Model-based reuse repositories-concepts and experience

Reuse repositories provide a wide range of assets that software engineers can use in developing systems to reduce the need for continual development of components that provide the same functionality. Most current reuse repositories are component based; they provide a catalogue of software components categorized by some scheme. An alternative to the component based repository is the model based repository, which provides a model of information built from the analysis of existing systems within the same domain. This domain model provides the basis for a domain specific software architecture (DSSA), which is a generic solution to the software requirements captured in domain analysis. The DSSA is used as a framework for organizing repository components. This organization includes a mapping between the requirements in the domain model and the specifications in the DSSA. The paper details a conceptual approach to the creation of a model based repository and discusses the development of one such repository-the CARDS Command Center Library (CCL). It is shown how a domain model, a DSSA, and requirements traceability provide the foundation for a model based reuse repository with support for automated system development achieving high levels of reuse, including reuse of requirements and design information. A discussion of the CARDS CCL shows how CARDS has followed this conceptual approach within the USAF Command Center domain.<
>