COTS products characterization

Abstract

A way to learn about Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products is to define a set of characteristics or attributes and then to collect information about these attributes. In an industrial context, the attributes used to select COTS clearly depend on project specific goals. In our educational context we made an attempt to define general COTS characterization attributes. The resulting framework provides a structure, which facilitate the learning process. Our proposed attributes have several similarities with the generic evaluation attributes defined by ISO 9126. A comparison with such a standard provides a deeper insight into the problem of characterizing COTS products.

Selecting software tools for IS/IT curricula

“…Many organizations utilize component libraries or extensions, or complete COTS-based solutions such as ERP applications (Bandor 2006). A sampling of studies devoted to the COTS decision includes (Carney and Wallnau 1998;Dean and Vigder 2000;Franch and Carvallo 2003;Kontio 1996;Kontio et al 1995;Lin et al 2006;Torchiano et al 2002). Most of these papers propose a new systematic process for evaluating and ranking COTS software, or discuss existing practices.…”

“…Dreamweaver, on the other hand, is available for a thirty day trial from Adobe, after which it can be purchased at an educational price of approximately $200. Software cost is included in the criteria of several software selection studies, including (Baki and Çakar 2005;Beise 2006;Bosilj-Vuksic et al 2007;Denton and Peace 2004;Kao et al 2000;Min 1992;Rowley 1992;Torchiano et al 2002).…”

“…This has been variously referred to as pedigree, maturity, lifetime, and product maturity (BosiljVuksic et al 2007;Donham 2004;Rowley 1992;Torchiano et al 2002).…”

“…The amount of hard disk space needed to install the software, the operating system required, and the amount of memory to run the software all factor into the decision. In other software selection studies the system requirements criterion has been referred to as technological aspects, technology, technical considerations, or hardware requirements (Bednarik et al 2004;Kao et al 2000;Rowley 1992;Torchiano et al 2002) Operating system dependence refers to the dependence of a tool on a particular operating system platform. For example, some software tools are dependent on the Windows operating system, while others are platform independent with environments available for a variety of operating systems.…”

“…For example, some software tools are dependent on the Windows operating system, while others are platform independent with environments available for a variety of operating systems. The software selection literature incorporates operating system dependence into criteria like technological aspects, compatibility, technical considerations, and software requirements (Bednarik et al 2004;Denton and Peace 2004;Min 1992;Rowley 1992;Torchiano et al 2002).…”