Metrics Matters

E - J O U R N A L O F T H E A U S T R A L I A N S O F T W A R E M E T R I C S A S S O C I A T I O N

November, 2004

The e-Journal of the Australian Software Metrics Association, circulated to membersAustralia wide.

ASMA Nationalwww.asma.org.au

e-mail:info@asma.org.au

The Publishere-mail:

Metricsmatters@asma.org.au

Metrics Matters November 2004 www.asma.org.au2

Welcome

This issue we look at the recentAustralian Conference onSoftware Measurement (ACOSM2004) held in Melbourne. Ourpartner this year was theAustralian Computer Society(ACS). Congratulations to theACOSM organisers Robyn

Lawrie, Paula Holmberg and RobynSmith and many others from bothASMA and ACS who contributed tothe production of an interesting andinsightful conference.

Tom McBride gives us a perspective onthe Professional Certification ofSoftware Engineers and what might beinvolved, and Brian Nelson explainsthe use of "Operational" size to betterquantify the size of some types ofsoftware.

As always, feedback on either thecontents or the format of the MetricsMatters e-Journal is always welcome.Please email comments tometricsmatters@asma.org.au.

Best Regards,

Sophia Poulos

Editor/Publisher

ContentsASMA/SQA NSW Merger 3

New Zealand Software Metrics

Association (NZSMA) - off and

running 3

ASMA Monthly Poll Results 4

ACS 2004 Incorporating ACOSM 2004

Conference 5

Conference Photo-Journal 7

Certification for ICT Professionals 8

Using Operational Size in the Real

World 12

ASMA Products 18

ASMA Contacts 19

About Metrics Matters 19

Contributions 19

Last Words 20

Sophia Poulos

Metrics Matters November 2004 www.asma.org.au3

ASMA/SQA NSW MergerOpen Letter from ASMA/SQANSW Chairman, Helen Aitken

The NSW chapter of ASMA has nowformally merged with SQA (NSW).

Over the past few years we have beenworking very closely together and nowwill merge completely. Our philosophyis to have one meeting a month with aninteresting speaker. Speakers are from arange of backgrounds and often provokesome significant discussion. Many of thespeakers provide notes which can befound on our websitewww.ozemail.com.au/~sqain.

As well as speakers, we endeavour toprovide a monthly newsletter withthought provoking ideas. Our aim is tohelp members learn something about thelatest industry trends - I am very awarehow easy it is to concentrate on workand forget about the bigger industrypicture. Speakers this year have includedWatts Humphrey, Sue Scully from SEAand Andrew Cowie who gave a veryinteresting talk on the impact ofSeptember 11 on his office which wassituated a block or so away from the twintowers in New York. We have also had anumber of local speakers, againproviding thought provoking discussions.

We are very aware that many memberswant different things and are constantlyasking our members for suggestions. Weupdated the SQA website last year andsince then have attracted a lot of newmembers and inquiries including onefrom a Nigerian bank with suspiciousdetails.

We are now running two mailing lists,currently on Yahoo, one for fullmembers who get the magazine and one

for full members and any otherinterested parties who get the flier andthe odd e-mail with regards to requestsfor surveys etc. I find the people on thissecond list frequently ask for moreinformation and / or progress to be fullmembers. Please let me know if youwish to be put on our interestedparties e-mail list.

In Sydney, SPIN, ASMA and SQA havebeen running some joint meetings everyyear since SPIN was started in 1996. Thephilosophies of the three organisationshave been different but the committeeshave always been in close contact andhave shared meeting and speakerinformation. When we discussed themerger with members, one Sydney SQAmember who had recently moved toMelbourne asked why the variousMelbourne groups didnt shareinformation and meetings too.

Helen AitkenASMA / SQA NSW chairmanhelenaitken@ozemail.com.au

New Zealand SoftwareMetrics Association(NZSMA) - off andrunning

The Inaugural Meeting of the NewZealand Software Metrics Associationwas held on 27th October 2004.

According to Alan Henskie from EDS,"nineteen people from four differentcompanies were represented and there

Metrics Matters November 2004 www.asma.org.au4

[was] interest from at least sixteen othersfrom another three companies".

At this stage the group will be organisedfairly informally until member numbersincrease.

NZSMA have created a group on Yahoocalled NZSMA. To subscribe to thisgroup, please send an email to NZSMA-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Tocontact the list owner, send an email toNZSMA-owner@yahoogroups.com.The Group name is NZSMA, and thehomepage is located athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/NZSMA

The next meeting of the association willbe on 9th February 2005 in Wellington,New Zealand. If you would like to attendthe next meeting of the NZSMA, pleasecontact either Richard Johnston(richard.johnston@eds.com, 04-474-5649) or Alan Henskie(alan.henskie@eds.com, 04-474-5890)before the event.

ASMA Monthly PollResultsBy David Cleary, ASMA NationalPresident

To vote in the current ASMA monthlypoll, visit the ASMA website atwww.asma.org.au.

Results for June 2004:

As expected, ASMA's first monthly pollhighlighted the dominance of 'IFPUGFunction Points' as the most popularsoftware sizing metric with 15 votes.

Interestingly, and despite its welldocumented limitations, 'Lines of Code'still came in second place with 4 votes. Acontributor to this may well be thecontinuing availability of varioussophisticated 'Lines of Code' basedestimating methods such as COCOMOand SLIM.

The other metrics to receive multiplevotes were 'Use Cases' and 'DataEntities', both with 3 votes.

While much has certainly been writtenabout leveraging the 'Use Cases'specifications for use in projectestimation, it is usually deemed necessaryto have some additional normalisingmechanism to address the variation insize between individual 'Use Cases'. Itwould be very interesting to know,therefore, how the 'Use Cases' werebeing utilised as a sizing metric in thesesituations.

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ACS 2004 Incorporating ACOSM 2004 Conference

By Sophia Poulos, IBM Global Services

The Australian Conference on SoftwareMetrics (ACOSM) 2004 was jointlyhosted by the Australian ComputerSociety (ACS) and ASMA.

With the theme "Sharing ideas andpractical experience", the conferenceachieved its dual aims of bringing thesoftware metrics community and thebroader ICT community together in a

shared forum.

David Cleary, ASMA National President - gives the openingaddress at the Banquet dinner.

Key Note SpeakersThe keynote speakers were of a very highstandard. Ben English from Microsoftlooked at security issues in the ITIndustry, Barry Jones covered thesupport (or lack) of the IT Industry fromboth government and academic agencies.Gerry McGovern talked about theturnaround of the Irish IT industry frombackwater to a real Europeanpowerhouse. Gerry's key message was"embrace globalisation".

Another trend Gerry noted was thatinformation is invaluable, is a processand can point to a measure of success.Information should promote action.

Also, that information is "like milk" andcan quickly "go off" if not used. This isin contrast to the past where informationwas treated "like gold" and hoarded.

In this age, lots of data is coming toconsumers, and there is a tendency for"information overload", so that themessage to consumers is not beingabsorbed. The solution is to minimiseinput while maximimising output.

There are new roles being defined suchas Knowledge worker and Informationmanager to cope with the growth inmanagement of "knowledge".

Finally, Gerry summarised some keyinitiatives that should be undertaken toensure success in this information-richenvironment. Referred to as the 6 C's

Care Understand what thecustomer cares about

Compelling The message given must becompelling

Clear The message given must beclear

Complete Must bring the consumer toan action

Concise Smallest number of wordspossible

Correct trust is fundamental anddependent on accuracy

Another keynote speaker, ProfessorMichael Myers, spoke to the challengesfacing the implementation of enterprise

Key NoteSpeakers:Ben EnglishHon. Dr BarryJonesGerry McGovernProf MichaelMyers

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wide applications and the challengesfaced by implementing systems in apolitically-sensitive environment. Referto Mark Exalls comment on Prof.Michael Myers key note presentation inthis e-Journal (see Last Words).

Global Offshoring PanelOne of the more controversial sessionsof the conference related to a panelsession discussing the question of globaloffshoring. There were a number ofeminent people on the panel discussionfrom government, media, ACS andcorporate areas.

The message was that global offshoringwas here to stay and that the Australiansoftware industry needs to accept thisreality and manage this impact. Globaloutsourcing is driven by customerrequests and is part of the "globalisation"of industry.

Off Shoring Panel Discussion, (from left), Graham Philipson,Gary Ebeyan, Karl Reed, John Gwyther, Eward Mandla, IanDennis.

It was suggested that the Australiangovernment could be doing more topromote the IT industry overseas, so thatAustralia is seen to be more than a"tourist destination". And that furthergovernment support could be given tosupport the IT industry as has been thecase in other small countries such asJapan, Sing