Function Point Analysis & its Characteristics

02.04.14

Abstract
‘The technology boom towards the end of the twentieth century and the much into the twenty first century sees our society held up by a blind reliance on gadgets and their numerous programs.
Software today is specified to do anything from playing scrabble with a friend on the other side of the globe to mapping out complex lighting algorithms that define Architectural renders. The creation of such software, however small goes through some process of management in order to provide a successful product for the end user. The following will look briefly at FPA, its definition, problems with estimation in software creation and how FPA can be used to rectify these problems. The outcome of the following content is to give the reader an overall understanding of the process FPA.’

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Project Management 641 - Essay on Project Scheduling.

Function Point Analysis & its Characteristics

02.04.14

The technology boom towards the end of the twentieth century and the much into the twenty first century sees our society held up by a blind reliance on gadgets and their numerous programs.
Software today is specified to do anything from playing scrabble with a friend on the other side of the globe to mapping out complex lighting algorithms that define Architectural renders. The creation of such software, however small goes through some process of management in order to provide a successful product for the end user. Function Point Analysis (FPA) is one such method of providing a form of top down estimation (Larson Et al. 2014) while delivering an early understanding of the product to the end user (Longstreet, 2014). The following will look briefly at FPA, its definition, problems with estimation in software creation and how FPA can be used to rectify these problems.
The outcome of the following content is to give the reader an overall understanding of the process
FPA. This said the history of FPA is the stepping stone to understanding the potential of the method and is definitely worth considering when understanding the product.
Function point analysis (FPA) saw its inception within the writings of Alan Albrecht in 1979 who worked for IBM. Albrecht wrote about “Measuring application development productivity” where he outlined a method by which to measure productivity within a software project. Lokan (301, 2005) notes that Albrecht wanted to measure product and cost of a project however he wanted to move away from the traditional methods. Traditional Methods such as measuring Lines of Code he noted as having a widely differing values depending on the technology used. Furthermore Albrecht sought to assist in developing a method by which to predict effort associated in software creation
(Longstreet 2014). He referred to his new method as Function Points.
After its publication in 1979 and Albrecht s re-evaluated the process in1983. The method was then re- evaluated and the success of its application led to the formation of the International Function
Point User Group (IFPUG). IFPUG seeks to connect and educate users while maintaining an international standard for the use of Function Points. (IFPUG,2014)
Albrecht defined his original method (1979) of Function point analysis as a two stage process where one would count certain factors that are the outward manifestations of an application. Once noted weight them as numbers designated to reflect the function value to the customer. Lastly adjustment of the factors to account for the effect of other factors that relate to the technical complexity of the application. (Lokan 2005).The revision to the method in 1984 noted revised formulation of function points with a continued emphasis on the subjective aspects of the metric.
This revised method further broke down the classification of system components as defined by the end user, into five sub components. These sub components were then further