A reuse-based software architecture for management information systems

The paper describes a software architecture for applications in the domain of management information systems (MIS). Using principles of software reuse and the architectural concepts introduced by D. Garlan and M. Shaw (1993), the paper describes the software architecture in terms of reusable components (of both and data) which provide domain independent and domain specific components for shared business functions. The architecture identifies the connectors between the components and gives rules that specify the constraints within which to apply the architecture. We describe the architecture using four "views" in order to help interpret the architecture for developers. We then implement the architecture with a set of architectural models in our CASE toolset; these models serve as reusable templates from which developers can instantiate their own architectural models. Designed to fully comply with Open Systems Environment standards and in use today on one of the US Army\´s largest information systems, this architecture has led to unmodified component reuse levels of over 20% as completion nears on the first 7 of as many as 60 projected applications.