The Reuse Group's Services

The areas in which the Reuse Group offers services include but are not limited to:

Our Services (Details)

We specialize in helping organizations re-engineer current software development processes and develop appropriate strategies, organizational structures, incentives, and technology transfer approaches for reuse. A more detailed description of our reuse service offerings is below:

Reuse Business Strategy

Guidance in deciding on, deliberately choosing, and implementing reuse as a software development strategy. Presentation of case study data on the improved quality, productivity, and shortened time to market (reduced cycle time) achieved through successful software reuse.

Reuse Management Training

Training for all management levels and disciplines, covering the definition of software reuse; the evolution of the reuse concept, the benefits and costs of reuse; critical success factors; overcoming obstacles to successful reuse; the strategic and competitive role of reuse in the organization; implementation strategies for successful reuse; organizational structures for successful reuse, the role of finance in successful reuse; the need for internal marketing to support the reuse effort; legal issues; and measurement and tracking of the impact of reuse on the organization and its strategic and tactical goals.

Reuse Adoption and Institutionalization Process

Mentoring an organization through the process of adopting and institutionalizing software reuse. This includes the activities of deciding on reuse, planning for reuse, creating a vision for reuse, developing and executing an implementation strategy and measuring success.

Reuse Assessment

Implementation of a Reuse Assessment, an analytical and diagnostic method for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data on software development with reusable components. The assessment benefits the participating organization by providing an analysis of the reuse infrastructure, and a set of recommendations for improving the organization's reuse program.

Reuse Economics

- Cost/Benefit Analysis

Determination of whether a reuse program is economically viable for the organization at this time; which reusable components should be created; and the sequence that they should be created. Creation and application of reuse economic models to determine the cost/benefit, return-on-investment, payback, and breakeven times of a reuse component or program.

- Funding and Pricing

Identification of appropriate funding techniques ranging from charge-per-reuse to a centrally charged system. Determination of appropriate transfer prices, charges and financial incentives among internal organizations for an assembled product or service, for reuse across organizations.

Reuse Metrics

- Metrics Framework

Identification of metrics, including economic, library, process, product, and component metrics, to measure the effectiveness of reuse and the impact of reuse on the organization's goals and objectives.

- Case Study Data

Presentation of data on the improved quality, productivity, and shortened time to market (reduced cycle time) achieved through software reuse. Also available are data on the additional development and documentation effort required by phase to create a reusable component.

Reuse Organizational Structures

Identification and implementation of appropriate reuse organization structures through a reuse organizational framework and case studies of seven reuse programs.

Reuse Staffing

Determination of organizational roles, responsibilities, training, and incentive mechanisms needed to achieve successful reuse. Development of appropriate selection criteria for personnel, educational requirements, and motivational techniques for implementing and sustaining successful reuse.

Reuse Engineer Training

Training for engineers covering reuse processes, design for reuse,design with reuse, reuse metrics, reuse libraries and tools.

Reuse Legal Issues

Education of organizations with respect to legal rights, liabilities, and obligations of reusing and leveraging software.

Domain Modeling

Facilitating in Service-Oriented Domain Analysis (SODA). SODA is a proactive process for creating domain models from business analysis. The models developed are useful for architectural planning, reusable asset management, and business strategy planning.

Reuse Libraries and Tools

Implementing and planning an organizational reuse library. Determining the appropriate representation methods, search and display schemes, configuration management and entry/exit criteria. Description of the advantages and disadvantages of tools that enable reuse such as application templates, generators, and subroutine libraries.

Reuse Processes

Baselining the organization's current processes and developing a plan for reengineering these processes to support software reuse. Such processes would enable the production, consumption and brokering of reusable assets.

Reuse Methodology

Customizing an organization's software development methodology to make all activities, structures, use of tools, and methods both conducive to and supportive of software reuse.

Standardizing for Successful Reuse

Identification of the requirements for standards in the organization to be enable successful reuse. Determination of appropriate criteria for standards within the environment, establishment of processes and methods for standards selection and implementation, and education of the organization in effective use of standards and their need in achieving successful reuse.

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