2020 SCAF/ICEAA Virtual Workshop: Carol Dekkers and Maryam Farsi

The Future of IT & Software Estimating
Carol Dekkers
Webinar Presentation: Tuesday December, 1, 2020 at 4pm GMT/11am EST

Wouldn’t it be fun to have a crystal ball to predict the future of IT and software estimating? In this presentation, Carol Dekkers takes us on a roller coaster ride of prognostications based on where we’ve been, what’s going well today and what trends are on the horizon. Let’s have some fun connecting the dots between the world today and where we might end up in the future with ICEAA and IT and software estimating.

Carol Dekkers, PMP, CFPS (Fellow), P.Eng, CSM, is CEO of Quality Plus Technologies, Inc. and is the lead author of the forthcoming ICEAA Software Estimating Body of Knowledge (SCEBoK). She specializes in working with companies who want to succeed with software measurement and functional size measurement. She is a co-author of several textbooks (The IT Measurement Compendium: Estimating and Benchmarking Success with Functional Size Measurement; Program management toolkit for software and systems development; Practical Software Project Estimation; and others,) and is a frequent speaker worldwide on estimating, measurement, ISO standards, project management, communication and quality. Ms Dekkers is a Past-president and former Director of Communications and Marketing for the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG). She is also a U.S. expert on the USNB delegation to ISO/IEC SC7 software engineering standards.

An Ontology-based Cost Modelling Approach for High-Value Manufacturing
Dr Maryam Farsi
Webinar Presentation: Tuesday December, 1, 2020 at 4pm GMT/11am EST

In high-value manufacturing, the inadequacy of historical service data, and the high level of uncertainties around service cost in complex assets, make the identification of cost reduction opportunities challenging. These influencing factors also complicate the assessment of the impact of cost drivers on the total lifecycle cost. Addressing these challenges, this workshop presents an ontology-based cost model architecture with a simple data structure and minimum data requirement. Additionally, the impact of cost drivers on the total cost is evaluated and aims to examine the validity and applicability of the ontology and the cost model to different sectors and asset types.

Dr Maryam Farsi is a Lecturer in Through-life Engineering Optimisation at Cranfield University, School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing. Dr Farsi gained her PhD in ‘Nonlinear Structural Mechanics’ from Imperial College London in 2014 and her MSc in ‘Civil Engineering Structures’ from City, University of London in 2010. Dr Farsi’s main research focus is on complex systems and system of systems simulation, modelling, optimisation, data analytics and data visualisation. This includes: Enterprise and supply chain simulation, optimisation and digital twin; Product and service contracts; Lifecycle cost modelling and analysis; and Risk and uncertainty quantification with over 15 research works.