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An Experimental Study on the Reliability of COSMIC Measurement Results

In this paper, we present the results of a functional software size measurement experiment. We have conducted this experiment to analyze variances in functional software size measurement results among individuals. We aimed to isolate the factors that cause these variances. At the end of the study, statistical results are displayed. Common measurement problems were presented including their causes. And finally factors leading to discrepancies were identified based on these findings.

Software Functional Size: For Cost Estimation and More

Determining software characteristics that will effectively support project planning, execution, monitoring and closure remains to be one of the prevalent challenges software project managers face. Functional size measures were introduced to quantify one of the primary characteristics of software. Although functional size measurement methods have not been without criticisms, they have significant promises for software project management. In this paper, we explore the contributions of functional size measurement to project management. We identified diverse uses of functional size by performing a literature survey and investigating how functional size measurement can be incorporated into project management practices by mapping the uses of functional size to the knowledge areas defined in project management body of knowledge (PMBOK).

Reliability of COSMIC Functional Size Measurement Results: A Multiple Case Study on Industry Cases

Accuracy of the functional size is critical in software project management, since functional size is the most prevalent input for effort and cost estimation models. Functional size measurement is performed based on standardized manuals; however, the accuracy of FSM results is still based on the knowledge and cautions of the measurers. In this study we performed a multiple case study to identify the reliability of COSMIC and to observe the frequently encountered errors during functional size measurement. Problems in the individual learning process and the clarity of the guidelines are distinguished as the two main causes that impact the accuracy of the measurement results.

The Effect of Entity Generalization on Software Functional Sizing: A Case Study

In this paper we discuss a specific result derived from a multiple case study. The case study involved implementation of IFPUG Function Point Analysis and COSMIC Functional Size Measurement methods in an innovative military software development project by different groups of experts. Application of these methods in a case that provides a number of size measurement challenges enabled us to observe significant improvement opportunities for the methodologies. In this paper, we depict the utilization of the entity generalization concept in two FSM methods and based on our observations we discuss the effects of different interpretations of the concept for measuring the software functional size.

The Impact of Individual Assumptions on Functional Size Measurement

Having been improved, evolved and standardized by the Organiza-tion for Standardization (ISO), Functional Size Measurement (FSM) methods have become widely used. However, the measurers still face difficulties in measuring the software products which include unconventional components. We faced the challenge to observe if different interpretations or assumptions of the measurers cause significant differences in the measurement results. In this study, we present the results of a multiple case study we conducted in order to observe the impact of individual assumptions for well known FSM methods.

ASSIST: An Integrated Measurement Tool

Integrated software measurement tool support is a key factor in developing and implementing successful measurement programs. Commercial measurement tools have limited scope for integrated measurement. Besides, measurement needs of the organizations are different and they typically require in-house measurement tool development. In this paper we introduce an integrated management tool that has been developed by a CMMI level 3 organization and that adopts GQIM approach in order to support measurement practices across the organization. The motivation of the paper is to give an insight and guidance to other software companies and researchers that seek for effective measurement integration solutions.

On the Seven Misconceptions about Functional Size Measurement

Among the various approaches to software size measurement, Functional Size Measurement has been widely recognized for its usability in early phases of software development cycles and its independence from implementation language, development method and technology. Starting from its introduction with the original Function Point Analysis method in 1979, functional size has been a favored input to estimation and productivity models. As a result of the search for solutions to emerging measurement needs and the advancements in the discipline of software measurement, FSM concepts have been redefined and measurement methods have matured with notable contributions from the ISO standardization process. Despite the progress towards an unambiguously defined and versatile measure in software engineering, several misconceptions about FSM in software community keep on leading to misuse of functional size and unproductive measurement practices. While such misperceptions results in disappointment and wasted resources, an important consequence is the disinterest in FSM. In this paper, we elaborate seven misconceptions in FSM. We review functional size and FSM by discussing the misconceptions. Our purpose is to give a state-of-the-art presentation of functional size and to guide software practitioners and researchers in applying FSM principles properly in their practices and software engineering methods and models.

Formalization Studies in Functional Size Measurement: How Do They Help?

Functional size has been favored as a software characteristic that can be measured early and independent of language, tools, techniques and technology; hence has many uses in software project management. It has been about three decades since Albrecht introduced the concept of functional size. However, Functional Size Measurement (FSM) has not been a common practice in the software community. The problems with FSM method structures and practices have been discussed to be the major factors to explain this situation. In this paper, we make a review of formalization proposals to the problems in Functional Size Measurement (FSM). We analyze the works included in the papers and we explore the extent of their contributions.

A Proposal on Requirements for COSMIC FSM Automation from Source Code

Automation of functional size measurement (FSM) process has increasingly gained importance since manual measurement is time-consuming, costly, and sometimes errorprone. There exist studies that automate measurement from different software artifacts such as requirements specifications, design models, and software code. In this study we review and compare four studies that we have carried out in recent years to automate COSMIC FSM from software code. Based on the comparison and the lessons learned, we derive an operational scenario for automated FSM from software code and propose a set of requirements that need to be considered in automation. We think the proposal will be helpful not only for our future studies and also for future work of interested researchers.

PL FSM: An Approach and a Tool for the Application of FSM in SPL Environments

In order to develop cost-efficient software it is crucial to measure the accurate software size. However, measuring the software size has up to now been almost entirely a manual process and, as such, is both time-consuming and prone to human error which can end up with time and money loss. Automation of this process is a must for the software developing companies to improve the quality of project and budget planning. This paper introduces a mapping between COSMIC concept elements and UML conceptual elements and an automation tool in order to capture the information needed for functional software size measurement from UML diagrams in a component based software product line environment (CBPL) that are structured in accordance with the interface based design (IbD) method. The mapping and the tool combined is called PL FSM. The results obtained by manual measurement and automated measurement are compared and the results are observed to be close. As a result of this study, PL FSM approach is validated in CBPL environment at the design stage of software development process. The case studies have been carried out in embedded systems domain.