Automating function point analysis with model driven development

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a technique for automating the size estimation of software projects conducted using Model Driven Development methods. Specifically, an algorithm has been implemented for performing the function point count of a software project starting from its conceptual model. Differently from previous approaches, the proposed technique works on the same conceptual model that is used for producing the implementation, eliminating any unnecessary ad-hoc specification task. We evaluate the precision of the FP computation algorithm on a set of real-world projects and describe its implementation within a commercial Model Driven Development tool suite.

REFERENCES

• 1: Albrecht, A. J.: Measuring application development productivity. In: Proceedings of SHARE/GUIDE IBM Application Development Symposium. (1979) 83--92
• 2: Chris F. Kemerer, Reliability of function points measurement: a field experiment, Communications of the ACM, v.36 n.2, p.85-97, Feb. 1993 [doi>10.1145/151220.151230]
• 3: Graham C. Low , D. R. Jeffery, Function Points in the Estimation and Evaluation of the Software Process, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, v.16 n.1, p.64-71, January 1990 [doi>10.1109/32.44364 ]
• 4: Stefano Ceri , Piero Fraternali , Aldo Bongio , Marco Brambilla , Sara Comai , Maristella Matera, Designing Data-Intensive Web Applications, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, 2002
• 5: Nathalie Moreno , Piero Fraternalli , Antonio Vallecillo, A UML 2.0 profile for WebML modeling, Workshop proceedings of the sixth international conference on Web engineering, July 10-14, 2006, Palo Alto, California [doi>10.1145/1149993.1149998]
• 6: International Function Points User Group: Function Point Counting Practices Manual, Version 4.1.1. Princeton Junction, NJ. (2000)
• 7: Web Models: WebRatio, (http://www.webratio.com)
• 8: O. Mendes, A Abran, P. Bourque: Function Point Tool Market Survey 1996. Technical report, Software Engineering Management Laboratory, Université du Quebec à Montreal, (1996)
• 9: Lamma, E., Mello, P., Riguzzi, F.: A system for measuring function points from an ER-DFD specification. The Computer Journal 47 (2004) 358--372
• 10: T. Fetcke , A. Abran , T.-H. Nguyen, Mapping the OO-Jacobson Approach into Function Point Analysis, Proceedings of the Tools-23: Technology of Object-Oriented Languages and Systems, p.192, July 28-August 01, 1997
• 11: T. Iorio: IFPUG Function Point analysis in a UML framework. In: SMEF. (2004)
• 12: Takuya Uemura , Shinji Kusumoto , Katsuro Inoue, Function-point analysis using design specifications based on the unified modelling language, Journal of Software Maintenance: Research and Practice, v.13 n.4, p.223-243, July-August 2001
• 13: Edilson J. D. Candido , Rosely Sanches, Estimating the Size of Web Applications by Using a Simplified Function Point Method, Proceedings of the WebMedia & LA-Web 2004 Joint Conference 10th Brazilian Symposium on Multimedia and the Web 2nd Latin American Web Congress, p.98-105, October 12-15, 2004

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.1 Requirements/Specifications
          Subjects: Tools

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.1 Requirements/Specifications
          Subjects: Methodologies (e.g., object-oriented, structured)
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: Object-oriented design methods
      D.2.9 Management
          Subjects: Cost estimation

General Terms:
Design, Management