Reuse in Software Development Organizations in Latvia

Abstract- The paper presents the results of a survey, which aims to investigate the field of software reuse in software development organizations in Latvia. The topic has a particular significance since reuse may provide some economic benefits by reducing software development and operating costs, and by efficient utilization of development knowledge and corporate expertise. The objective of the study is to identify the key factors to be considered by the companies interested in establishing a software reuse program, thus improving time-to-market, costs and quality of software products by ingraining reuse into the entire software development process. Twenty factors organized into four categories were considered important within the framework of the survey. The results were obtained through the questionnaire involving software organizations in Latvia, whose responses were analyzed and used to relate the characteristics of organizations with their reuse experience. As a result, the influence of the selected factors on the success of the reuse is evaluated using four different levels (strong, weak, none, no data). Additionally, the paper includes review of related researches and comparison of the results. In conclusion, the author provides suggestions for the improvement of the reuse in Latvian software development organizations on the basis of the survey