PROJECT SIZING

Function Point Analysis

"When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind." Lord Kelvin

When embarking upon a project to put in place a major new or updated software-based system, it is clearly important to estimate how much time, effort and money will be needed for the development, and then to manage the development in the light of those estimates. The estimation task becomes much more tangible if the requirement for the system can be quantified. Just as a quantity surveyor needs to know the size of the building in order to work out the labour and materials needed for its construction, so knowledge of the size of the system to be developed enables a sound estimating process to be used from the outset.

Function Point Analysis (FPA) stands out as a well developed, respected and widely used international standard. FPA is a sizing method that can be applied with reasonable accuracy, even at the requirements stage of a project, can be updated as the lifecycle progresses. FPA expresses the amount of functionality to be delivered to the business and is independent of the technology used to develop the software

Function point analysis is a measurement tool used for sizing a project in a manner independent of technology. Function point analysis has the ability to objectively size applications and projects, allowing for improved estimating and improved project management. Utilising FPA the project manager has the ability to benchmark projects, legacy application support and to evaluate supplier proposals and performance