IPA FE Subject A sample Question 43

Measuring the software's functions, such as I/O items and files, and adjusting for complexity — function points size software by what it does for its users, not by lines of code.

The function point method counts five function types: external inputs, external outputs, external inquiries, internal logical files and external interface files. Each is weighted by its complexity and the weights are summed, then the total is adjusted by a factor based on general system characteristics. The size can be estimated from the requirements, before any code exists, and then converted into effort.

Answer (d)

Why not others:

• •(a) — breaking the work into items and adding up a standard effort for each is the standard task method (a WBS-based estimate)
• •(b) — taking the development scale as known and deriving person-hours and duration is COCOMO
• •(c) — reusing data from similar past software and judging the differences is estimation by analogy

Key rule: Function points estimate size from the functions; COCOMO turns an already known size into effort and schedule.

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