We all work in environments in which government funding is stretched, program resources are syphoned, disparate applications are waiting on future. Descriptive statistics analysis was used to rank the identification techniques according to their importance. Testing cots systems evaluation testing in parallel. Course objectives the objective in this course is to identify the unique challenges of using cots products in software intensive systems and to cover a range of topics and techniques to enable you to be successful when using cots products in your system or project. Pdf assessment and evaluation of cots software products has become a. This coordinate system can be used descriptively for example to relate different approaches to cots software evaluation, or prescriptively as a tool for improving practice by focusing on key evaluation issues, and the techniques that address these issues. Cots project management strategy from a state government. When the cots product is primarily implemented for backoffice systems oracle peoplesoft, sterling commerce, etc. A formal process for evaluating cots software products. The purpose of this paper is to present a discussion of proposed evaluation techniques used to select cots software components for systems development, to describe appropriate testing techniques for cots candidates, and to propose an evaluation system which will provide support to ensure timely selection of suitable cots products. Security considerations in managing cots software cisa. Survey and data collection was conducted in jordon. Dec 14, 2006 cots products are commercial offtheshelf software and hardware. Any package implementation operation will involve a degree of configuration and code development.
The business unit could buy a software product from among a number of vendors called commercial offtheshelf software or cots, eliminating most software development except for what is necessary to configure and deploy it in your environment. This can inform highlevel decisions on specific areas for software improvement. Casm version control product selection unpublished project at the. Selecting a commercial off the shelf cots software product is usually a demanding process. Employing commercial offtheshelf cots software products as components in largescale longlived systems has been proposed as a way to reduce both implementation and operating cost for the user communities. Resources for the evaluation of commercial offtheshelf cots software. What requirements to specify for cots and saas projects. Citeseerx document details isaac councill, lee giles, pradeep teregowda. Cots software evaluation techniques semantic scholar. Building new systems is highprofile, difficult work that receives appropriate attention, but it operations of an organization rely most.
As the commercial market provides increased diversification of software products each with uncertain pedigree, there is a critical need for cots software evaluation techniques to analyze and compare the fit or misfit between. Cots project management strategy from a state government pmo perspective. So there is a need of evaluation of cots products before procuring them for software reuse. A formal process for evaluating cots software products a s government agencies and businesses become more dependent on commercial offtheshelf cots software products to automate tasks, the ability to determine product quality and suitability has become increasingly important. A formal process for evaluating cots software products computer. Kung, chitkwan lin, youngjune gwon school of engineering and applied sciences harvard university abstractwe are interested in estimating the angle of arrival of an rf signal by using commercialofftheshelf cots software.
A sister of cots, the saas or softwareasaservice where the commercial solutions are made available over the web, with no hosting or installation required, has made these solutions even easier to implement technically. But this necessity introduces new problems and changes for all levels of the organisations both from the business point of view. A management guide to software maintenance in cotsbased systems. Testing is not easily done, for instance, and a large part of understanding of the component depends on the vendors claims for the product. Cots testing is best way of evaluating the cots products. Human resources hr, retail point of sale, case management, finance etc. It describes changes in the software maintenance process that are needed to manage a cotsbased system. From system requirements to cots evaluation criteria. The following documents were referred to by epa officials as they decided on the requirements for an erm product to test in a pilot project.
Our research is concentrated in the area of physical evaluation of candidate products, that is, actual testing of the products themselves. A successful implementation of a commercial offtheshelfintensive software system can save programs money if you have the right solution and understand the potential risks involved. The purpose of the requirements analysis phase is to transform the needs and highlevel requirements specified in earlier phases into unambiguous measurable and testable, traceable, complete, consistent, and stakeholderapproved requirements. The number commercialofftheshelf cots software options have increased exponentially in recent years. Social technical approach to cots software evaluation. I first started working on cots software products and their integration with other systems back in the 90s when working for a large systems integrator. Boehm confirms that the usage of cots products has increased significantly in building software systems during the last decade. This research paper aims to discuss the empirical study and analysis on current practices and benefits of cotsbased system cbs from jordan organizations perspectives.
Use these four evaluation criteria to help you choose the perfect business solution. A field evaluation hsiehchung chen, tsunghan lin, h. Results can then be compared within a software evaluation matrix. Some techniques for soliciting information from vendors. Analyze software requirements software requirements analysis is a critical part of the software development process, although too often this activity is overlooked or glossed over in the rush to start building software. See rfp evaluation template for a quick and easytouse template. Vendor evaluation matrix template vendorsub project managers technical architects development leads processfunctional leads. Criteriabased assessment mike jackson, steve crouch and rob baxter criteriabased assessment is a quantitative assessment of the software in terms of sustainability, maintainability, and usability. The techniques discussed are software wrapping, compatibility and regression testing, contract based. It applies to a variety of areas of technology and provides substantial benefits for evaluation teams and their government sponsors. In particular, the use of commercial offtheshelf cots products as elements of larger systems is becoming increasingly commonplace, due to shrinking budgets. Performing organization name and address united technologies research center 411 silver lane east hartford, ct 06108 10.
Request pdf cots software evaluation techniques employing commercial offtheshelf cots software products as components in largescale longlived systems has been proposed as a way to reduce. As adapted from timing the testing of cots software products, the streams of evaluation testing would focus on the following. The limitations of current decisionmaking techniques in. Forecasts had that figure rising in 1998 to around 28. Cots based integration institute for software research. Evaluation theory, development of a new decision making technique by. Most implementations do not identify testing as an independent function required during the implementation of the cots product. While this may be the case, the actual benefits have not been confirmed. This article is one of a series covering cots commercials off the shelf lifecycle model methodology, also know as package software. The background fundamentals for that evaluation process, as well as steps and techniques to follow, are described in this report. Cots software selection process sandia national laboratories. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the current practices, mechanisms and techniques for evaluating and selection cots software in real industries. One of these is the need to evaluate candidates cots systems early in the development life cycle. The limitations of current decisionmaking techniques in the procurement of cots software components.
In this regard, the formulation of evaluation criteria and the corresponding assessment methods developed for commercialofftheshelf cots components may be. In a later paper we will provide a detailed examination of the intersection of the. Analyze software requirements software requirements analysis is a critical part of the software development process, although too often this activity is overlooked or glossed over in the rush to start building. Standardized technology evaluation process step users. From which, the optimum software vendor can be shortlisted or selected.
Performance techniques for cots systems cots components can provide much of the functionality of distributed information systems. Software evaluation guide software sustainability institute. Commercial offtheshelf software includes such products as the microsoft office suite, which includes word for word processing, excel for spreadsheets, access for building databases, and other applications. Periodically reexamine cots products for opportunities to optimize user processes. The use of commercial offtheshelf cots software is increasingly becoming a necessity for many european organisations. Electronic records management guidance on methodology for.
The standard technical evaluation process step developed in g024 outlines a rigorous process for technology evaluations of one or more cots products. Brusse qss group, incorporated nasa goddard space flight center greenbelt, md 20771 phone. While this paper is specifically focused on software, the discussion here pertains equally to software services instantiated as hardware productsappliances for functions like search or firewall. The limitations of current decisionmaking techniques in the. Other types of cots software are for organizational level systems rather than office or personal use. During the requirements analysis phase, the agency will conduct any procurement needed for the project. These components range from standalone elements, such as a web server or database system, to platform software or an operating system, to embedded functional components, such as a calendar manager or an inventory. Dec 17, 2014 what is cots commercial off the shelf cots or commercial off the shelf software, also known as package software refers to a software application that is specifically designed to meet the needs of particular business type e. Cots commercial off the shelf lifecyle model methodology. Determining rf angle of arrival using cots antenna arrays.
However, using cots packages introduces various burdens, including cots evaluation, assessment, familiarization, and vendor interaction. Keywords commercial offtheshelf, cots, software, evaluation 1 introduction in modern cotsbased systems development we need to. Sampson nasa goddard space flight center greenbelt, md 20771 phone. Not only does it require clear objectives and goals, but also a dedicated group of key stakeholders with substantial business process insight.
This approach has advantages in terms of cost and software components for systems development, to describe time because it results in a more directed evaluation of. It arises because of the gap between stateofart which represented by many methods that published in literature for evaluating and selecting cots software and stateofpractice which. Defense technical information center compilation part notice. Evaluation takes time, study, understanding and a holistic view of current and future needs. It describes changes in the software maintenance process that are needed to manage a cots based system. Iso 25051, isoiec 25051 software engineering software product quality requirements and evaluation square requirements for quality of commercial offtheshelf cots software product and instructions for testing, first ed international standards organization, geneva, 2006. Use these four evaluation criteria to help you choose the. They report on a recent experience in selecting a complex commercial offtheshelf software system to be compliant with over customer requirements, and.
The complete concolic execution of cots oses would never terminate in a reasonable amount of time due to the wellknown limitation of the symbolic execution, state or path explosion, where the number of feasible program. A management guide to software maintenance in cots. A basis for evaluation of commercial software sciencedirect. Overviewinformation technology tends to focus on new systemsthe processes for designing, developing, testing them, and making them secure has been the subject of thousands of books and the focus of hundreds of processes. Commercial offtheshelf cots avionics software study. Vendor evaluation matrix template vendorsub project managers technical architects development leads processfunctional leads change management leads bpr leads importance definitions definition detailed description high. An evaluation of the parts and assurance methodologies jay a. This approach forms the basis of our online sustainability evaluation, a webbased assessment you can use straight out of the box. Commercialofftheshelf cots based software development has been considered as an alternative strategy to inhouse development.
This is especially true of techniques for evaluating cots products. It considers the issues and risks in using cots software over the life cycle and how to control them. The central problem is how to select a desirable cots software. Adopting commercial offtheshelf cots products or packages like erp, crm, and hr management systems to fulfil a range of enterprise functions is a crucial decision involving huge investment. Pdf from system requirements to cots evaluation criteria. Dynamically reflect results of cotsbased tradeoffs in the requirements description.
These are products that are readymade and sold as packages. A process for cots software product evaluation july 2004 technical report santiago comelladorda, john dean, grace lewis, edwin j. Five commandments for successful cots package testing. Paper presented at pmi global congress 2011north america, dallas, tx. Our criteriabased approach is a quantitative assessment of the software in terms of sustainability, maintainability, and usability. A process for cots software product evaluation carnegie mellon. Evaluation takes time, study, understanding and a holistic view of. The use of commercial offtheshelf cots software products as components of. Employing commercial offtheshelf cots software selection.
This 2004 report focuses on cots product evaluations conducted for the purpose of selecting products to meet a known need in a system. Rfi rfp responses may be evaluated using points scoring criteria and scorecards. Association for information and image management aiim. A software system called descots description, evaluation and selection of cots component developed by grau includes various tools to support the cots component selection process. In this paper, a survey of various techniques used for testing cots is presented.
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