Automated COSMIC Function Point measurement using a requirements engineering ontology

作者：Bagriyanik Selami; Karahoca Adem^*

来源：Information and Software Technology, 2016, 72: 189-203.

DOI：10.1016/j.infsof.2015.12.011

• Function Point measurement automation
• Function Point measurement procedure
• COSMIC Function Point
• ISO/IEC 19761: 2011
• Requirements ontology

Context: There are two interrelated difficulties in requirements engineering processes. First, free-format modelling practices in requirements engineering activities may lead to low quality artefacts and productivity problems. Second, the COSMIC Function Point Method is not yet widespread in the software industry because applying measurement rules to imprecise and ambiguous textual requirements is difficult and requires additional human measurement effort. This challenge is common to all functional size measurement methods.
Objective: In this study, alternative solutions have been investigated to address these two difficulties. Information created during the requirements engineering process is formalized as an ontology that also becomes a convenient model for transforming requirements into COSMIC Function Point Method concepts.
Method: A method is proposed to automatically measure the functional size of software by using the designed ontology. The proposed method has been implemented as a software application and verified with real projects conducted within the ICT department of a leading telecommunications provider in Turkey.
Results: We demonstrated a novel method to measure the functional size of software in COSMIC FP automatically. It is based on a newly developed requirements engineering ontology. Our proposed method has several advantages over other methods explored in previous research.
Conclusion: Manual and automated measurement results are in agreement, and the tool is promising for the company under study and for the industry at large.

• 出版日期2016-4