Intelligent estimation agent based on CMMI ontology for project planning

Accurate estimation of the total project cost is important for project management. It can help an organization analyze the feasibility of a project and reduce the risk of project failure. In this paper, an ontology-based intelligent estimation agent, including a CMMI-based project planning ontology and a fuzzy cost estimation mechanism, is proposed for the total project cost estimation. The proposed agent combines the fuzzy inference, capability maturity model integration (CMMI), and the ontology to make cost estimation of the project. Based on the information stored in the CMMI-based project planning ontology predefined by domain experts, the fuzzy cost estimation mechanism infers the total project cost and stored the results to the project estimation repository. The simulation results show that the proposed agent is feasible to estimate the total project cost.