A model to evaluate the economic benefits of software components development

ABB is a multi-national corporation that is developing a new generation of products based on the concept of Industrial^IT. This concept provides a common integration platform for product interoperability. As Industrial^IT enabled products are developed across ABB, software reuse must be considered. Component based software development (CBSD) is an effective means to improve productivity and quality by developing reusable components. Measuring the economic benefits and performing sensitivity analyses of CBSD scenarios in the development of Industrial^IT products is important to improve efficiency. This paper presents a model that allows project leaders to evaluate a variety of software development scenarios. The model is based on a goal-question-metrics (GQM) approach and was developed at the ABB corporate research laboratories.