Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, 2015, 8, 245-251 Published Online May 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jsea http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jsea.2015.85025 How to cite this paper: Gangwani, D. and Mukherjee, S. (2015) Analyzing the Impact of Different Factors on Software Cost Estimation in Today’s Scenario. Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, 8, 245-251. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jsea.2015.85025 Analyzing the Impact of Different Factors on Software Cost Estimation in Today’s Scenario Deepa Gangwani 1 , Saurabh Mukherjee 2 1 Research Scholar, Banasthali University, Rajasthan, India 2 Department of Computer Science, Banasthali University, Rajasthan, India Email: gangwanideepa@yahoo.com , mukherjee.saurabh@rediffmail.com Received 19 March 2015; accepted 29 April 2015; published 4 May 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Software cost estimation is a main concern of the software industry. However, the fact is also that in today’s scenario, software industries are more interested in other issues like new technologies in the market, shorter development time, skill shortage etc. They are actually deviating from crit- ical issues to routine issues. Today, people expect high quality products at very low costs and same is the goal of software engineering. An accuracy in software cost estimation has a direct impact on company’s reputation and also affects the software investment decisions. Accurate cost estimation can minimize the unnecessary costs and increase the productivity and efficiency of the company. The objective of this paper is to identify the existing methods of software cost estimation prevail- ing in the market and analyzing some of the important factors impacting the software cost estima- tion process. In order to achieve the objective, a survey was conducted to find out: • Nature of projects that companies prefer. • Impact of training on employees in software cost estimation. • How many people review the estimated cost? • How much risk buffer the company keeps for future prospects? Keywords Software Cost Estimation, Training, Research method, Nature of Project, Software Review 1. Introduction Estimating size and cost of a software system is one of the biggest challenges in software project management [1].