Metrics for World Wide Web Information Systems

The number of information systems in the world wide web is growing continuously. However, the development process of web information systems is not yet sufficiently supported by adequate methods during all phases. Especially methods for cost estimation are missing. Thus, the development of web information systems does not only bear the risk of unforeseen high implementation cost, but also of uncontrollable maintenance cost. In this paper we present measures for world wide web information systems based on a conceptual model. Existing cost estimation methods in software engineering are transferred to the development of web information systems. Furthermore, the computation of the size of an information system allows its classification and helps to find similar web information systems as reference.