A Repository-Based Improvement Cycle for Reuse-Driven SDL System Development

Reusing software artifacts for system development has become a promising way for transferring existing knowledge into new projects. Yet, the benefits that can be achieved by reusing such artifacts strongly depend on their quality. Thus, the artifacts always have to represent the latest state of the art. This paper introduces an approach for systematically detecting and capturing the improvement potential of reuse artifacts in the context of SDL-based system development. In accordance with the reuse process of the SDL artifacts, an improvement cycle is established, which profits from the application of the artifacts in practice. The experience gained trigger the improvement of the artifacts. A reuse repository is defined, which stores the artifacts and interrelates them with further context information that is needed throughout our improvement cycle. Examples from several case studies are given to prove the validity of the approach.