Function Point Analysis: Size Matters - No Matter What You Have Been Told!
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The document discusses how properly sizing projects is important for effective project management. It argues that nine out of ten failing projects were not properly sized. Function point analysis is presented as an effective sizing technique that provides a consistent, accurate and meaningful size measurement for projects. Tracking costs, quality and other metrics based on the sized function points of a project provides more useful performance measurements than without sizing.
Function Point Analysis: Size Matters - No Matter What You Have Been Told!
- 1. Knowledge Solution Services: Size Matters – Regardless of What You Have Been Told! David Herron David Consulting Group d.herron@davidconsultinggroup.com
- 2. Challenges Project Managers Face Today • Shifting Priorities –Scope –Schedule • Unrealistic Expectations –Customer –Service Management • Lack of Performance –Productivity –Skill Levels • Inability to Properly Manage the Project ©2012 David Consulting Group 1
- 3. What Does the Customer Want? We manage the customer; and, we manage the project. Customer’s Needs Manager’s Challenge Quicker Shifting Priorities Time to market Schedules Requirements Better Expectations Functional Quality Availability Reliability Cheaper Performance Lowest Possible Cost Outsourcing ©2012 David Consulting Group 2
- 4. What Do We Use to Measure Projects? What We Manage What We Measure Shifting Priorities Schedule Schedules Requirements Cost Expectations Quality Availability Reliability Project Deliverables Performance Outsourcing ©2012 David Consulting Group 3
- 5. Basis of Measures You Manage… By Monitoring… Based On… Schedule Plan vs Estimated scope Actual Costs Plan vs Scope, resources Actual Project Features, Requirements Deliverables Functions Quality Defects Removal Efficiency ©2012 David Consulting Group 4
- 6. Where Did You Go Wrong? • You’ve estimated the scope and created a project plan • You’ve determined the cost of the project based on scope and available resources • The requirements have been documented • You are inspecting code and removing defects … And your project still comes in late, over budget and with poor quality! ©2012 David Consulting Group 5
- 7. Managing All the Pieces DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE Is There Something Missing? COST QUALITY ©2012 David Consulting Group 6
- 8. Size Does Matter • Finding: Nine out of 10 projects that fail have not been sized properly • Consider: When you build a house you specify all the functions and features you want – those are your requirements. The builder then generates an estimate based on the size (square footage) of your requirements. • Size is the key to effectively managing software projects ©2012 David Consulting Group 7
- 9. Tracking Performance Without Size Project Cost Quality (000’s) (Defects Released) PO Special $500 12 Vendor Mods $760 18 Pricing Adj. $80 5 Store Sys. $990 22 ©2012 David Consulting Group 8
- 10. Tracking Performance With Size Project Size Cost Rate Quality Density (Functional Value) (000’s) (Defects Released) PO 250 $500 $2,000 12 .048 Special Vendor 765 $760 $993 18 .023 Mods Pricing 100 $80 $800 5 .050 Adj. Store Sys. 1498 $990 $660 22 .014 ©2012 David Consulting Group 9
- 11. Characteristics of Effective Sizing • Meaningful to developer and user • Defined (industry recognized) • Consistent (methodology) • Easy to learn and apply • Accurate, statistically based • Available when needed (early) • Addresses project-level information needs ©2012 David Consulting Group 10
- 12. Why Function Points? Function Point Analysis is the standardized method for measuring the functionality delivered to the end user. • Consistent method • Easy to learn • Available early in the lifecycle • Acceptable level of accuracy • Meaningful internally and externally Function Points have replaced Line of Code counts as a sizing metric that can be used consistently and with a high degree of accuracy. ©2012 David Consulting Group 11
- 13. The Function Point Methodology The software deliverable is sized based upon the functionality delivered. Five key components are • Inputs identified based on logical user view • Outputs Input Inquiry Output • Inquiries • Data Stores Data • Interface Files Stores Interface Application File ©2012 David Consulting Group 12
- 14. Functionality Identified PURCHASE USER USER ORDER Input SYSTEM Inputs ADD, CHG PAYMENTS INVOICES Interface PURCHASE ORDER INFO PAYMENTS INVOICES Inquiry VENDOR Data Stores USER PAYMENT STATUS ACCOUNTS PAYABLE Output USER PAID INVOICES ©2012 David Consulting Group 13
- 15. Determine the Functional Size COMPONENTS ARE ASSESSED BASED UPON COMPLEXITY: Data Element Types (Fields or Attributes) File Types Referenced (Data Stores) Record Element Types (Data Sub-Groups) (Note: Details are not known to us so we assume average values) Complexity Components: Low Avg. High Total Data Stores X7 3 X 10 X 15 30 Interfaces X5 1 X 7 X 10 7 Inputs X3 3 X 4 X 6 12 Outputs X4 1 X 5 X 7 5 Inquiries X3 1 X 4 X 6 4 58 Function Point Size ©2012 David Consulting Group 14
- 16. Other Quantitative Measures • Level of Effort – Project Manager – Staff Personnel – Overtime – Company Meetings • Duration (Time to Market) – Project stoppage – Concept – Requirements through first delivery • Quality (Defect Density) – Post release defects – Defects by phase – Entry point, discovery point, fix point ©2012 David Consulting Group 15
- 17. Estimating Using Delivery Rates DEFINITION CAPABILITY ESTIMATES PROJECT PROJECT DELIVERY = SIZE COMPLEXITY RATE – Effort Function Points Profiles 58 11 FP/PM 5.3 Person Months ©2012 David Consulting Group 16
- 18. Utilization of Function Points Function point size reflects the business functionality being delivered to the customer. The size value is available for use in conjunction with numerous measures to quantify and to evaluate software delivery and performance. For Example: Development Cost per Function Point Support Cost per Function Point Delivered Defects per Function Point Function Points per Staff Month Project Delivery Rate (Hours per Function Point) Portfolio Function Points supported by one FTE Speed of Delivery or Function Points per Elapsed Month ©2012 David Consulting Group 17
- 19. Size Makes the Difference • Size makes standard project measures more meaningful • Function Point Analysis is an effective sizing technique • Performance measures can be developed using Function Points as a base measure ©2012 David Consulting Group 18
- 20. Contact Us Email: d.herron@davidconsultinggroup.com Phone: 1-610-644-2856, ext 21 http://www.davidconsultinggroup.com @DavidConsultGrp /DavidConsultGrp /company/David-Consulting-Group ©2012 David Consulting Group 19