Abstract This paper describes an intelligent computerized tool designed to aid managers of software development projects in planning, managing and controlling the development process of medium‐ to large‐scale software projects. Systems dynamics is used to model and simulate the dynamic process of software development. The software development process is affected by some imprecise and vague variables that are treated as fuzzy variables. The simulation model is integrated with two expert systems. The fuzzy input variables to the system dynamics simulation model are handled by an input expert system having fuzzy logic. This expert system is designed to check the consistency of input variables. The simulation results are analysed by an output expert system having fuzzy logic. This expert system is designed to make recommendations based on experimentation with the simulation model.

The authors describe an intelligent tool designed to aid managers of software development projects in planning, managing, and controlling the development process of medium- to large-scale software projects. Its purpose is to reduce uncertainties in the budget, personnel, and schedule planning of software development projects. It is based on dynamic models for the software development and maintenance life-cycle process. This dynamic process is composed of a number of time-varying, interacting developmental phases, each characterized by its intended functions and requirements. System dynamics is used as a modeling methodology. The resulting software life-cycle simulator (SLICS) and the hybrid expert simulation system of which it is a subsystem are described.>