The use or reuse of software assets can increase productivity,
promote proven solutions and consistent architectures, reduce production costs,
and save time by eliminating duplication of design efforts. The Object Management
Group OMG®Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) documents a
consistent and effective method for packaging a software solution and sharing
it. This method forms the basis for a good asset-based development (ABD) strategy.
Using the RAS export capability in IBM® Rational® modeling tools to package
assets ensures that all referenced files are automatically captured with the
relevant models and projects, documentation, source code, and other development
artifacts that you want to share. You can then reuse assets on a casual basis
to quickly exchange your development files with a coworker, and you can package
assets for complex projects that take months to assemble, document, and organize.
The scope of a reusable asset is limited only by your design to meet your
customer's needs. Reusable assets can be stored in RAS-based asset repositories.
You can search a repository and select assets you need by matching asset keywords
and descriptions provided by the asset producers.