Software Change Request Estimation in Maintenance Projects

Abstract

Software change request estimation is an important practice in maintenance projects where defect fixes, enhancements, configuration updates, interface changes, and business rule modifications must be assessed before implementation. In enterprise systems, poor estimation can lead to delayed delivery, resource imbalance, cost overruns, incomplete testing, and weak release planning. This article discusses how structured estimation helps maintenance teams evaluate change size, technical complexity, affected modules, dependency impact, testing effort, documentation updates, and deployment risk. It explains the role of change request records, impact analysis, historical effort data, priority classification, developer assessment, and approval workflows in improving estimation accuracy. The article also highlights common challenges such as unclear change descriptions, hidden dependencies, legacy code complexity, urgent production pressure, and limited availability of skilled resources. A structured estimation approach is presented to improve planning, support realistic scheduling, reduce rework, and strengthen maintenance control. The study concludes that effective change request estimation improves maintenance predictability, supports better resource allocation, and ensures reliable evolution of enterprise software systems.