An evaluation of functional size methods and a bespoke estimation method for real-time systems

Per Runeson, Niklas Borgquist, Markus Landin, Wladyslaw Bolanowski

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingPaper in conference proceedingpeer-review

Abstract

Functional size, or function points, is a language-independent measure of software size. It is used as an estimator of development effort and software code size, in particular in the domain of information systems, while in real-time systems it is not so widely spread. In this paper, functional size measurements are empirically evaluated by applying them to a recently completed project. Two established methods, Mark II Function Points (MKII) and Full Function Points (FFP) are used. In addition, a bespoke method that focuses on the information supplied by the requirements specifications at the studied company is developed and evaluated. The method is designed to make effort estimates based on states and transitions in a state machine representation of a requirements specification. The results indicate fairly weak relationships between functional size and LOC for both of the established methods. The bespoke method was applied to the same data and it is concluded that the relationship between the software size according to the new method and the actual code size show better correlation between estimated and real size compared to the analysis for the functional size methods.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProduct Focused Software Process Improvement - 2nd International Conference, PROFES 2000, Proceedings
EditorsFrank Bomarius, Markku Oivo
PublisherSpringer
Pages339-352
Number of pages14
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-540-45051-1
ISBN (Print)3540676880, 9783540676881
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2000
Event2nd International Conference on Product Focused Software Process Improvement, PROFES 2000 - Oulu, Finland
Duration: 2000 Jun 202000 Jun 22

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume1840
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference2nd International Conference on Product Focused Software Process Improvement, PROFES 2000
Country/TerritoryFinland
CityOulu
Period2000/06/202000/06/22

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000.

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Computer Systems

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