Automated Function Point Analysis

Research Proposed: Building off of the Phase I design effort, research is proposed to develop a novel impact analysis capability into the Software Change Impact Analysis Tool (SCIAT), for usage on large scale integrated systems to improve software analysis, improve estimation of software development metrics, and lower software lifecycle costs.Problem Statement: SCIAT is a software tool that objectively identifies all areas impacted by code changes (direct and indirect). It uses a combination of static, dynamic and test completeness analysis to automatically identify which regression tests need to be run and recommends modifications to tests to improve coverage of impacted areas after each build. While SCIAT provides the results for effective decreasing of software lifecycle costs, implementation on large scale integrated systems will require multiple simultaneous users, enhanced analysis of C++ source code and be designed for use as a distributed environment.Plan/Process Outline: The Phase I design supported numerous advancements to SCIAT including software development estimation and an approach to a client/server architecture. This design will be developed into an enhanced version of SCIAT, supporting multiple simultaneous users and tailored for the operational concept of large-scale integrated systems.