  Software effort estimation at early stages of project development holds great
significance for the industry to meet the competitive demands of today's world.
Accuracy, reliability and precision in the estimates of effort are quite
desirable. The inherent imprecision present in the inputs of the algorithmic
models like Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) yields imprecision in the output,
resulting in erroneous effort estimation. Fuzzy logic based cost estimation
models are inherently suitable to address the vagueness and imprecision in the
inputs, to make reliable and accurate estimates of effort. In this paper, we
present an optimized fuzzy logic based framework for software development
effort prediction. The said framework tolerates imprecision, incorporates
experts knowledge, explains prediction rationale through rules, offers
transparency in the prediction system, and could adapt to changing environments
with the availability of new data. The traditional cost estimation model COCOMO
is extended in the proposed study by incorporating the concept of fuzziness
into the measurements of size, mode of development for projects and the cost
drivers contributing to the overall development effort.
