5. Number of External Inquiries

External inquiry (EQ)is a transactional function that accepts data from outside the boundary of the application under consideration and uses it to retrieve (but not derive or calculate) data to be sent outside the boundary of the application. The external inquiry is unique if the input/output combination is unique or the processing logic is unique. Input typically takes the form of identifiers or key values and output is generally data listings or reports (without calculated data). The inquiry does not modify data.

Complexity	Description
Low	A combination of low external input type and low external output type
Average	The external inquiry type not conclusively low or high
High	A combination of high external input type or high external output type

Processing Complexity Traits

Once the user identifiable function types are weighted and counted, the unadjusted function point counts can be computed. General complexity levels are considered for 14 traits to adjust the standard processing measure for complexity. Each of the 14 traits is ranked for degree of influence on a scale ranging from 0 (not present or no influence) to 5 (strong influence throughout). The traits are described as follows:

Trait	Description
Data Communications	The degree to which communication facilities are required for the application
Distributed Functions	The existence of distributed functions in the application
Performance	The degree to which performance is a critical issue
Heavily Used Configuration	The installation of the application on current equipment that is heavily used
Transaction Rate	The measurement of the transaction rate
On-line Data Entry	The complexity of on-line data transactions with consideration to the number of screens and functions
End User Efficiency	The degree to which on-line functions promote end user efficiency
On-line Update	The use of on-line updates to master files
Complex Processing	The amount of complex processing. Complex processing may have many control interactions and decision points, a significant number of logical and mathematical equations, or extensive exception processing
Reusability	The evaluation of code in terms of reusability
Installation Ease	The degree to which the application is easily installed
Operational Ease	The proficiency of the application's general operations such as startup, backup, recovery, and shutdown
Multiple Sites	The number of installations of the application across diverse organizations or sites
Facilitate Change	The appraisal of the application in terms of how easily it accommodates user modifications such as providing a flexible query facility or functions for setting and maintaining user-defined parameters

The adjusted function point count for the system is a product of the unadjusted function point count and the value adjustment factor.

The measurement of functionality can be used to generate an estimated source lines of code (SLOC). Based on an estimate of the average number of lines required to build one function, an approximate SLOC can be obtained by multiplying the number of function points by the functionality estimate for a selected programming language such as C, C++, COBOL, etc.