Cambuci: A service-oriented reference architecture for software asset repositories

Abstract

Reuse of assets results in faster execution of a software project. Considering the importance of repositories to support reuse of assets, we highlight the benefits of using Reference Architecture (RA) to facilitate the development of repositories. Reference architectures of repositories found in the literature are specific to a particular type of asset or represent only some functionality, and they do not fully meet the expected results of the Reuse Asset Management Process of ISO/IEC 12207. This paper presents a service-oriented reference architecture for software asset repositories, named Cambuci. For this, the systematic process ProSA-RA for supporting definition of reference architectures is used. In order to investigate the quality of the Cambuci’s description, we conducted two evaluations. The first based on a checklist and the second based on one instantiation of this RA. From the results obtained, we observed improvement opportunities in the description of Cambuci and the support offered by it in the development of repositories.