Comments on: Software Cost Estimation With Use Case Points – Free Excel Spreadsheet

By: Living in the Tech Avalanche Generation » Silverlight and Model View Presenter (is it a realistic option?)

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:04:20 +0000

[...] estimations for real world projects and in so doing I will be able to remove the dependence on the spreadsheet that currently manages this task for me. As it stands today, the project details tab has it’s [...]

By: Living in the Tech Avalanche Generation » ASP.Net only for line of business? [Silverlight baby, Silverlight - Part 1]

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:23:53 +0000

[...] Case Estimation spreadsheets are available on the Internet and the expression of the activity itself is well suited to a [...]

By: Living in the Tech Avalanche Generation » Point Case Estimation techniques work for Agile Projects.

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:41:32 +0000

[...] Also you can download a spreadsheet that performs the calculations to provide your estimate from here. [...]

By: Scott Sehlhorst

Scott Sehlhorst — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:35:17 +0000

Rodrigo, great question, and welcome to Tyner Blain.

The ratio – 28 hours per use case point, is a realistic, but otherwise arbitrary number. It can absolutely be changed.

Here’s the approach I suggest.
1) Estimate use case points for your project.
2) Use a ratio, say 28, as a “best guess” to project estimated hours
3) Track the hours spent on the project.
4) Use the actual value (from 3) and the estimate (from 1) to compute an updated ratio.
5) Use the updated ratio, for your team, for your next project, and repeat steps 1-4.

You should also review to determine if your estimates (per 1) were off, and include that feedback loop so that you get better estimates of the number of use case points. Over time, your ability to estimate / predict will improve.

By: Rodrigo

Rodrigo — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:25:46 +0000

How can the ratio number be defined ?
What kind of information should I base it on ? I don’t understand it. How did you come up with 28 ?