The software development organization should establish a staff that is thoroughly trained in the use of the tools. This staff should do all the software estimating activities and determine what data should be collected to provide a historical database for future reference. The use of two or more software estimating tools using different methodologies is recommended. The software development organization should select a primary tool for software estimating and an alternate tool for comparison and validation. These tools should be used throughout the software development process.
Outputs are repeatable and formulas can be analyzed.
They can be customized to fit the user's environment. They require minimal time and effort to use. They are particularly useful in earlier phases of software development.