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30 programming languages ranging from basic assembly through PL/I and Ada
through application generators.
SPR came close to receiving venture capital, but the venture group attempted
to change the terms of the agreement the day before the planned signing date. The
revised terms were unacceptable, so my wife, who was also on the board, and I
rejected the venture terms.
As an alternative to venture funding, SPR opened up a profitable consulting
practice that combined software process assessments with software benchmark
data collection. It is socially and technically interesting that SPR was carrying out
formal software process assessments 1 year before SEI was incorporated.
Upon his retirement from IBM, Albrecht, the inventor of function points, came
to work at SPR in 1986. Function point metrics were just beginning their expan-
sion, and IFPUG had just moved from Canada to the United States.
SPR used function point metrics for both estimating and software benchmarks,
with considerable success in both domains. While working at SPR, Albrecht de-
veloped the first certification examination for IFPUG function point analysts. This
exam has, of course, been updated as the counting rules have changed but remains
in use today.
SPR continued to be a hybrid company with a consulting group and an estim-
ating research and development group. The data collected from consulting eventu-
ally led to a third business: carrying out expert witness tasks in litigation for breach
of contract lawsuits or for cases involving taxation of software assets.
For example, a major tax case involved the value of the software portfolio of
EDS when it was acquired by General Motors. A major breach of contract case
was between the State of California and Lockheed over a system that was sup-
posed to keep track of payments for dependent children. Still another interesting
case was between Accenture and the Canadian government over an increase in re-
quirements, which led to a payment dispute. Function points were used in this case
to prove that the extra features had indeed been commissioned by the client and
that the costs were indeed outside the scope of the original contract.
Charles Douglis was brought in as Chief Financial Officer of SPR and was soon
made President, while I served as Chairman of the board. Charles's excellent fin-
ancial background led to ten straight years of profitable growth, culminating with
the sale of SPR to Artemis Management Systems in 1998.
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