COSMIC software sizing
The COSMIC method is an internationally standardized software sizing method. More specifically it is a method of measuring a ‘functional size’ of software. ‘COSMIC’ stands for the Common Software Measurement International Consortium, a grouping of software measurement experts from around the world who, in 1998, saw the need to improve on traditional function point methods.
The method developers describe it as a ‘second-generation’ method, since, in contrast to traditional function point methods, the COSMIC method is:
the first functional size measurement method developed to conform to the standard ISO/IEC 14143/1:2003 on this subject
designed based on fundamental principles of software engineering and measurement theory, using concepts so that it is easily applicable to business application, real-time and infrastructure software
completely ‘open’. All the method documentation (measurement manual, guidelines, case studies, etc.) can be down-loaded, free of charge, from
www.cosmic-sizing.org [1]. The measurement manual is available in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish. The current version 4.0.1 of the measurement manual has been released early 2015.
The COSMIC method can be used (as per the aim of all other Software Sizing methods):
to provide a measure of the size of a software development or enhancement project’s work-output that may be used to derive performance measures such as ‘productivity’ (= size/effort), etc. As the size measure depends only on the required functionality and is independent of any technology used, such measures can be used to compare performance across projects using different technologies
for use as the primary input to methods for estimating project effort. The ability to measure a software size from its requirements is especially valuable early in the life of a software project. Benchmark data to support COSMIC-based project estimating can be obtained from
www.isbsg.org [2]
Given these economically important uses, it is vital to have a software size measurement method that is well-founded, reliable and easy to use. The COSMIC method is now in widespread use around the world.
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