Effort estimation methods for ERP projects based on function points

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems evolve at a rapid pace based on customer and industry expectations. As a result, historic project data for these kinds of projects lose their value especially for analogy based estimation methods. In this rapidly evolving domain, function point based methods might provide a sound alternative for ERP effort estimation. This paper presents the results obtained by applying three methods published in the literature in which function points are used as an input for ERP effort estimation. The evaluation of these methods with respect to their measurement processes and estimation errors are presented; their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.