Ravi Prakash Gorthi, Vikas Bajpai, and Saurav Anand
Software performance estimation, software response-time estimation, non-function point analysis (NFPA)
It is not sufficient to build software applications that meet only the functional requirements. It is equally important that they meet the non-functional requirements (NFRs) too. Typically, the NFRs are validated at the end of functional testing phase and if they are not met with, the process of correction is costly and often has limited success. If there is a model and an associated set of techniques to estimate the non-functional attributes, to a satisfactory degree of accuracy, early in the life cycle of software development, such a model can immensely help the software project teams to make early corrections. In this paper, the authors present a novel model and associated techniques termed as NFPA (Non-Function Point Analysis). The NFPA model and associated techniques aim to offer (i) a framework to analyze the analysis-phase models (UML Use-Case Activity Diagrams, Data-Flow Diagrams and Entity-Relationship Diagrams) and (ii) a systematic procedure and associated techniques to estimate the non-function points and thereby the possible values of response-times of different business transactions. These response-times are estimated using Least Square Approximation because the equations formed from the past projects are over determined. The proposed model is presented in detail and is explained using two case studies. The results, which are encouraging, are discussed. Paper concludes by giving suggestions for possible future research work.
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