PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ, September 27, 2007 –For the first time, the winner of the annual Innovation Works! Award was presented at the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG)’s Second Annual International Software Measurement & Analysis (ISMA) Conference and Workshops, held September 9–14 at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The First Annual Innovation Works! Award, sponsored by the David Consulting Group, was presented to Tania Skinner from the Intel Corporation. She was awarded the honor after an objective panel voted on numerous papers prior to the conference.
The Second Annual ISMA Conference and Fall Workshops began with three days of educational workshops that help prepare IFPUG members for the Certified Function Point Specialist and Certified Software Measurement Specialist exams, which were also given on site. These sessions were followed by a three-day software measurement and analysis conference offering presentations in the following tracks: Function Points, Metrics, Process Improvement, Data Analysis, Project Management and Software Estimation.
Other highlights of the ISMA conference included keynote speeches from industry innovators. Stephen Few, author of Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten and Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data, exposed the problems of poor data presentation through a host of typical examples, while also showing alternate examples of clear, accurate and efficient communication. Dr. Rick Hefner, Director of Process Management for Northrop Grumman Corporation, provided in-depth discussion on measurement strategies in the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) on Thursday, followed by a second featured speaker, Sabrina Jackson. Although not affiliated with the software industry, Jackson ‘s inspiring presentation entitled True Colors about the importance of developing people skills drew waves of laughter from the audience and proved to be one of the most well-attended sessions of the conference.
“ According to our attendees, Las Vegas was a very popular destination, offering us all a chance to learn about changes in our industry and also a place to network and have fun as well,” said IFPUG President Mauricio Aguiar. “I also congratulate Tania on winning the firstInnovation Works! Award. We commend her on a job well done.”
Attendees visited exhibits from Charismatek Software Metrics, David Consulting Group, Prometric and Q/P Management Group during Wednesday’s Vendor Fair. International sponsors of ISMA also included Charismatek Software Metrics, David Consulting Group, Q/P Management Group and TI Métricas.
IFPUG promotes the effective management of application software development and maintenance activities through the use of Function Point Analysis and other measurement techniques and provides the only industry recognized certification program for function point proficiency.