There are several ways to measure the size of software projects. But some are more reliable than others. To ensure the precision of measures and estimates, Estimancy chose to use the Software Sizing method.

What is Software Sizing?

Software Sizing consists in measuring the amount of software to be developed according to technical or functional specifications. Actually, it is the amount of software to be developed that impacts the most the price of the software.

That amount varies depending on several factors: the technologies that are used and the technical components that were chosen to express the size (LOCs, widgets, screens, etc.).

Yet, functional measures such as IFPUG and COSMIC do not take technologies into account. They only measure the size of what the user asked for.

Software size

Thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, Estimancy Automated calculation of the size of the software to be developed measures the size of the software from specifications in natural language. Yet, that size relies on technical or functional components.

Thanks to our solution, you can:

• Avoid to call on a function points expert (after the training phase);
• save time;
• Answer faster quotation demand;
• Get more reliable function points estimates.

Technical size vs. functional size

However, the size of a software may be determined in two different ways: using the technical size or the functional size. First, the technical size represents the perspective of the developer. It is actually the technical size of the demand. It depends on technology and cannot be standardized. Then, there is the functional size, that represents the point of view of the user. It is actually the functional size of the demand. Unlike technical size, it does not depend on technology and complies with international standards.

The pros of Software Sizing

Thanks to software sizing, you can implement performance indicators such as:

• Productivity: amount of produced software in time,
• Quality: number of defects for a quantity of software,
• Maintenance cost according to the size of the application.

Reasons to implement performance indicators

Experience shows that the simple fact to implement a productivity measurement system enables to increase said productivity by 10%. Actually, teams turn to be more careful and motivated. They realize that a good productivity is critical for the company’s success. However, the productivity measure must come with an analytic approach and never focus on individuals.