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SELECTING COTS VENDOR IN CBSE PROCESS
THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF USING COTS ARE
INCREASED PRODUCT RELIABILITY AND STABILITY, AT
SHORTER DEVELOPMENT TIME AND REDUCED
COST.
WHAT IS COTS ?
Commercial-Off-The-Shelf
There is no agreed definition
“ COTS are products:
that are sold, leased or licensed to the general public;
that is usually available without source code;
that is supported and evolved by the vendor who returns the intellectual property rights ”
Software Engineering Institute
Need For Vendor Selection Process
In an effort to reduce implementation, operating, and maintenance cost and time Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) based software development has been considered as an alternative strategy to in-house development. However, using COTS packages introduces various burdens, including COTS evaluation, assessment, familiarization, and vendor interaction. The central problem is how to select a desirable COTS software package vendor that can be easily incorporated into an existing corporate information technology (IT) infrastructure.
COTS DEFINITION
COTS Definition
software product, supplied by a vendor, integrated into the system to provide
operational functionality or delivered with the system to sustain
maintenance efforts. COTS encountered
Domain specific packages for attitude and orbit determination, mission control, mission planning
Goal
Understand issues in COTS based development and improve the process
To improve itproposed process(1995)the actual process (1996-7)new proposed process (1998-9)
What Makes COTS-Based Systems Challenging?
COTS-based systems come in many forms
One substantial product (suite) tailored to provide functionality
Multiple products from multiple suppliers integrated with other components to collectively provide functionality
A solution based on COTS products includes
COTS-based system (composed of tailored COTS products, other components, integration code)
end-user business processes associated requirements, architecture, cost/schedule/risks
COTS Vendor Selection Criteria
Main Dimensions of COTS Selection
1. Domain coverage
The components have to provide all or part of the required capabilities, which are necessary to meet core essential customer requirements.
Non-functional requirements play a critical role during the assessment process. In some cases, extra new components need to be developed to meet the shortfalls.
2. Time Restriction • Selection is a time consuming activity, where a
considerable amount of time is necessary to search and screen all the potential COTS candidates.
3. Costs Rating • The expenses when selecting COTS products will be
influenced by factors such as: license acquisition, cost of support, adaptation expenses, and maintenance prices.
4. Vendor Guaranties • Vendor reputation and maturity, number and kind of
applications that already use the COTS, clauses characteristics of the maintenance licenses.
COTS Selection Process
Requirements Design Coding
Make vs. BuyRequirements analysisCOTS identification and selectionFeasibility study
Design glueware and integration Incompatibility analysis
Integration
Glueware, interfaces
Review make vs. buy
COTS Vendor Selection Process
Phase 1: Form an Evaluation Team
Identify team members (technical experts, subject matter experts, end users, etc.) Identify stakeholders (funding customers, business owners, etc).
Phase 2: Apply Team Non-Software Process
Define objectives and goals Set timescale and effort needed Identify tasks to perform Determine due dates / milestones Identify risks, benefits, trade-offs Identify multiple strategies Present Plan to Stakeholders Agree on process of addressing issues discovered during project
Phase 3: Identify COTS criteria
Gather the functional and non-functional requirements. Differentiate the “must-have” from the “nice-to-have” in the requirements Define selection criteria for Level I COTS filter
Address the vendor qualification (reputation, financial status, ranking among competitors)
Address product quality
Address the inter-operable factors with regards to either the organization’s current IT infrastructure or other third party components at a high level
Address any pre-conception of the architecture of the system and the COTS software package (e.g., it uses a middle-ware web server and a back-end database system)
Phase 4: Apply Level I Filter to COTS products using published vendor information
Obtain list of COTS software products to evaluate Obtain public information on the products Apply the Level I COTS filter to products
Interview in-house developers and users, if applicable
Perform analysis (trade-offs, and rank)
Identify COTS candidates for further evaluation Develop Level II COTS filter Map feature requirements to product requirements Define measurable factors for each of the product requirements Create use case scenarios based on the functional requirements
Current problems with COTS-Based Development
Products from different vendors have to be integrated and tailored to provide complete system functionality
Customers have limited access to product´s internals design
COTS lifecycle is determined by vendor.
The importance of the Selection Process
Includes the understanding of user requirements
Careful analysis of the capabilities and limitations of each COTS candidate
Assessment of products´ quality
Selection Process Challenges
Lack of well defined process
Use of inappropriate evaluation criteria
Back-box nature of COTS components
Unclear system expectations
Rapid rate of changes of COTS