The first generation of Functional Size Measurement

Every now and again there is debate amongst the practitioners of Functional Size Measurement about the best Functional Size Measurement method. In essence there is nothing wrong with such a debate.

Professionals should always be seeking ways to improve their profession. Discussions about the best way to do so are a logical part of such a quest. But they should be done based on the right arguments. And one of those arguments is often wrong in my point of view. That is the generation argument. I notice that there is a lot of misconception about what is meant with generation in relation to Functional Size Measurement.

 

Most used Functional Size Measurement methods

What are the most used Functional Size Measurement methods. Most people can quickly come up with the five methods that are standardized by ISO, but what else is there. Here is the Top 20 - in alphabetical order from Capers Jones, taken from the third edition of Applied Software Measurement. Since this book was published in 2008, I have added some new kids on the block.

Budget overrun or estimation deficit

The messages about budget overrun by IT projects are becoming more frequent again. Usually the tone is that IT projects are just runaway trains and that budget overrun is something that we just have to live with. An important source of this type of messages is the CHAOS series of reports that are carried out annually by Standish. In most of these types of reports one important aspect is systematically overlooked and that is the quality of the original estimate the project started with.

The best way to estimate the cost of IT services

Every now and again I get involved in discussions about what is the best way to estimate the cost of IT services. Should you have a dedicated calculation team that makes all the cost estimates, or should you train the whole project management community and all senior delivery staff to make good cost estimates. It is a question I have been struggling with for the past decade.

The best answer is: It depends. But there are some universal truths on this subject:

1. One estimate is no estimate
2. An estimate always contains uncertainty
3. Don't mix a cost estimate with a price offering

 

A cost model for software in capital projects

A growing number of capital projects, like a motorway tunnel or a specialised MRI scanner, needs software to make it a useful investment. To determine the investments in time, money and resources a number of key cost-drivers is essential:

• Delivery schedule
• Productivity
• Size of the software
• Required resource effort
• Quality

Each of these key cost-drivers has its own merits that should be taken into account to make the right decisions on how to integrate software in capital projects.

Estimating the Functional Size of Oracle eBS applications

For custom developed software functional size estimation method can be done with reasonable accuracy. I have developed an approach, based on NESMA function points, that has proven to be very useful for portfolio sizing.

Estimating the functional size of applications that were built in the Oracle e-Business Suite (eBS) package appeared to be difficult. Available eBS modules contain of a huge amount of functionality that can be used to configure or construct desired functionality for the end-users. But how do you determine the amount of functionality that is available to the end-user?

Factors of influence for approximate COSMIC size measurement

Over the last few weeks I have received much more requests than usual from fellow metrics professionals if I can provide a copy of an article I have written. I have recently discovered that LinkedIn now has the possibility to add publications to my profile. So when I received a request for a copy of the article

Approximate size measurement with the COSMIC method - Factors of influence



that I wrote, together with Theo Prins, for the SMEF 2007 conference, I put that copy on my LinkedIn profile. And it has been downloaded more than a dozen times already. Apparently it is a topic of interest. Why?