Since it is common for computer systems to interact with other computer systems and/or human beings, a boundary must be drawn around each system to be measured prior to classifying components. This boundary must be drawn according to the sophisticated user’s point of view. In short, the boundary indicates the border between the project or application being measured and the external applications or user domain. Once the border has been established, components can be classified, ranked and tallied.
One of the benefits of function point is analysis is creating ratios with other metrics such hours, cost, headcount, duration, and other application metrics. It is important the function point boundary be consistent with other metrics that are being gathered for the application and project.