A Software Size Measurement Model for Large-Scale Business Applications

Software size measurement at the very early stages of the software development lifecycle has been one of the critical issues in the information system field. In order to plan and develop information systems successfully, it is necessary to obtain an initial estimate of the size of the system being undertaken. Based on Albrecht´s function point analysis (FPA) method and using analogous approach, this paper develops a methodology that gives a more reliable and accurate predictor of software size at an early stage of the systems development process. The proposed model called rapid function point model (RFPA) mainly applies to large-scale business applications. In addition, an empirical investigation was conducted for validating this model using 20 large software projects data from telecommunication industry. The results of the empirical study confirm that the function likeness weights and data complexity likeness weights in the model are robust enough to be used when little data is available during the early stage of requirement analysis.