Software Engineering Institute

As the use of commercial technology and products in systems becomes increasingly popular, particularly for government organizations, program managers need a new understanding of the dynamic principles of system creation. However, there is little information on how the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products affects existing system development practices or what new processes are needed for the successful use of COTS products. As part of the COTS-Based Systems Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI), we are studying this diversity in the software development process. As part of that work, we have started to articulate some of the activities and practices that are necessary for the effective development and lifetime support of COTS-based systems. This document provides an introduction to those activities and practices.