CAST, a software analysis and measurement company, has recently announced that the French administration has selected CAST’s Automated Function Point counting platform as its standard for automated software throughput measurement.
The CAST platform was selected by the French State Procurement Service for measuring the output of application development and maintenance contracts. CAST is now the default solution for all ministries in the French administration to measure the quantity of new and incremental software using the Function Point metric.
When combined with development workload or contractor invoices, this will allow for a standardised measure of Application Development & Maintenance (ADM) throughput and performance.
The French administration has been forced to raise visibility and control over the cost and value of IT projects due to the government’s deficit reduction efforts. The Function Point offers a standardised measurement unit that can be benchmarked. The Object Management Group (OMG) previously announced the standardisation of the Automated Function Point, contributing to broader adoption of this unit of measure for ADM performance management.
Function Points must be counted manually for project estimation but can be automated for existing applications and minor or major enhancement work. The OMG standard is based on Consortium for IT Software Quality recommendations and the IFPUG (International Function Point User Group) counting manual.
Dr . Richard Soley, chairman and CEO of OMG said: "The adoption of the OMG Automated Function Point standard by the French State confirms that standardized, consistent automation is a game changer for productivity measurement. Becoming consistent, repeatable, reliable and increasingly affordable over time, Function Point measurement is about to pass from craft to manufacturing."
