Measure the functional size of a mobile app

Using the COSMIC functional size measurement method

Heeringen, H. van, Gorp, E. van

This paper describes a way the COSMIC [1] measurement method could be applied to measure the functional size of mobile apps. Mobile apps are a fairly new type of software applications that are installed on mobile devices, usually a smartphone or a tablet. There are some important differences between traditional software applications and mobile apps, and these differences are the reason that a measurer has to make a number of assumptions and choices when doing the measurement. In this paper, these assumptions and choices are explained and the authors propose a way future COSMIC measurements of mobile apps could be carried out. In addition, an ‘approximate’ method is proposed that can be used to size mobile apps in a fast and accurate way.