Using simulation to analyse the impact of software requirement volatility on project performance

During the last decade, software process simulation has been used to address a variety of management issues and questions. These include: understanding; training and learning; planning; control and operational management; strategic management; process improvement and technology adoption. This paper presents a simulation model that was developed to demonstrate the impact of unstable software requirements on project performance, and to analyse how much money should be invested in stabilising software requirements in order to achieve optimal cost effectiveness. The paper reports on all steps of model building, describes the structure of the final simulation model, and presents the most interesting simulation results of an industrial application. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.