Software Reuse

Major Issues Need to Be Resolved Before Benefits Can Be Achieved Gao ID: IMTEC-93-16 January 28, 1993

The Pentagon estimates that expenses for developing and maintaining software for automated information systems now top $24 billion a year. To contain costs and improve the development of high-quality software, the Defense Department (DOD) has turned to software reuse--the practice of developing new applications from existing software. This report provides background information on software reuse, including an overview of issues that can inhibit effective software reuse and information on DOD's strategy to implement a departmentwide software reuse program.

GAO found that: (1) developing and maintaining software in organizations such as DOD is costly, and software reuse could both reduce such costs and increase software productivity and reliability; (2) technical issues involved in software reuse include domain analysis, software component classification, repository interoperability, software adaptation, and software metrics; (3) an organization must make a business decision to incorporate software reuse into the development process and gain management support and commitment; and (4) uncertainties in legal and acquisition policies involving intellectual property rights and liability hinder software reuse and need to be modified to better promote reuse.



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