Abstract
Function point analysis is a widely used metric in the software industry for development effort estimation. It was proposed in the 1970s, and then standardized by the International Function Point Users Group, as accepted by many organizations worldwide. While the software industry has grown rapidly, the weight values specified for the standard function point counting have remained the same since its inception. Another problem is that software development in different industry sectors is peculiar, but basic rules apply to all. These raise important questions about the validity of weight values in practical applications. In this study, we propose an algorithm for calibrating the standardized functional complexity weights, aiming to estimate a more accurate software size that fits specific software applications, reflects software industry trends, and improves the effort estimation of software projects. The results show that the proposed algorithms improve effort estimation accuracy against the baseline method.
Highlights
Software estimation has long been considered a core issue that directly affects success or failure
When calibration of functional complexity weight (CFCW) is compared to NFFCMP, those figures are MAE = 15.39%, MAPE = 28.41%, and RMSE = 19.9% for all sectors
When CFCW is compared to NFFCMP, improvement in the accuracy of the CFCW estimate can be seen for the individual sectors, where the largest percentage differences are MAE = 72.00%, MAPE = 67.69%, and RMSE = 71.79%
Summary
Software estimation has long been considered a core issue that directly affects success or failure. To obtain software projects, companies participating in tenders must submit bids that include cost, manpower, and software development time. To be able to win the tender, the companies participating need to give a reasonable estimate of the cost, manpower, and time required to carry out the project. Albrecht [8] first introduced FPA in 1979, and presented the FP metric to measure the functionality of a project. This was proposed in response to a number of problems with other system size measures, such as lines of code. In 1986, the International Function Point User Group (IFPUG) [37] promoted and popularised effective software development and maintenance management through FPA.
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