To overcome some of the early issues with function point measurements, a group of experienced software measurement experts formed the Common Software Measurement International Consortium (COSMIC). The COSMIC standard defines rules and principles for measuring software's functional size (Almakadmeh, Al-Sarayreh, & Meridji, 2018). The COSMIC method differs from the traditional function point method, as the focus is on data movements such as input, output, and data storage that characterize most software development efforts (Di Martino, Ferrucci, Gravino, & Sarro, 2016).
The COSMIC method is a second-generation function point method proposed to overcome a few shortcomings of the function point method. The COSMIC process counts data movements classified into data entry and exit points, which are input-output movements, and read and write of data to storage (Almakadmeh et al., 2018). Each data movement is one COSMIC function point of size in a software application. COSMIC function points are the sum of the sizes of the functional processes (Abualkishik & Lavazza, 2018). The higher the number of data movements, the more significant is the size of the software.