Webinar: Get to the Point. What’s the Deal with Different Function Points Methodologies? by Department of Homeland Security/OCFO

About This Webinar

Many functional size metrics have emerged to simplify software sizing and cost estimation. Both IFPUG (International Function Point User Group) and COSMIC (Common Software Measurement International Consortium) Function Points use the number of data elements or groups to size software transactions. Though they provide objective software sizing methods, they can be tedious to calculate. Simple Function Points have been introduced to simplify the process – all transactions are given the same weights, therefore, removing the need to count the number of data elements required for each transaction. A tool has been developed to use action verbs to calculate the size of a project from requirements documents. However, requirements are not always updated to represent the completed product. Researchers at the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) developed methods to calculate Objective Function Points (OPFs) from completed source code. Therefore, providing a method to get an objective measure of size after product completion. With so many sizing techniques, which should cost estimators use? To provide insight and understand the differences among the methods, we will compare the effectiveness of IFPUG, COSMIC, Simple, and Objective FPs for effort estimation on University of Southern California (USC)’s dataset of Unified Code Count (UCC) enhancements.

Presenters

Katharine Mann

Operations Research Analyst

Ms. Katharine (Kammy) Mann, CCEA, is an Operations Research Analyst for the Department of Homeland Security, Cost Analysis Division (CAD) IT / Agile Software Development Team. Before joining DHS, Ms. Mann supported the NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) in Brussels, Belgium, and various DoD programs. She is the Vice President of the Washington Capital Area Chapter of ICEAA. Ms. Mann has Undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech.

Paul Cymerman

Mr. Paul Cymerman works for Quaternion Consulting Inc. (QCI) supporting the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). He has over 33 years of experience as a software cost analyst, aerospace engineer, and computer programmer. Currently supporting the ODNI in developing independent cost estimates and researching new estimating methods. Developed “Diff” and architected Function Point capability in UCCG.

Ian Brown

Director of Operations and Systems Analysis for Galorath

Ian Brown, has over 20 years of experience in software measurement and analysis, systems estimation, software sizing, parametric analysis, and goal-question-metric (GQM) implementation. A current Certified Function Point Specialist (CFPS), Ian served on the Board of Directors of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) from 2004-2007. Ian earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.

Anandi Hira

Anandi Hira is a Cost Analyst at Tecolote Research Inc, and has received her PhD in software cost estimation under Dr. Barry Boehm at University of Southern California (USC). For her research, she collected data and calibrated the COCOMO® II model to include functional size metrics. Her research interests include software metrics and its application to project management, software cost estimation, and software process improvement.