Patent ID: 8234634

Claim:
A method executed on a computer for consuming reusable software assets, each asset being customizable according to a decision tree having a plurality of decision points that provide guidance to a user in navigating the decision tree, said assets being described using a structural language comprising elements and attributes, with some of the elements being variable elements, with each variable element containing at least one variant element, said method comprising: the user indicating that he wants to consume one selected asset, wherein the decision tree is embedded in the selected asset; the computer traversing the decision tree, wherein each decision point of the decision tree is codified as a variable element of the selected asset, by reading a description of the selected asset, and processing each decision point of the decision tree by: providing the user with the variable element associated with the decision point including the at least one variant element of the variable element; collecting from the user a modification of the variable element; modifying the variable element in accordance with the modification of the variable element collected from the user; and storing the modified variable element to form a modified asset description.