Metrics and measurement : A Metric is a measurement of the degree that any attribute belongs to a system, product or process. For example the number of errors per person hours would be a metric. Thus, software measurement gives rise to software metrics. A measurement is an indication of the size, quantity, amount or dimension of a particular attribute of a product or process. For example the number of errors in a system is a measurement. A Metric is a quantitative measure of the degree to which a system, system component, or process possesses a given attribute. Metrics can be defined as “STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT”. Software Metrics are used to measure the quality of the project. Simply, Metric is a unit used for describing an attribute. Metric is a scale for measurement.
Need of Software measurement:
1. Establish the quality of the current product or process.
2. To predict future qualities of the product or process.
3. To improve the quality of a product or process.
4. To determine the state of the project in relation to budget and schedule.