An analysis of the resources used in the SAFEGUARD system software development

The SAFEGUARD System represents the development of one of the largest, most complex software systems ever undertaken. Various types of software were developed, including real time applications, support, and hardware installation and maintenance. Two million instructions were developed at a cost of approximately five thousand staff years of effort. The objective of this paper is to document the staff resources utilized in this development. The actual development rates for the different types of software and the various factors affecting those rates are analyzed. Software productivity is shown to be a function of the type of software - logical, algorithmic, man machine, etc. Emphasis is placed upon total project productivity. The allocation of staff resources for the systems engineering, design, code and unit test, and integration activities, which had an approximate percentage distribution of 20, 20, 17, 43, is analyzed and characterized.