What is the IFPUG?
According to its brochure, the International Function Point Users “is a membership governed, non-profit organization committed to promoting and supporting function point analysis and other software measurement techniques.” It appears to have been organized in 1986, when a group of American companies decided that they wanted to pursue the use of function point analysis without being associated with IBM or its GUIDE association. They must have gotten someone from Canada involved so that they could call themselves international. In any case, their membership is still primarily North American. Quoting from their brochure again, “IFPUG maintains the Function Point Counting Practices Manual, which is the recognized industry standard on FP analysis.” There is no disputing this. Early releases of the document were reviewed by Alan Albrecht and found to be consistent with his ideas regarding function points.
