Topic: Function Point Analysis

What? (I hear the cries - or are they echoes in my head?)

I've managed to establish that it was developped in the 70's, and is a fantastic way of organising your workload when setting up a new project (?!)

Here's the rub...

My client has asked me to prepare one... google was helpful, but I can't find any working model upon which to build, just lots of examples of what's inside one (but with no clear guidance as to how to structure or even whatrelevance the contents bear - just a lot of high level headings which don't make a deal of sense).

Have any of you ever been asked to prepare one?
If so, where did you learn what format to follow?
Do you have examples / links / anything that may be of assistance to my shrinking brain?
I'm just bouncing in a great big ball of confusion.

Thankies - Dufty

___________________________
Money is the game other people play, that I try to avoid by having just enough not to play it.
-Norman Mailer
[Dufty][Cell 698]

[This message has been edited by Dufty (edited 01-22-2003).]

Well I managed to find what I was looking for.

In case anyone comes up against this in the future, I found an excellent resource here: SoftwareMetrics.

May be of use when considering how to convince a potential client of your software's benefits.


___________________________
Money is the game other people play, that I try to avoid by having just enough not to play it.
-Norman Mailer
[Dufty][Cell 698]

[This message has been edited by Dufty (edited 01-27-2003).]

Well I'd be very interested to know how you make out with this. The client who requested this... does he/she know anything about FPA or just *heard* about it?

Now that's an interesting point.

The company as a whole are pretty new to the concept, but the guy who tendered the work is pretty familiar with it in practice and uses FPA to analyze the potential for integration into existing systems.

Looking beyond the client though, the very concept has opened me up to a new way of looking at work.

In a nutshell, FPA breaks a 'program' down into component parts and allows you to step back and see the pieces, rather than the whole and then ask some fundimental questions:

Is data static or moving?
Does it trigger events or is it triggered by input?
Does the end user interact or observe?
etc...

It lets you take each component and analyse it completely independantly of the rest of the suite, which is useful for ouitsourcing work. All they need to know is that this bit passes data to that bit, and that bit is being developped by someone else.

I'm finding it a useful tool for planning development too... addressing the core issues, then the snap-ins.
It feels easier now, because I'm looking at them as modules, not this hoooooge project which I'm never going to finish!

<edit - Apparently it can't stop me making typos though! >

___________________________
Money is the game other people play, that I try to avoid by having just enough not to play it.
-Norman Mailer
[Dufty][Cell 698]

[This message has been edited by Dufty (edited 01-27-2003).]

So how are you making out with this Dufty? Would you recommend a download to take a look at it?

Well, the link I posted previously was extremely helpful, if a little biassed towards their own services.
Having thoroughly digested the document and gotten my head around the bunch of new accronyms, I am convinced that any new project will be dissected in this way before I touch a single line of code.

I'm not 100% sold on the notion of strict FPA, but by analysing my idea and ascertaining where and when the process requires input/output/workflow/whatever and laying it out on paper first, I've managed to completely build an application (off line) and am in the process of distributing components for building elsewhere in the department, safe in the knowledge that the bits will come back, slot together and work 'out-of-the-box' as it were.

I've never really been that analytical in my approach to programming before, but I'm going to save myself hours, if not weeks of unproductive coding.

Thanks for checking back NoJive.
As for downloading it?

Thanx Dufty... downloading now.