Function Point WORKBENCH™ Online Demonstrations

In addition to providing complete support all your Function Point Analysis requirements, CHARISMATEK's Function Point WORKBENCH™ also provides facilities and support for a range of issues related to software project and process management and control.

To provide WORKBENCH users with instruction on how to maximise the benefits that the WORKBENCH can bring to them and to their organisations, CHARISMATEK has begun a series of online demonstrations focussing on both fundamental and advanced WORKBENCH topics. Click on the hyperlinks below to view these demonstrations.

• Viewing an Existing Function Point Count

• Allocating Functionality to Project Releases to Satisfy Budget Constraints

• Refined Project Estimates Using Multiple Productivity Sinks

• Function Point Analysis of Use Case Specifications

• The Role of Function Point Analysis in an Agile Software Development Project

  • Part 1 - Project Initiation

  • Part 2 - Construction: Tracking Project Status

  • Part 3 - Construction: Managing Requirements Change

• Application Baseline Sizing using the WORKBENCH Approximator

• Early Life-Cycle Estimation Using ESP

The online demonstrations make use of the Adobe Flash Player Version 9.  Your web browser may request you to download the Flash Player plugin in order to display the demonstrations.

• Viewing an Existing Function Point Count 10 minutes (Adobe Flash format)
  
  This demonstration presents the Function Point WORKBENCH™'s fundamental features for displaying, analysing and reporting a function point count.

• Allocating Functionality to Project Releases to Satisfy Budget Constraints 11 minutes (Adobe Flash format)
  
  In a software project, functionality is often delivered via a number of project releases.  This may be done because of budget or schedule constraints or as a means to reduce project risk.
  
  In this example, we demonstrate the role of the Function Point WORKBENCH™ in helping to decide what functionality should be included in Release 1 of a software project to deliver a new Requisition Rejection System.  The example makes use of the WORKBENCH’s Quick Estimation Function to define a single Productivity Sink reflecting the developer’s standard project delivery and cost rates, in conjunction with Function Point Count Views defined using a number of Logical Transaction Labels.

• Refined Project Estimates Using Multiple Productivity Sinks 11 minutes (Adobe Flash format)
  
  In the past, top-down estimates of software project effort or cost based upon a project’s function point size typically combined that Function Point Size with a single productivity rate that reflected the productivity that was expected to be achieved across the entire project.
  
  In this example, we demonstrate how we can use the Function Point WORKBENCH™ to determine a more refined function point size based estimate by combining multiple productivity rates reflecting different delivery modes within a single project.  The example utilises four Productivity Sinks reflecting the expected productivity associated with different delivery modes, in conjunction with the WORKBENCH's Effort Estimation Report.

• Function Point Analysis of Use Case Specifications 14 minutes (Adobe Flash format)
  
  For a software project that is to be delivered using an object oriented approach, the project’s functional requirements are often expressed as a collection of use cases.  If Function Point Analysis is required for such a project then it is not unusual for the project’s use case specifications to serve as the basis upon which the Function Point Analysis is performed.
  
  In this example, we outline a systematic and straightforward approach for modelling the results of Function Point Analysis of a set of project use cases using the Function Point WORKBENCH™.  The approach focuses on ensuring that the Functional Model constructed in the WORKBENCH continues to reflect the individual use cases and use case packages described in the project’s use case specifications.  In addition to presenting the Function Point Size of the overall project, the approach also allows for quick and effective sizing of individual use cases or use case packages.

• The Role of Function Point Analysis in an Agile Software Development Project
  
  Agile is an approach to software development where developers deliver software in an iterative incremental manner, where developers and their clients work together collaboratively, where the focus is on delivering high quality working software not extensive specifications, and where it is understood that software requirements will change during the development process and that change is embraced by the software developers.
  
  In this series of presentations we show how the Function Point WORKBENCH™ can be utilised to add value throughout the Agile software development process.

  • Part 1 Project Initiation 13 minutes (Adobe Flash Format)
    
    This presentation focuses on the WORKBENCH’s role during project initiation for an Agile project. We show how the WORKBENCH can be used to:

    • Help project stakeholders model and agree upon the project’s high level scope and prioritized requirements stack;

    • Ensure alignment between the project and its business case by devising early project effort and cost estimates; and

    • Allocate the appropriate functionality to the project’s first construction iteration.

  • Part 2 Construction: Tracking Project Status 11 minutes (Adobe Flash Format)
    
    This presentation focuses on the WORKBENCH’s role during a construction iteration for an Agile project. We show how the WORKBENCH can be used to:

    • Model, and clearly highlight against the overall project scope, the scope of the functionality included within the construction iteration; and

    • Update, track and report on the status of that functionality at regular points throughout the iteration’s duration.

  • Part 3 Construction: Managing Requirements Change 14 minutes (Adobe Flash Format)
    
    This presentation continues to focus on the WORKBENCH’s role during a construction iteration for an Agile project.

    • We begins by showing how the WORKBENCH can be used to manage changing requirements within the iteration, with a particular focus on ensuring that those changes do not invalidate the iteration’s schedule and budget.

    • We then shows how the WORKBENCH can be used to track and report on both the evolving scope of the software to be delivered by the overall project and the total work performed throughout that project.

  • Application Baseline Sizing using the WORKBENCH Approximator 10 minutes (Adobe Flash format)
    
    An application function point size baseline is the size in function points of a software application. It quantifies the functionality that an application delivers to its users.
    
    In this demonstration we show how to utilise the Function Point WORKBENCH™ Approximator utility to quickly and effectively approximate the function point size of a software application and then how to store that approximated size in the WORKBENCH database as a Summary Level Function Point Count.

  • New: Early Life-Cycle Estimation Using ESP - Estimate Software Projects 10 minutes (Adobe Flash format)
    
    CHARISMATEK Software Metrics’ ESP - Estimate Software Projects is a straight-forward and easy to use web-based software utility for calculating early life-cycle estimates of software project delivery rate, effort and cost.
    
    In this demonstration we use ESP to calculate early life estimates for the planned Spatial Geo Assets System update 5.4 enhancement project.