Points (CFP). We gathered the user stories included in different project requirement documents. In total size prediction, we achieved 72.8% accuracy with BERT and 74.4% accuracy with BERT_SE. In data movement-based size prediction, we achieved 87.5% average accuracy with BERT and 88.1% average accuracy with BERT_SE. Although we use relatively small datasets in model training, these results are promising and hold significant value as they demonstrate the practical utility of language models in SSM.

Effort estimation is a fundamental task during the planning of software projects. Prediction models usually rely on two essential factors: software size and effort data. Measuring the size of the software can be done at various stages of the project with desired accuracy. Nevertheless, the industry faces challenges when it comes to collecting reliable actual effort data. Consequently, organizations encounter difficulties in establishing effort prediction models. Benchmarking datasets are available, but, in most cases, they have huge variances that make them less useful for effort prediction. In this study, we aimed to answer whether creating a software benchmarking dataset is possible by gathering the data from the literature. To the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive dataset that gathers the functional size and effort data of the studies from the literature is unavailable. For this purpose, we performed a systematic literature review to find studies that include projects measured with the COSMIC Functional Size Measurement (FSM) method and the related effort. As a result, we formed a dataset including 337 records from 18 studies that shared the corresponding size and effort data. Although we performed a limited search, we created a larger dataset than many datasets in the literature. In light of our review, we obtained that most studies did not share their dataset, and many lacked case details such as implementation environment and the scope of software development life cycle activities included in the effort data. We also compared the dataset with the ISBSG repository and found that our dataset has less variation in productivity. Our review showed the applicability of creating a software benchmarking dataset is possible by gathering the data from the literature. In conclusion, this study addresses gaps in the literature through a cost-free and easily extendable dataset.

Abstract Industry 4.0 changes traditional manufacturing relationships from isolated optimized cells to fully integrated data and product flows across borders with its technological pillars. However, the transition to Industry 4.0 is not a straightforward journey in which organizations need assistance. A well‐known approach that can be utilized during the early phases of the transition is to assess the capability of the organization. Maturity models are frequently used to improve capability. In this systematic literature review (SLR), we analyzed 22 maturity and readiness models based on 10 criteria: year, type, focus, structure, research methodology followed during the design of models, base frameworks, tool support, community support, objectivity, and extent of usage in practice. Our SLR provides a well‐defined comparison for organizations to choose and apply available models. This SLR showed that (1) there is no widely accepted maturity/readiness model for Industry 4.0, as well as no international standard; (2) only a few models have received positive feedback from the industry, whereas most do not provide any practical usage information; and (3) the objectivity of the assessment method is controversial in most of the models. We have also identified a number of issues as open research areas for assessing readiness and maturity models for Industry 4.0.

Software project management plays an important role in producing high-quality software, and effort estimation can be considered as a backbone for successful project management. Size is a very significant attribute of software by being the only input to perform early effort estimation. Even though functional size measurement methods showed successful results in effort estimation of traditional data-centric architectures such as monoliths, they were not designed for today’s architectures which are more service-based and decentralized such as microservices. In these new systems, the event concept is highly used specifically for communication among different services. By being motivated by this fact, in this study, we looked for more microservice-compatible ways of sizing microservices using events and developed a method accordingly. Then, we conducted an exploratory case study in an organization using agile methods and measured the size of 17 Product Backlog Items (PBIs) to assess how this proposed method can be useful in effort estimation in microservices. The implication from the case study is that despite performing a more accurate effort estimation using the proposed size measurement than COSMIC, we were unable to significantly outperform using the total number of events. However, our suggested approach demonstrated to us a different way to use software size in terms of events, namely, to determine the coupling complexity of the project. This finding can be beneficial specifically when evaluating the change requests.

Functional size measurement (FSM) methods, by being systematic and repeatable, are beneficial in the early phases of the software life cycle for core project management activities such as effort, cost, and schedule estimation. However, in agile projects, requirements are kept minimal in the early phases and are detailed over time as the project progresses. This situation makes it challenging to identify measurement components of FSM methods from requirements in the early phases, hence complicates applying FSM in agile projects. In addition, the existing FSM methods are not fully compatible with today’s architectural styles, which are evolving into event-driven decentralized structures. In this study, we present the results of a case study to compare the effectiveness of different size measures: functional -COSMIC Function Points (CFP)-, event-based - Event Points-, and code length-based - Line of Code (LOC)-on projects that were developed with agile methods and utilized a microservice-based architecture. For this purpose, we measured the size of the project and created effort estimation models based on three methods. It is found that the event-based method estimated effort with better accuracy than the CFP and LOC-based methods.

Organizations may create a sustainable competitive advantage against competitors by using data warehouse systems with which they can assess the current status of their operations at any moment. They can analyze trends and connections using up-to-date data. However, data warehouse projects tend to fail more often than other projects as it can be tough to estimate the effort required to build a data warehouse system. Functional size measurement is one of the methods used as an input for estimating the amount of work in a software project. In this study, we formed a measurement basis for DWH projects in an organization based on the COSMIC Functional Size Measurement Method. We mapped COSMIC rules on two different architectures used for DWH projects in the organization and measured the size of the projects. We calculated the productivity of the projects and compared them with the organization’s previous projects and DWH projects in the ISBSG repository. We could not create an organization-wide effort estimation model as we had a limited number of projects. As an alternative, we evaluated the success of effort estimation using DWH projects in the ISBSG repository. We also reported the challenges we faced during the size measurement process.

Abstract Mobile devices and accessing the web have become essential in our daily lives. However, their limitations in terms of both hardware such as the battery, and software capabilities can affect the user experience such as battery drain. There are some best practices for the web page design that are shown to affect the downloading time of web pages. In this study, we report our experience in applying these practices to see their effect on energy saving. We propose two techniques: (1) concatenating external script and stylesheet files and (2) minifying external script and stylesheets that can be used to transcode web pages to improve energy consumption on the client‐side and therefore improve the battery life. We present our experimental architecture, implementation, and a systematic evaluation of these two techniques. The evaluation results show that the proposed techniques can achieve approximately 12% processor energy‐saving and 4% power saving in two different client types, 13% improvement in a typical laptop battery life, and 4% improvement in a typical mobile phone battery life.

The rapidly developing internet infrastructure together with the advances in software technology has enabled the development of cloud-based modern web applications that are much more responsive, flexible, and reliable compared to traditional monolithic applications. Such modern applications require new software design paradigms and architectures. Microservice-based architecture (MSbA), which aims to create small, isolated, loosely-coupled applications that work in cohesion, becoming widespread as one of these approaches. MSbA allows the developed applications to be deployed and maintained separately, as well as scaled on demand. However, there is no de facto method for the analysis and design of systems for these architectures. In this paper, we compared the usefulness of the object-oriented (OO) and event-oriented (EO) approaches for analyzing and designing MS-based systems. More specifically, we performed an exploratory case study to analyze, design, and implement a software application dealing with the ‘application and evaluation process of graduate students at IzTech’. This paper discusses the results of this case study. We observe that the EO approaches have significant advantages with respect to the OO approaches.