The Economics of Software Reuse. Version 01.00.00
Abstract
Much attention has been paid to software reuse in recent years because it is recognized as a key means for obtaining higher productivity in the development of new software systems. Also, software reuse has provided the technical benefit of reduced error content and thus higher quality. The primary economics benefit of software reuse is cost reduction. Reuse of an existent software object generally costs much less than creating a new one. An earlier Consortium technical report (Cruickshank and Gaffney 1990) presented an economics model of the Consortium's Synthesis system for systematic software reuse. This report extends this work. The reuse economics model presented here should be regarded as a tool to aid in the exploration of the economics benefits of software reuse but not as an algorithm that covers all possible cases of reuse. The framework provided will aid the analyst and the project manager in making economics decisions about software reuse. The model covers various topics, including the effect of various strategies of investing in the creation of reusable software objects (RSOs), the cost effects of reusing requirements or design in addition to the costs of reusing code, and the effects of reuse on software quality.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA262316
Entities
People
- John E. Gaffney Jr.
- Robert D. Cruickshank