Web Advice Module Case Study: Using COSMIC in a Service Oriented Architecture

With version 3.0, the COSMIC functional size measurement method reached maturity, offering a stable framework for detailed documentation of the method. The most detailed level of documentation is the Case Study, a fully documented functional size measurement of a piece of software. For the understanding and propagation of the COSMIC method it is important to have Case Studies available from all domains of applicability of the method. At present, only a limited number of case studies are available. Most of the available case studies come from domains where first generation functional size measurement methods have never been applied. The COSMIC working group from the Netherlands Software Metrics Association (NESMA) has produced a Case Study about a web service in the business application domain. This is a domain where first generation functional size measurement methods are frequently used and where there is a struggle how to use these methods to size web services as separate components within a Service Oriented Architecture. The new Case Study illustrates the use of the COSMIC method in a Service Oriented Architecture. It offers to measurement professionals a detailed example on how to size a web-based business application using the COSMIC method.