The main purpose of this paper is to describe the design objectives that were set when work started on developing the COSMIC method of measuring a functional size of software requirements, the problems that were tackled during the development and some measurement results that demonstrate that the method has met its objectives. The paper begins by setting two main general objectives for software measurement, namely to help control software activities and to estimate future activities. Various approaches to software size measurement are described and the reasons are given why the COSMIC method was developed. The method is briefly described, followed by an account of advances by the COSMIC community. The paper concludes by discussing the main technical challenges that must still be tackled (principally measurement automation) and the organizational challenges (principally gaining a wider acceptance of the benefits of software measurement).

Software metrics are not widely used and trusted, especially by senior IT management. We should not be surprised at this given that much that much published material is worthless, even dangerous. This talk is designed to alert everyone to the wide range of reasons for this state of affairs. I recommend several practical, simple steps to raise the level of professionalism, which is vital if software metrics are to be taken more seriously.

The purpose of this workshop is to provide an opportunity for practitioners of the COSMIC method and newcomers to learn about the latest developments and thinking in the evolution of the COSMIC method. Each topic will be introduced via a presentation with an invitation to ask questions at any stage.

The COSMIC method provides a standardized way of measuring the functional size of software from the functional domains commonly referred to as 'business application' or 'Management Information Systems' (MIS) and 'real-time' software, and hybrids of these. In practice it is often sufficient to measure a functional size approximately. Typical situations where such a need arises are early in the life of a project, before the functional user requirements ('FUR') have been specified down to the level of detail where the precise size measurement is possible or when a measurement is needed, but there is insufficient time or no need to measure the required size using the standard method. The guideline describes the current state of the art with regard to approximate COSMIC functional size measurement. All proposed COSMIC approximation methods rely on determining some average of the size(s) and/or number(s) of functional processes. The fact that the size of a single functional process has no upper finite limit is probably the reason why multiple COSMIC approximation methods have been developed for different types of software. Therefore the guideline describes a number of approximation methods with their pros and cons, their recommended area of application and their validity, rather than document a single COSMIC approximation method.

The method of function point analysis was developed by A. J. Albrecht (1979) to help measure the size of a computerized business information system. Such sizes are needed as a component of the measurement of productivity in system development and maintenance activities, and as a component of estimating the effort needed for such activities. Close examination of the method shows certain weaknesses, and the author proposes a partial alternative. A description is given of the principles of this Mark II approach. The results are presented of some measurements of actual systems to calibrate the Mark II approach, and conclusions are drawn on the validity and applicability of function point analysis generally.>