The ISMA 2025 conference of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) “landed” in Asia for the first time in decades with a hybrid edition organized together with KOSMA (Korean Software Measurement Association), under the motto “Beyond Limits: Unlocking IT Power with Smart Metrics”.
The event, sponsored by Quanter, took place at the EL Tower in Seoul and brought together global leaders in software measurement, technology industry leaders and those responsible for public and private projects, also thanks to the streaming broadcast. ISMA 2025 focused on the Strategic use of functional and non-functional metrics in artificial intelligence projectsconsolidating measurement as a pillar for transparency, productivity and efficiency in IT development.
The president of IFPUG, Roopali Anand Thaparwas in charge of opening the conference with her keynote “Estimating AI Agents Using Function Point Analysis (FPA)”. In his presentation, he highlighted how Function Point Analysis (FPA) can be applied to estimate intelligent agents, capable of learning, reasoning and interacting, allowing more measurable, traceable and controllable AI projects. “AI without metrics is like driving without a dashboard. “FPA gives us visibility, allows us to anticipate and make better decisions,” Thapar noted.
AI superpowers at ISMA 2025
Another of the highlights of ISMA 2025 was the intervention of Julian GomezDirector of Marketing & Partnerships at IFPUG and Chief Digital & AI Officer at Quanter, with the talk “AI Superpowers to Enrich Software Development”. Gómez shared with the more than 300 attendees of this edition, both in person and online, how AI can boost each stage of a project’s life cycle: from capturing requirements and estimating effort and cost, to the automatic generation of test cases. A powerful planning tool that improves quality and speed of delivery, without losing control over scope.
ISMA 2025 focused on the Strategic use of functional and non-functional metrics in artificial intelligence projects
The Korean KOSMA delegation presented multiple use cases that reflect how Korea has institutionalized functional measurement in its public IT ecosystem:
- Heungshik Kim: Application of requirements-based FPA in public projects
- Bonghyun Jo: Review of functional sizing in project supervision
- Hyunjin Roh: IT audits with functional points in the public sector
- Jongsung Kim: PF-based software repositories for development and operation
“Functional points are not just numbers, they are public trust converted into smart contracts” Bonghyun Jo stressed.
These presentations showed a pioneering model in the region: using metrics as an instrument of governance and transparency in public projectsimproving the relationship between cost, scope and quality. In a particularly innovative block, Saurabh Saxena and Sushmitha Anantha explored the measurement of conversational AI systems with their talks “Functional Measurement – AI Chatbot” and “Non-functional Measurement – AI Chatbot”.
They demonstrated how function points (FPA) and SNAP They allow quantifying both the transactional behavior of chatbots and their non-functional requirements (performance, security and user experience), opening the way to more realistic estimates in this type of projects.
The closing session of ISMA 2025 was led by Yong-goo Lee with the talk “User Views in a Function Point World: Preparing for the AI Era”. Lee argued that metrics must evolve to reflect not just lines of code or functionality, but also the voice and experience of end userssomething essential in AI-powered products.
