Limitations of Function Point Analysis in Multimedia Software/Application Estimation

Abstract

Till date the Function Point Analysis (FPA) was and it is mostly accepted size estimation method for the software sizing community and it is still in use. In developing the software system, software projects cost plays very important role before it is developed in the context of size and effort. Allan J. Albrecht in 1979 developed the FPA, which, with some variations has been well accepted by the academicians and practitioner (Gencel and Demirors in ACM Trans Softw Eng Methodol 17(3):15.1–15.36, 2008) [1]. For any software development project, estimation of its size, completion time, effort required, and finally the cost estimation are critically important. Estimation assists in fixing exact targets for project completion. In software industry, the main concern for the software developers is the size estimation and its measurement. The old estimation technique—line of code—cannot solve the purpose of size estimating requirements for multilanguage programming skill capabilities and its ongoing size growing in the application development process. However, by introducing the FP, we can resolve these difficulties to some degree. Gencel and Demirors proposed an estimation method to analyze software effort based on function point in order to obtain effort required in completion of the software project. They concluded that the proposed estimation method helps to estimate software effort more precisely without bearing in mind the languages or developing environment. Project manager can have the track on the project progress, control the cost, and ensure the quality accurately using given function point (Zheng et al. in estimation of software projects effort based on function point, IEEE, 2009) [2]. But, the use of multimedia technology has provided a different path for delivering instruction. A two-way multimedia training is a process, rather than a technology, because of that interested users are being benefited and have new learning capabilities. Multimedia software developer should use suitable methods for designing the package which will not only enhance its capabilities but will also be user-friendly. However, FPA has its own limitations, and it may not estimate the size of multimedia software projects. The characteristics and specifications of multimedia software applications do not fall under FPA specifications. The use of FPA for multimedia software estimation may lead to wrong estimates and incomplete tasks which will end up into annoying all the stakeholders of the project. This research paper is an attempt to find out the constraint of function point analysis based on highlighting the critical issues (Ferchichi et al. in design system engineering of software products implementation of a software estimation model, IMACS-2006, Beijing, China, 2006) [3].