Effort Estimation Practice Exam

About Effort Estimation
Effort estimation is the process of forecasting how much effort is required to develop or maintain a software application. This effort is traditionally measured in the hours worked by a person, or the money needed to pay for this work.

Effort estimation is used to help draft project plans and budgets in the early stages of the software development life cycle. This practice enables a project manager or product owner to accurately predict costs and allocate resources accordingly.

The estimation is a process to find the most accurate sizing figure for the software project effort, for example, how many months you will need to develop the software, how many resources you will need to finish the project in the required time. And this translated to money at the end.

As mentioned the estimation is a process and this process contains the following steps to reach the estimate, this process is cycling until you reach the final estimate for the project.

The estimation process consists of following steps
•    Scoping - You need first to scope the project even if you do not have the full detailed requirements but you can assume some of them or add margins later.
•    Decomposition - In this step, you will need to break your software into smaller components and functions and you can categorize them to a different set of elements, similar to work breakdown structure.
•    Sizing - In this step, the actual estimation will be done for each component alone.
•    Expert and Peer Review - Ask for expert opinion for some new functionalities you may not aware off, or for considering a review from your peers that you have done the correct estimation.
•    Estimation Finalization - This can be considered the final step as you aggregate all the estimations from all components and functions and have a baseline estimate. You can go another round across the process until reaching the correct estimate which will be approved by the Project team and the Management as well.

Effort Estimation has gained immense popularity across the globe resulting in huge demand for certified professionals.

Why is Effort Estimation important?
The estimation is important because it gives the project team some confidence about the required effort and time to plan ahead for the project. Moreover, not all software projects is time and material contracts, some of them are fixed cost projects and this estimate will be used as a foundation to negotiate the project cost.

Teams tend to be overly optimistic in their estimates, teams fail to re-estimate when something changes, and point estimates are done instead of ranges.
Estimation does not have to be difficult, onerous, or ineffective. Done right, it can be highly effective tools that can help project managers provide value to their organizations.

Certified Effort Estimation professionals, executives and managers are in high demand in companies across the globe.

Important Concepts for Effort Estimation Practice Exam

• Strategic Management
• Project Planning
• Estimation Techniques
• Effort Estimation
  

Who should take the Effort Estimation Exam?
•    Senior project  professionals
•    Business owners or Entrepreneurs
•    Anyone who wants to assess their estimation skills
•    Project managers and senior executives
•    Project management consultants
•    Anyone interested in the efforts estimation

Effort Estimation Practice Exam Objectives

Effort Estimation exam focuses on assessing your skills and knowledge in estimation of efforts.

Effort Estimation Practice Exam Pre-requisite

There are no prerequisites for the Effort Estimation exam. Candidate should be well versed  in estimation of efforts to clear the exam.

Effort Estimation Certification Course Outline

1. Strategic Management
1.1 Strategic Management
1.2 Innovation Management
1.3 Change Management
1.4 Project Leadership

2. Project Planning
2.1 Project Stakeholders
2.2 Developing Project Charter
2.3 Project Scoping
2.4 Project Budgeting
2.5 Project Feasibility

3. Estimation Techniques
3.1 Analogy based estimation/Top down estimation
3.2 Expert Judgment
3.3 Compartmentalization
3.4 Three point estimate
3.5 Reverse Analysis
3.6 Cost estimate
3.7 Delphi method
3.8 Documenting estimation results
3.9 Educated assumptions
3.10 Examining historical data
3.11 Identifying dependencies
3.12 Parametric estimating
3.13 Risk assessment
3.14 Structured planning

4. Effort Estimation
4.1 Estimation error
4.2 Use the estimated effort in pricing, budgeting and planning of software projects.
4.3 Collect and use historical data
4.4 Prediction markets
4.5 Expert estimation
4.6 Assessment of the uncertainty of effort estimates
4.7 Combination of estimates
4.8 Select and tailor estimation methods
4.9 Quality assure effort estimates and processes

Exam Format and Information
Certification name – Effort Estimation Certification
Exam duration – 60 minutes
Exam type - Multiple Choice Questions
Eligibility / pre-requisite - None
Exam language - English
Exam format - Online
Passing score - 25
Exam Fees  - INR 1199