10.6 SW-CMM Breakeven Point Methodology

10.2 SW-CMM Benefit Methodology

The benefit methodology for the Software Capability Maturity Model is a procedure to measure, quantify, and analyze the amount of money returned. The Software Capability Maturity Model results in higher productivity and quality, resulting in lower development and maintenance costs. The benefit is the economic value of using the Software Capability Maturity Model to create a new and improved software process. Its benefit methodology is a three-part process that consists of estimating test costs, total life cycle costs of testing, and benefits. Its benefit methodology consists of a variety of defect models used in combination. Key elements include the test cost model and the total life cycle cost model. Some of the benefits are due to increased productivity, resulting in up to a 50% decrease in software development costs. Increased productivity is factored into the total life cycle cost model. These are used to compare the total life cycle costs of software testing to those of the Software Capability Maturity Model . Figure 48 illustrates the benefit methodology for the Software Capability Maturity Model .

Figure 48: Benefit Methodology for Software Capability Maturity Model

Estimate test cost (baseline) for SW-CMM : The objective of this activity is to estimate the cost of removing the maximum number of software defects using software testing. This substep includes: estimate post-test defects (baseline) for SW-CMM and estimate baseline test cost ( projected ) for SW-CMM .

Estimate total life cycle cost (test) for SW-CMM : The objective of this activity is to estimate software development and maintenance costs associated with using software testing. This substep includes: estimate total software cost (test) for SW-CMM , estimate total test cost (test) for SW-CMM , and subtract total test from software cost for SW-CMM .

Estimate benefits (projected) for SW-CMM : The objective of this activity is to compare software development and maintenance costs of testing and SW-CMM . This substep includes: subtract total life cycle cost of SW-CMM from test for SW-CMM .