Multiple criteria decision support for software reuse: A case study

In practice, many factors must be considered and balanced when making software reuse decisions. However, few empirical studies exist that leverage practical techniques to support decision-making in software reuse. This paper reports a case study that applied SMART (Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique) to a company that considered reuse as an option of reengineering its web site. The company´s reuse goal was set to maximize benefits and to minimize costs. After several rounds of rigorous analysis, the company identified the optimal reuse percentage, which was reusing 76-100% of the existing artifacts and knowledge. Our study shows that SMART is a valuable and practical technique that can be incorporated in an organization´s software reuse program.