Evaluation of a Systematic Approach to Requirements Reuse

Abstract

The benefits of reusing artifacts in the software development process are well-known in the software engineering community, and the earlier in the system development life-cycle reuse is attempted, the more benefit can be expected. Thus, we highlight the reuse of requirement specifications, leading to greater reuse of other artifacts such as models, code and tests. This paper presents an approach to the requirements reuse, supported by a tool that gives suggestions for reuse from requirement patterns, a patterns catalog and traceability between requirements. The efficiency and effectiveness of the approach were evaluated using a quasi- experiment in a university. We conducted a quantitative evaluation of the approach, and an assessment of participants' perceptions regarding the use of the approach and the computational tool. Finally, we performed a qualitative assessment using the GQM method, from the point of view of experts in the area of requirements engineering, in order to obtain more indicators of the feasibility of applying the approach in companies. The results of the quasi-experiment indicate that the approach presented makes the activities of requirement elicitation and specification about 40% more efficient and effective in terms of the way they are conducted, without the support of the approach. Regarding the perceptions on the use, the experimental group positively evaluated the proposed approach and the developed tool. Based on the evaluation by the GQM method, indicators were obtained that the approach assists in activities of requirement elicitation and specification, from the point of view of experts.