Come Back Function Point Analysis (modernised) – All Is Forgiven!

Function Point Analysis was invented by Allan Albrecht of IBM as a means of sizing business application software independently of the technology used for its development. Albrecht’s method was heavily promoted in its early years and has become the most widely used such method. However, the underlying model which Albrecht used for his sizing method, which was valid in the mid 70’s when it was first conceived, is increasingly difficult to apply to modern software development. This and other factors have led to a decline in the method’s use. In this paper, we examine the reasons for the decline, and the main advances in thinking on the more general topic of Functional Size Measurement (FSM) which have been made in the last 15 years. Specifically, the COSMIC FFP method is seen as a significant step forward in being the first method designed by an international group of software metrics experts to work for both business application and real-time software. Furthermore, it has been realised that a reliable FSM Method would be a very great asset with many uses, such as helping improve requirements specification, estimating, project ‘scope creep’, supplier performance measurement and contract control, etc. The experience of the new methods and the realisation of their potential value indicate that a return to popularity of (modernised) Function Point Analysis, in the guise of more general FSM Methods such as COSMIC FFP is highly likely.