Ten Steps Towards Systematic Requirements Reuse

• Authors: W. Lam;J. A. McDermid;A. J. Vickers
• Venue: RE '97 Proceedings of the 3rd IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering
• Year: 1997

Reusability is widely suggested to be a key to improving software development productivity and quality (Lim 1994; Sommerville 1996). It has been further argued (SPC 1992; Biggerstaff and Ritcher 1987) that reuse at the requirements level can significantly increase reuse at the later stages of development. However, there is little evidence in the literature to suggest that requirements reuse is widely practised. This paper describes ten practical steps towards systematic requirements reuse based on work at the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre for Rolls-Smiths Engine Controls Ltd (RoSEC) in the domain of aero-engine control systems. Using these steps, we have achieved the following: recognized and exploited requirements reuse via a 'families' view of engine control systems; developed a practical framework for evaluating reuse technology; used domain analysis as a means of recognizing issues and broader 'patterns' over and above that of individual requirements reuse; captured and treated parts of the requirements process as a reusable item in its own right; recorded the 'context' of reusable artifacts as a way of preventing reuse in inappropriate situations. We believe these steps have made a significant overall contribution to the 50% reuse figure quoted by the management at RoSEC for current projects within the BR700 family of engine controllers.