FPA – Function Point Analysis

A course for all those who want to learn about Function Point Analysis. This course covers major topics like: Function Point Analysis (FPA) Method, it's Superiority, Example etc.

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 2h 28m | 26 Videos | 81592 Views |   Expert

Online FPA – Function Point Analysis Training

• A function point is a unit of measurement to express the amount of business functionality an information system (as a product) provides to a user. Function point measures software size. The cost of a single unit is calculated from past projects.
  As of 2013, there are several recognized standards and/or public specifications for sizing software based on Function Point
• Software systems, unless they are thoroughly understood, can be like an ice berg. They are becoming more and harder to understand.
• Improvement of coding tools permits software developers to produce large amounts of software to meet an ever expanding need from users. As system grows a method to understand and communicate size needs to be used. Function Point Analysis is one of the structured techniques of problem solving. It is a method to break the systems into smaller components, so they can be better understood and analyzed.
• Function points is a unit measure for software much like an hour is to measuring time, miles are to measuring distance or Celsius is to measuring temperature. Function Points are an ordinal measure much like other measures such as kilometers, Fahrenheit, hours, so on and so forth
• Human beings solve problems by breaking them into smaller understandable pieces. Problems that may occur to be difficult are simple once they are broken into smaller parts.
• Classifying things, placing them in different category, is a familiar process. Everyone does it at one time or another. When objects to be classified are the contents of systems, a set of definitions and rules must be used to place these objects in the appropriate category, a scheme of classification.
• Function Point Analysis is a method to break systems into smaller components, so they can be better understood and analyzed. It gives a structured technique for problem solving.
• In the world of Function Point Analysis, systems are divided into five huge classes and general system characteristics. The first three classes are External Inputs, External Outputs and External Inquires each of these components transacts against files therefore they are called transactions. The next two files that is Internal Logical Files and External Interface Files are where data is stored that is combined to form logical information. The general system characteristic determines the general functionality of the system.
• In the mid-1970s, Function Point Analysis was first developed by Allan J. Albrecht. It was an attempt to overcome difficulties associated with lines of code as a measure of software size, and to assist in developing a mechanism to anticipate effort associated with software development. The method was first presented in 1979, then later in 1983.
• In 1984 Albrecht refined the method and since 1986, when the International Function Point User Group (IFPUG) was set up, some versions of the Function Point Counting Practices Manual have been published by IFPUG. The latest version of the IFPUG Manual is 4.1.

Why training of Android App Development is required?

• Frequently the term end user or user is used without establishing what is meant. In this case, the user is a refined user. Someone that would understand the system from a functional aspect — more than likely someone that would provide requirements or does acceptance testing.
• Since Function Points measures systems from a functional aspect they are independent of technology. Regardless of language, development method or hardware platform used, the number of function points for a system will remain constant. The only variable is the amount of effort needed to deliver a given set of function points; therefore, Function Point Analysis can be used to determine whether a tool, an environment, a language is more productive compared with others in an organization or among organizations.
• Function Point Analysis can give a mechanism to track and monitor scope creep. Function Point Counts at the last of requirements, analysis, design, code, testing and implementation can be compared. The amount of growth is an indication of how well requirements were collected by and/or communicated to the project team. If the amount of growth of projects fails over time it is a natural assumption that communication with the user has improved.

Course Goal and Objective

• The primary goal is to prepare students for a successful professional career in the software estimation.
• To get good knowledge of function point analysis this based on software estimation.
• This course contains over 26 lectures and 2.5 hours of content.
• Learn Function Points and it’s Superiority
• Learn Function Point Analysis(FPA) method
• Determine the Unadjusted Function Point Count
• Determine the Value Adjustment Factor (VAF)
• Enhance Project Function Point Calculation
• Who works in other technology but interested to learn software estimation, for them online learning platform is best because it saves time and other efforts.
• After completion the course, a participant can fluently work on function point analysis (FPA) that means in software estimation.
• In simple words the main objective is to make you awesome in software estimation

Target Audience for Android App Development Training

• Software Project Managers
• Project Management Professionals
• Students looking forward to a career in software estimation
• Students who want to learn function point analysis based on software estimation from scratch
• All developers
• Project Leaders
• Software Professionals
• This online training program has been prepared for the beginners to help them to understand the basic to advanced concepts of software estimation.
• This online tutorial will bring you at intermediate level of expertise from where you can catch yourself at higher level of expertise.

Pre-requisites for Android App Development Training

• Previous experience is not required
• Basic knowledge of Computers required
• Knowledge of Internet
• Good understanding of the Project Management
• It will be great if you have good understanding on all FPA concepts
• This course starts from scratch so no pre-requisites knowledge
• Such basic knowledge will help you to understand the android concepts quickly and you can move fast on learning track.

Function Point Analysis Advantages

There are several advantages of function point analysis. Some of them are as follows:
– Function Points can be used to size software applications accurately. Sizing is an important component in disposing productivity (outputs/inputs).
– They can be counted by various people, at different times, to obtain the same measure within a reasonable margin of error.
– By the non-technical user, Function Points are easily understood. This helps to communicate sizing information to a user or customer.
– Function Points can be used to find whether a tool, a language, an environment, is more productive when compared with others.
– A tool for deciding the size of a purchased package by counting all the functions included.
– It provides assistance to users in determination of benefits of a package for their organization, by counting the functions that specifically match their requirements. When assessing the cost of the package, the size of the functions that will be definitely used, the productivity and cost of the staff is possible to perform a “make or buy” analysis.
– It supports the analysis of productivity and quality, either directly or in conjunction with other metrics such as effort, cost and defects. But if the development method of the organization is chaotic (each project is developed in a different way), even if the function points counting of the project and the effort record have been made accurately, the analysis of productivity among the projects would have been impaired.
– It supports the project scope management. A challenge of any project manager is to control “scope creep”, or the increase of the scope. To make estimates and measurements of function points of the project at every stage of its life cycle is possible to determine whether the functional requirements increased or decreased, and whether this variation corresponds to new requirements or the requirements that already exist and were just more detailed.
– Complements requirements management to help in verifying the soundness and completeness of the specified requirements. A process of the counting function points favors a structured and systematic analysis of the requirements specification and brings similar benefits to that of that of the peer review process.
– A device for supposing costs and resources for developing and maintaining software. By carrying out a count or estimate function points early in the life cycle of a software project, it’s possible to determine its functional size. This measurement can be used as input for many models of effort, time and cost estimation.
– It is a tool to support contract negotiation. Function points can be used to generate several service level indicators (SLA – Service Level Agreement) in development and system maintenance contracts. Besides that, it allows contract establishments by using unit price function points – where a unit represents a tangible asset to the client. This modality allows for a better risk distribution between the client and provider.
– A normalization factor for software comparison or for comparison of productivity in the use of different methods. Several organizations, such as ISBSG, provide a data repository of software projects that enable the implementation of benchmarking with similar projects in the market.

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