ABOUT
FUNCTION POINT ANALYSIS
Function Point Analysis (FPA) is a sizing measure
of clear business significance. First made public by Allan Albrecht
of IBM in 1979, the FPA technique quantifies the functions contained
within software in terms that are meaningful to the software users.
The measure relates directly to the business requirements that the
software is intended to address. It can therefore be readily applied
across a wide range of development environments and throughout the
life of a development project, from early requirements definition
to full operational use. Other business measures, such as the productivity
of the development process and the cost per unit to support the software,
can also be readily derived.
The function point measure itself is derived in a
number of stages. Using a standardized set of basic criteria, each
of the business functions is a numeric index according to its type
and complexity. These indices are totaled to give an initial measure
of size which is then normalized by incorporating a number of factors
relating to the software as a whole. The end result is a single
number called the Function Point index which measures the size and
complexity of the software product.
In summary, the function point technique provides
an objective, comparative measure that assists in the evaluation,
planning, management and control of software production.
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