Function Points FAQs

Indentification of DETs Which Cross the Boundary

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ISSUE

When is a DET considered to have entered or exited the application boundary?

GENERAL DISCUSSION AND RESOLUTION

There has been some confusion created in the counting examples provided in the Release 4.1 manual about when a DET, which enters or exits the application boundary, should be counted.

The recommended guidelines are as follows:

  • Count according to the defined rules and their intent, and not the 4.1 examples where inconsistencies have been identified. Any DET which is entered (keyed by user or appears as a field in an input record layout), or displayed, or printed, or written to an output file, as part of an elementary process, is considered to have crossed the boundary, and will be counted.
  • For EI batch functions triggered 'internally', count the DETs according to the resolution adopted in Section 4.1.5, Batch Functions and Release 4.1.
  • For all other DET rules count as per IFPUG i.e.
    • count one DET for control DETs e.g. Enter Keys and System Messages.
    • Don't count fields retrieved or derived and stored on an ILF, if the fields did not cross the application boundary.

NOTE: Before the field/attribute can be counted it must satisfy the IFPUG DET definition.


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