Scenario-based black box testing in COSMIC-FFP: A case study

Abstract

The functional size measurement method, COSMIC-FFP, adopted in 2003 as the ISO/IEC 19761 standard, measures software functionality in terms of the data movements across and within the software boundary. It focuses on the functional user requirements of the software and is applicable throughout the development life cycle, from the requirements phase up to and including the implementation and maintenance phases. This article extends the use of COSMIC-FFP for testing purposes by combining the functions measured by the COSMIC-FFP measurement procedure with a black box testing strategy. Such a testing strategy leverages a COSMIC-FFP advantage, that is, its applicability during the early development phase once the specifications have been documented. This article also investigates the applicability of a functional complexity measure, based on entropy measurement, for assigning priorities to test cases and, ultimately, applying those concepts in a case study.