ABSTRACT
Introduction Organizations faced with the difficulties and costs associated with the development of software have turned to the reuse of existing software or using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software as an option. Reuse, whether involving home-grown or COTS components, certainly promises lower cost, better quality, a decrease in risk, and the potential for a less stressful development process. Many such efforts succeed, but the promises of decreased cost and risk are not always realized. Requirements, algorithms, functions, business rules, architecture, source code, test cases, input data, and scripts can all be reused. Architecture is a key for reuse.1
