System Composition and Large-Grain Component Reuse Support

SCALE - 6334

Keywords software reuse, process modelling, process support environments

Start Date: 20 JUL-92 / Duration: 36 months

[ contact / participants ]

Objectives and Approach

The challenge in system construction is no longer in building new products from scratch, but in reusing and integrating existing components (ranging from large subsystem to complex/standardised software modules) supplied by different vendors, tailoring them to a specific market or architecture, and controlling the evolution of these products with respect to the evolution of the individual components. Such a strategy is widely used, and has strong impact on production processes, methods and tools.

The objective of the SCALE project is to support system construction strategies based on the intensive reuse of existing software components (ranging from fine-grain components to large-grain software products).

SCALE is developing and will demonstrate:

• a set of product and process models for configuration management, system construction and change control.
• a set of process support environments for supporting configuration management, system construction, change control, and system composition.

SCALE will assess through internal case studies and demonstrators projects:

• the benefit of the models and support tools developed in terms of fitness of purpose, user acceptability, and overall quality (functionality, usability, reliability and performance).
• the further advances required from both the technological and human factors points of view.

The project will focus on configuration management, system construction, change control and reuse support. Real-life demonstrators and case studies based on industrial system engineering projects are being carried out as a central part of the work.

Progress and Results

The major results of the activities carried out in the first year of the project are the following:

• the definition of the requirements of the final process support environment
• the definition of the global architecture of the final process support environment
• the delivery and demonstration of the first prototype of the environment supporting configuration management.

Further information about SCALE is available from the SCALE home page <URL:http://www.pisa.intecs.it/projects/SCALE/>.

CONTACT POINT

Mr Ferdinando Gallo
INTECS Sistemi SpA
Via L. Gereschi 32-34
I - 56100 Pisa
tel: + 39 / 50 545 111
fax: + 39 / 50 545 200
email: nando@pisa.intecs.it

Participants

INTECS SISTEMI SPA - I - C
BULL SA - F - P
ADR-CRISS - F - P
GIE-EMERAUDE - F - A
LOGICA LTD - UK - A
SFGL - F - A
INRIA - F - A

SCALE - 6334, December 1993

please address enquiries to the ESPRIT Information Desk

html version of synopsis by Nick Cook