On the Effort Required by Function Point Measurement Phases

Function Point Analysis is widely used, especially to quantify the size of applications in the early stages of development, when effort estimates are needed. However, the measurement process is often too long or too expensive, or it requires more knowledge than available when development effort estimates are due. To overcome these problems, early size estimation methods have been proposed, to get approximate estimates of Function Point measures. In general, early estimation methods adopt measurement processes that are simplified with respect to the standard process, in that one or more phases are skipped. Early estimation methods are considered effective; however there is little evidence of the actual savings that they can guarantee. To this end, it is necessary to know the relative cost of each phase of the standard Function Point measurement process. This paper presents the results of two surveys concerning the relative amount of effort required by the phases of the standard Function Point measurement process. The analysis of the collected data can be used to assess the expected savings that early estimation methods make possible.