Hi Gonçalo,

Software Units essentially reflect the size and complexity of applications and are somewhat equivalent to Function Points or Lines of Code. The key difference is that they express this complexity in the elements where the platform adds value by hiding such complexity from the developer (e.g., Javascript or SQL code which is hand-written does not count SUs).

This indeed means that the Software Units are computed by counting all elements of a given application (e.g., actions, references or entities) with a specific weight associated to their underlying complexity.

Attached you can find a short three page document that aims at better explaining it.

Best Regards,
Pedro Oliveira

 

Hi,

 

Let me add some additional information on this subject. As Pedro mentioned, Software Units are calculated by counting all elements of a given application, weighted by the associated underlying complexity. For those of interested in the details of the elements and their weights, you can check the attached document. It contains the weights applied to each type of element, as available in Service Studio.

 

Bear in mind also that you can check the Software Units consumption per eSpace in your Service Center. Logon to Service Center, go to "Administration" tab, "Licensing" sub-tab, and click the "Software Units" link. There you'll find the exact use of Software Units per eSpace.

 

Hope it helps better understanding the concept.

 

Best Regards,

Carlos Alves

Hi

Thanks for the useful information provided in this thread.

1 question in regarding SU's, some eSpace/solutions do not consume any SU's such as EnterpriseManager, RichWidgets, widgetlibrary etc

If the EnterpriseManager eSpace was modified and republish under the same name or different name would this then consume SU's?

 

Hi,

 

As a general principle, base eSpaces such as Enterprise, RichWidgets are WidgetLibrary are provided as is in open software so that everyone is able to customize them for specific needs.

 

For those eSpaces, the original implementation is redeemed from Software Unit consumption. So, in order to allow everyone to customize them, the Platform allows up to 10% additional Software Units as customization. When such limit is reached, the excess Software Units will be accounted for and presented in Service Center accordingly.

 

Cheers,

 

Carlos Alves

Hi Carlso

Thanks, ok so let me confirm this if enterprise-manager was customised, and exceeds 10% of customisation, only the customised components would accumulate as SU. Example if 20% of the enterprise-manager was customised only that 20% of customised components//SU's of enterprise-manager will be accounted for and presented in service center? (rather than the entire 100% of SU's).

Hi Robert,

 

 

Let's imagine EntepriseManager has 100 SUs. Then, you can customize and extend it up to 110 SUs (+10% of original) without having those SUs accounting for consumption in your license.

 

Once you customize or extend EnterpriseManager up to 111 SUs, the 1 extra SU will consume 1 SU from your license. If you customize it up to 200 SUs, then 90 SUs will be consumed from your license (200 - (100 + 100 * 10%)).

 

 

Cheers,

Rodrigo,thanks for clarifying this.

Hi,

Is there a new software unit table available for the 5.0 or 5.1 version?

I'm curious how many SU the BPM is consuming.

Kind Regards,
Evert

Yes there is.

You can find the table for 5.1 attached.

Hi,

Is there a new software units table for the 6.0 version?

Best Regards,
Nuno

Is there a new table for the 6.0 version?

It would be better if the table was in the downloads section, maybe in the "Technical Notes".

Thanks.

Hi,

The software units table for the Agile Platform is available in the Downloads section under Agile Platform/Agile Platform 6.0
or via the direct link https://www.outsystems.com/community/download.aspx?DocumentId=656

Cheers

Hi,

I could see that a "Role" is 100 SUs, but how much are permission areas? 

Cheers,
Hermínio Mira

Hi Hermínio,
in version 6.0 you don't have permission ares, you only have roles... that you can use the same way as permission areas.

Regards,
Carlos Rocha

Hi Carlos,

Thats for you guys "in the future", I'm still using 5.1 and the table for 5.1 should contemplate these.

Cheers,
Hermínio Mira

Hi Hermínio,
you are right they miss the permission areas, but since in 5.1 you don't have roles (actualy you have but not in service studio) and roles (6.0) and permission Areas (5.1) are simmilar thing, it seems like when they say Roles they mean Permisson Areas .

Regards,
Carlos Rocha

Hello Hermínio,

You were not clear about using version 5.1 in your first post...
Along with version 6.0 Software Units document OutSystems released documents for versions: 4.2, 5.0 and 5.1.
I checked version 5.1 and all others and it has Role instead of Permission Area, I think it is a typo.

Cheers,
André

If you're looking for the 7.0 version, here it is:
https://www.outsystems.com/community/download.aspx?DocumentId=755

You can find the SUs document for version 8 here:
https://www.outsystems.com/goto/Software-Units-8

Is there an automatic way to convert my Software Units to a Function Points approach?

Something like: I have 220.000 SUs, that is equivalent to 10.000 FPs.

Well,
They're different metrics... so there's not a full equivalence. However we found there is some correlation (with a considerable error).
On the average, for some examples we've checked, 76 SUs = 1 FP. But there's an average deviation of 12 (~16% error), which I believe will be higher depending on some patterns (e.g. very complex logic will increase SUs, but keep FPs a bit lower).
Even though this is not something you should use if doing a scientific research, it might help on getting a rough estimate.

Cheers.

Gonçalo, thanks for the information.

How did you get this average? How many projects? What kinds os projects? Is there a study on the web that explains those number?

Thanks in advance.

Hi João,
These numbers were taken of the OutByNumbers program. The ratio I mention is taken from 14 sample "installations" - with multiple apps/systems on each. I cannot tell which kind of projects. Some may be more process oriented, others more Screen-Data, other might include very complex business rules, but simple screens. 
As I mentioned, the metrics are different and take different things into consideration... So you should be careful in trying to derive a ratio to be used beyhond its statistical value.

Hope it helps
Thanks