Recent and future trends in cost estimation

Increasingly keen competition and the demand for shorter times to market are driving innovative approaches within the product creation process. When considering the factors that decide the success of a product in the market today, it becomes clear that cost is as crucial as quality and functionality. This paper gives an overview of the state of the art and future trends in the field of cost estimation. First, a short overview of the relevant terms from the field of cost accounting is given. The impact of product development on costs is elaborated and the requirements for a cost calculation model are outlined. The currently prevailing methodological approaches for cost estimation in the product development process are set out and classified in the scientific context with a schema being introduced to reduce the vast number of methods to a single basic structure. Finally, various methods for cost estimation are set out and their shortcomings summarized. This paper aims at building a foundation for future research in the field of cost estimation and ends with a look at future work.