The work described in this paper is an investigation of COTS-based software development within a particular NASA environment, with an emphasis on the processes used. Fifteen projects using a COTS-based approach were studied and their actual process was documented. This process is evaluated to identify essential differences in comparison to traditional software development. The main differences, and the activities for which projects require more guidance, are requirements definition and COTS selection, high level design, integration and testing. Starting from these empirical observations, a new process and guidelines for COTS-based development are developed and briefly presented. The new process is currently under experimentation.

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Abstract. Software products are an everyday phenomenon. Yet, there are very few scientific studies reported on the engineering of software as a product in particular. This paper stipulates the urgent need for more research on product software. The various terms used for software products are reviewed and some categorizations of software products are presented. Moreover, we provide a software product development framework to position the key business domains in a product software company. 1

The work described in this paper is an investigation of COTS-based software development within a particular NASA environment, with an emphasis on the processes used. Fifteen projects using a COTS-based approach were studied and their actual process was documented. This process is evaluated to identify essential differences in comparison to traditional software development. The main differences, and the activities for which projects require more guidance, are requirements definition and COTS selection, high level design, integration and testing. Starting from these empirical observations, a new process and set of guidelines for COTS-based development are developed and briefly presented. Keywords Commercial off-the-shelf, COTS, component-based, empirical study, software development process. 1

Abstract. Classes of COTS products can be derived by classification attributes, which define a Cartesian space. Examples of such attributes are the architectural level, the kind of the COTS product (is it a standard, or a service, or an executable component?), and the software life cycle phase in which the product is used (is it a development tool or an executable component?). COTS products belonging to the same class can be evaluated and compared by means of evaluation attributes, such as price or type of license. This work has been conceived mainly for learning purposes. Building a classification schema and filling it with products is a way for COTS product familiarization. In addition, the process of defining classes and filling them with COTS poses new research questions, like “why is this class empty?”, or “which are the relationships between these two classes?”. The result of classification and evaluation process cannot have general validity if it not customized for special organization goals. These customization issues are outside the scope of this work. 1

Among the main activities involved in COTS-based development there are identification, evaluation, and selection of COTS products. Several techniques have been developed for these activities; all of them are based on measurement of attributes. The effort devoted to these activities is more valuable if the attributes can be reused. Since the evaluation of COTS is a very project-specific activity, the definition of reusable attributes is difficult. Several studies show that it is possible and convenient to develop a reusable attribute framework. We propose a set of simple and generic criteria can be used to validate the set of attributes and improve them.

Developing countries (DCs) have yet to fully benefit from the many advances in the Information Technology (IT) field, mainly due to problems such as lack of resources and systems infrastructure. COTS-Based Systems (CBS) entail purchasing a number of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software components, each satisfying some part of the requirements of the system and integrating these components into the required system. CBS offers a number of benefits that the DCs can access, such as reducing development and maintenance costs. Therefore, CBS can be used to provide support for DCs to improve their IT processes.

References ................................................................................................................... 6 This is a partial and biased list of literature resources on COTS. It is incomplete because (save a few exceptions) I ve read or at least browsed all the literature listed here. It is biased because it somewhat reflect my personal discovery path in this broad field. 1 Definitions and classifications 1.1 COTS Definitions Source Description Federal Acquisition Regulations [1] The acronym "COTS" stands for Commercial-Off-The-Shelf, so firstly we must define what is 'commercial', and what is 'off-the-shelf'. The official definition of the term "commercial" is given in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FARs). A commercial item is: 1. Property customarily used for non governmental purposes and has been sold, leased, or licensed (or offered for sale, lease or license) to the general public; 2. Any item evolved from an

This paper proposes a framework for educational software evaluation based on the Multiple Criteria Decision Aid methodology. Evaluating educational software products is a twofold process: both the educational and the technical aspect of the evaluated products have to be considered. As far as the product educational effectiveness is concerned, we propose a set of attributes covering both the general educational features and the content of the product. From the technical point of view, a software attribute set based on the ISO/IEC 9126 standard has been chosen together with the accompanying measurement guidelines. Finally, an evaluation example involving three commercial educational software packages for mechanics is presented.

This paper proposes a framework for educational software evaluation based on the Multiple Criteria Decision Aid methodology, supported by ESSE, an Expert System for Software Evaluation. An evaluation example is presented that illustrates the overall evaluation process. Evaluating educational software products is a twofold process: both the technical and the educational aspect of the evaluated products have to be considered. As far as the product's educational effectiveness is concerned, the flexibility of ESSE in problem modeling allows the development and the use of a set of criteria, which clearly describe the context, and the educational setting in which the software products are to be used. From the technical point of view, a software attribute set based on the ISO/IEC 9126 standard has been chosen together with the accompanying measurement guidelines.