NFPA: A NEW MODEL FOR ESTIMATING RESPONSE-TIMES OF SOFTWARE TRANSACTIONS

摘要

It is not sufficient to build software applications that meetrnonly the functional requirements. It is equally importantrnthat they meet the non-functional requirements (NFRs)rntoo. Typically, the NFRs are validated at the end ofrnfunctional testing phase and if they are not met with, thernprocess of correction is costly and often has limitedrnsuccess. If there is a model and an associated set ofrntechniques to estimate the non-functional attributes, to arnsatisfactory degree of accuracy, early in the life cycle ofrnsoftware development, such a model can immensely helprnthe software project teams to make early corrections. Inrnthis paper, the authors present a novel model andrnassociated techniques termed as NFPA (Non-FunctionrnPoint Analysis). The NFPA model and associatedrntechniques aim to offer (i) a framework to analyze thernanalysis-phase models (UML Use-Case ActivityrnDiagrams, Data-Flow Diagrams and Entity-RelationshiprnDiagrams) and (ii) a systematic procedure and associatedrntechniques to estimate the non-function points and therebyrnthe possible values of response-times of different businessrntransactions. These response-times are estimated usingrnLeast Square Approximation because the equationsrnformed from the past projects are over determined. Thernproposed model is presented in detail and is explainedrnusing two case studies. The results, which arernencouraging, are discussed. Paper concludes by givingrnsuggestions for possible future research work.