Review By: Carol A. Dekkers
09/11/2002

This book provides an introduction and context for applying function point analysis (FPA) in software development and presents the function point (FP) counting rules from the International Function Point Users Group’s (IFPUG) Counting Practices Manual Release 4.1. The book consists of sixteen chapters and is structured so that the first five chapters are overview materials covering such topics as software measurement, using function points effectively, and software industry benchmark data. The next five chapters are devoted exclusively to the IFPUG rules (and the authors’ advice); four chapters are devoted to illustrating FP case studies (case studies in counting, counting advanced technologies, counting a GUI application and counting an object-oriented application). Chapter 15 presents the authors’ analysis of what constitutes “good” tools; and the final chapter is a mock exam intended for readers who are preparing to take the IFPUG Certified Function Point Specialist (CFPS) exam. The book concludes with a series of appendixes including forms, answers to the mock exam, and frequently asked questions (FAQ).

If your needs include gaining an understanding about function points and how they fit into the grand scheme of software measurement, you may gain value from this book. While one-third of this book’s main pages contains rules out of the IFPUG Counting Practices Manual Release 4.1, the rules are interspersed with experience and opinion. Those readers who are only looking for an overview of the rules together with illustrative case studies will likely be unconcerned. However, the seamless intermingling of fact and opinion could be confusing to FP practitioners or CFPS exam candidates.

The prior release of the book in 1996 was titled Managing the Software Process, and fortunately, this sequel expands on the original premise. Besides updating the 1994 IFPUG rules (IFPUG 4.0) to the current 1999 rules (IFPUG 4.1), positive aspects to this edition include case studies that outline the authors’ proposed solutions to counting issues such as Query/Report Generators (which were excluded by the IFPUG Counting Practices Committee from the current 4.1 release); ideas about counting software developed with newer technologies; and a new practice exam intended for CFPS candidates.

If you are looking for a book to provide you with information about Software Quality Assurance (0 pages on Q/A, 0 pages indexed by the term “software quality,” 8 pages where the term “quality” is found), or about Software Testing (one testing metric is presented, otherwise “testing” is mentioned only in Appendix B as questions are posed to categorize projects), this book will not satisfy your thirst for knowledge.

In summary, is it worth the $39.95 US ($59.95 CDN) price tag for the book? It really depends on your needs—it offers the pure IFPUG 4.1 Function Point rules.