Monitoring the Software Asset : Repository Evaluation of Software Reuse

Traditionally, software management has focused primarily upon cost control.Today, with the emerging capabilities of computer aided software engineering (CASE)and corresponding changes in the development process, the opportunity exists to viewsoftware development as an activity that creates reusable software assets, rather than justexpenses, for the corporation. With this opportunity comes the need to monitor softwareat the corporate level, as well as at that of the individual software development project.Integrated CASE environments can support such monitoring. In this paper we proposethe use of a new approach called repository evaluation, and illustrate it in an analysis ofthe evolving repository-based software assets of two large firms that have implementedintegrated CASE development tools. The analysis shows that these tools have supportedhigh levels of software reuse, but it also suggests that there remains considerableunexploited reuse potential. Our findings indicate that organizational changes will berequired before the full potential of the new technology can be realized