Abstract

Practitioners and researchers are currently investigating reverse engineering as a means of leveraging system reengineering and maintenance efforts. This article illustrates the utility of reverse engineering new systems, using as an example a commercial, client server system. We describe the motivations for, approach to, and results of reverse engineering a new system from PeopleSoft (see Enterprise Software side bar). The reverse engineering was a preliminary implementation activity that was designed to derive unavailable metadata describing the PeopleSoft system architecture. The derived metadata was maintained in a repository and used in subsequent implementation activities. An important finding was that, maintained in a normalized format, the three metadata types (describing system, workflow, and data structures) effectively assisted system implementation. This case study contributes both theoretical and practical insights, broadening the perceived utility of reverse engineering.

Reference

Peter Aiken, Ojelanki Ngwenyama, and Lewis Broome "Reverse Engineering New Systems for Smooth Implementation" IEEE Software. March/April 1999 16(2): 36-43.

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