Empirical study of software component integration process activities

The component integration phase is key to component-based system (CBS) success because of its profound impact on the quality of a software product. However, CBS integration is a complex phase because it is rarely the case that components are perfectly matched and ready for ‘plug and play’. The component integration phase involves assembling pre-existing software components usually developed by different parties, and writing glue-code to handle the mismatches between CBS-to-be requirements and available component features. The objective of the study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of integration process activities on the overall success of a CBS. The empirical study also investigates the inter-dependency between the CBS integration process activities. A survey was developed and data from CBS practitioners working in small-to-medium-sized organisations were collected. The results show that ‘component functional specification’, ‘structural compatibility analysis’, ‘architectural model development’ and ‘early glue-code specification’ are integration process activities that have positive correlation with the successful development of a CBS. However, the results indicate that the ‘quality properties analysis’ is not carried out as an integration process activity by the majority of CBS practitioners during development of a CBS. Furthermore, the results of the survey also provide empirical evidence that there is a positive association between various key CBS integration process activities.