Certification Of Reusable Software Parts

Executive Summary Improved system quality is often cited as a benefit of software reuse, but little work has been done to quantify this benefit. The software component certification strategy presented in this report is a framework for such a quantification. The main idea behind component certification can be stated quite simply: Having guaranteed that a specific set of quality guidelines have been adhered to in a set of components, it will then be much easier to verify the quality of a system composed of those components. The main questions one must answer about a certification scheme are: • How does one establish component quality guidelines for the various lifecycle work products? While reuse-oriented development is often thought of in terms of source code, it is important to consider the benefits of reusing other work products as well, such as specifications and designs. These are fundamentally different artifacts of the software development process, and a comprehensive certification scheme must be flexible enough to accommodate them. • Once component quality guidelines have been established, how can they be used to determine the quality of a system that incorporates them? A point central to the strategy presented in this report is that in order to establish component quality guidelines, one must first establish the quality requirements of all systems within a particular problem domain, and then work backwards. This underscores the importance of the domain analysis in the software process. • How can a certification strategy be established that will suit the unique needs of a variety of different organizations? The strategy presented here is not a set of specific quality rules, it is a framework, coupled with guidelines on how to derive such rules. The idea is to provide guidance on how to determine what quality attributes are important, and then use this knowledge to create certification criteria. As such, the strategy presented should be useful to any software development group. • How does an organization go about assessing the economic benefits of such a strategy? The fundamental assumption is that an organization must build systems to adhere to a set of quality standards, whether a component certification process is used or not. The claim made here is that a certification process will lead to reduced costs by encouraging component reuse, reducing quality assurance cost, reducing the amount rework required, and easing the maintenance process. The section of the report dealing with …