A new calibration for Function Point complexity weights

  • Authors:

  • Wei Xia;Luiz Fernando Capretz;Danny Ho;Faheem Ahmed

  • Affiliations:

  • HSBC Bank Canada, IT Department, Vancouver, BC, Canada;University of Western Ontario, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, London, Ont., Canada;NFA Estimation Inc., London, Ont., Canada;United Arab Emirates University, College of Information Technology, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates

  • Venue:
  • Information and Software Technology
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

Function Point (FP) is a useful software metric that was first proposed 25 years ago, since then, it has steadily evolved into a functional size metric consolidated in the well-accepted Standardized International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) Counting Practices Manual - version 4.2. While software development industry has grown rapidly, the weight values assigned to count standard FP still remain same, which raise critical questions about the validity of the weight values. In this paper, we discuss the concepts of calibrating Function Point, whose aims are to estimate a more accurate software size that fits for specific software application, to reflect software industry trend, and to improve the cost estimation of software projects. A FP calibration model called Neuro-Fuzzy Function Point Calibration Model (NFFPCM) that integrates the learning ability from neural network and the ability to capture human knowledge from fuzzy logic is proposed. The empirical validation using International Software Benchmarking Standards Group (ISBSG) data repository release 8 shows a 22% accuracy improvement of mean magnitude relative error (MMRE) in software effort estimation after calibration.