Duration: Half-day

Target Audience: Anyone interested in an overview of what function points are and what it takes to implement a function point based measurements program. This includes: Senior Management, Project Managers, Process Improvement Specialists, Metrics professionals

Description:
Many software development organizations have a desire to measure the performance of their software development process either as a part of an overall process improvement program, to use it for better project estimation, or to establish benchmarks for their outsourcing contracts with their vendors.

Function points often come up as one of the best options for sizing projects and applications to use as part of an overall measurements program. The reason is that function points have been proven to be a good quantitative measure of the functional size, is used successfully by many organizations, and has become a standard in the industry. However, without an understanding of what function points are and what a function point program may look like, it is difficult to assess when and if function points should be incorporated in your organization.

This half-day overview answers many of the questions managers and professionals responsible for implementing a software metrics program have about function points. The session explains what function points are and how they fit in an overall measurements program, provides an overview of how function points are counted, analyzes the pros and cons of function points, discusses some of the alternatives, provides insights into what it will take to implement a function point program within your organization, and makes recommendations.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Introduction:

• What is a Function Point?

• Overview Objectives

• Agenda

Software Measurements & Function Points

• Challenges

• Root Causes

• Accepted Solutions

• The Measurement Cycle

• Objectives of Function Points Analysis

Function Point Analysis Process

• The five steps at a glance

• Determine Type of Count

• Identify Counting Scope and Application Boundary

• Determine Unadjusted FP Count

  • Counting Data Functions

  • Counting Transactional Functions

• Value Adjustment Factor

Applications of Function Points

• When are Function Points most useful

• Challenges with function points

• Alternatives to function Points

• Make it an Integral Part of a Measurements Program

• Do's and Don'ts

Implementing a Function Point Program

• Counter Qualifications and training

• Centralize or decentralize counting

• When to do it in-house and when to outsource it

• How much does it cost

• Tracking function point counts

• Function Point Repository Tools

Summary & Final Notes

Prerequisite: Basic knowledge of software development