COSMIC Function Points: Theory and Advanced Practices

Designed to conform to the ISO/IEC standard 14143, the Common Software Measurement International Consortium (COSMIC) Function Point method has become the major estimation technique based on international standards for building software-intensive systems. COSMIC Function Points: Theory and Advanced Practices supplies a cutting-edge look at current and emerging practices in the international software measurement community.

The editors have assembled an international panel of experts who detail the steps for measuring the functional size of software and developing project estimates with improved accuracy. They explain how to evaluate and compare systems to improve software reuse and development. Touching on the essential aspects of the next generation of functional size measurement methods, the book delineates best estimation and measurement practices as well as the development of benchmarks for quality improvement, including Six Sigma.

This complete resource covers software measurement and estimation methods and practices for embedded systems, business applications, communications software, and control systems. Each chapter supplies the practical understanding required to create, implement, standardize, distribute, and adapt functional size measurement and project estimation to virtually any software context.

Praise for:

… an excellent overview … provides a strong knowledge background for both practitioners and researchers. … With its broad background, it is useful for practically implementing and successfully adapting other functional sizing methods … . The COSMIC function point techniques presented in this book will help you to implement, master, and improve your estimation process.―Christof Ebert, Managing Director, Vector Consulting Services

Reiner R. Dumke is currently working at the Ottovon-Guericke-University of Magdeburg, Germany, as a professor with software engineering as a research field. He is one of the founders of the Software Measurement Laboratory of the Computer Science Department of the University of Magdeburg and coeditor of the Measurement News Journal. He is leader of the German interest group on software metrics, and he works as a member of the COSMIC, DASMA, MAIN, IEEE, and ACM communities. He received a diploma-degree (MS) in mathematics in 1970, followed in 1980 by a PhD, with a dissertation in computer science about the efficiency of database projects. He is the author and editor of more than thirty books about programming techniques, software metrics, metrics tools, software engineering foundations, component-based software development, and Web engineering.

Alain Abran holds a PhD in electrical and computer engineering (1994) from École Polytechnique de Montréal (Canada) and master degrees in management sciences (1974) and electrical engineering (1975) from the University of Ottawa. He is a professor and the director of the Software Engineering Research Laboratory at the École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS)–Université du Québec (Montréal, Canada). He has over fifteen years of experience in teaching in a university environment, as well as more than twenty years of industry experience in information systems development and software engineering. His research interests include software productivity and estimation models, software engineering foundations, software quality, software functional size measurement, software risk management, and software maintenance management. Dr. Abran has been a coeditor of the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) (see ISO 19759 and www.swebok.org), and is the chairman of the Common Software Measurement International Consortium (COSMIC) (www.cosmicon.com)