A Process for COTS Software Product Evaluation

Abstract

A Process for COTS Software Product EvaluationComella-Dorda, S.; Dean, John; Morris, E.; Oberndorf, P.Contact us / Contactez nous: nparc.cisti@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca. Abstract. The growing use of commercial products in large systems makes evaluation and selection of appropriate products an increasingly essential activity. However, many organizations struggle in their attempts to select an appropriate product for use in systems. As part of a cooperative effort, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and the National Research Council Canada (NRC) have defined a tailorable software product evaluation process that can support organizations in making carefully reasoned and sound product decisions. This paper describes that process.

A Component Selection Framework for COTS Libraries

“…Other processes propose new steps in order to facilitate selection. For example, PECA [13] adds an extra phase : evaluation planning. It consists in choosing the people responsible for the evaluation of candidates and the techniques they will use.…”

Uncertainty Explicit Assessment of Off-the-Shelf Software: Selection of an Optimal Diverse Pair

“…Other assessment methods include: CISD (COTS-based Integrated System Development) [4], STACE (Socio Technical Approach to COTS Evaluation) [10], CDSEM (Checklist Driven Software Evaluation Methodology) [3], CRE-COTS-Based Requirements Engineering Method [6], CEP (Comparative Evaluation Process Activities) [7], CBA Process Decision Framework [8], A Proactive Evaluation Technique [19], CAP-COTS Acquisition Process method [5], Storyboard Process [11], Combined Selection of COTS Components [12], PECA Process [13] or COTS-DSS [14].…”

“…An initial and essential part of component based software development is the assessment of available COTS components. There exist a plethora of available methods for COTS assessment [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]. An often overlooked aspect in the existing assessment techniques is the inherent uncertainty in the values of the parameters being assessed.…”

Progress of Commitment in Co-operative Software Acquisition

“…It is widely acknowledged that more than half of all systems fail (Goulielmos and Paraskevi, 2003). Besides the shortage of resources like finances, time (Richie and Brindley, 2005), knowledge (Proudlock M., Phelps B. and Gamble P., 1999) and skills (Comella-Dorda S., Dean, J., Morris E. and Oberndorf P., 2002), the actual nature of software adoption is not understood in the right way (Marchand and Hykes 2006). The acquisition of a software product cannot be taken as a traditional investment with its initial costs and repayment period.…”