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30/09/2014 at 22:37 #1582Harold van HeeringenParticipant
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This Guideline provides an overview of the factors that influence the quality of a functional size
measurement, particularly a COSMIC size measurement, and advises how to organize the
measurement process so as to obtain accurate size measurements and/or to improve measurement
accuracy.Quality assurance actions aim to improve quality and to help achieve desired quality levels. In our
case a measurer’s quality aim will be to achieve a desired measurement accuracy level.
The desired accuracy of a measurement (see below for the definition of ‘accuracy’) will probably vary
with the project circumstances. Early in the life of a new software project, only an approximate
estimate of size may be possible, but it may still be of acceptable accuracy. At the other extreme, e.g.
in the context of outsourced software contracts where a measurement may at some time become a
matter of legal dispute, highly accurate measurements are likely to be essential.
In order to assure the desired accuracy of measurements, it is important to have both well-trained and
experienced measurers and an adequate and repeatable measurement process. Audits are also
necessary to check and to assure on-going accuracy.
In managing the measurement process, two main quality control efforts are essential. They are, in
order of importance:
· Error-prevention,
· Defect-detection.Error-prevention efforts concern three main factors1, namely assuring the:
· Quality of the measurer(s)
· Quality of the software artifacts
· Quality of the measurement process
Defect-detection that only identifies defects may not help much to prevent their re-occurrence. Rather,
audits should identify defects and determine the causes of the defects that have been made when
measuring. Systematically determining the root conditions and analyzing the causes of defects will
encourage those responsible to improve the measurement process and in future avoid time wasted in
audits and defect corrections. -
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