Abdallah Mohamed

COTS Selection: Past, Present, and Future

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products are increasingly being used in software development. In COTS-based development, selecting appropriate COTS is the most crucial phase. This paper explores the evolution of COTS selection practices, and surveys eighteen of the most significant COTS selection approaches. The paper traces how each approach contributed to the improvement of current COTS selection practices, and then compares them .The paper also highlights some open research issues relevant to the selection process, and concludes with a discussion of possible future directions to address these issues

MiHOS: an approach to support handling the mismatches between system requirements and COTS products

In the process of selecting Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products, it is inevitable to encounter mismatches between system requirements and COTS products. These mismatches occur as a result of an excess or shortage of the COTS attributes. This paper proposes a decision support approach, called MiHOS (Mismatch Handling for COTS Selection), that aims at addressing COTS mismatches during and after the selection process. MiHOS can be integrated with existing COTS selection methods at two points: (1) For evaluating COTS candidates: MiHOS estimates the anticipated fitness of the candidates if their mismatches are resolved. This helps to base our COTS selection decisions on the fitness that the candidates will eventually have if selected. (2) Mismatch resolution after selecting a COTS product: MiHOS suggests alternative plans for resolving the most appropriate mismatches using suitable actions, such that the most important risk, technical, and resource constraints are met. A case-study is used to illustrate MiHOS and to discuss its added value.

Decision Support for Handling Mismatches between COTS Products and System Requirements

In the process of selecting commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products, it is inevitable to encounter mismatches between COTS products and system requirements. Mismatches occur when COTS attributes do not exactly match our requirements. Many of these mismatches are resolved after selecting a COTS product in order to improve its fitness with the requirements. This paper proposes a decision support approach that aims at addressing COTS mismatches during and after the selection process. Our approach can be integrated with existing COTS selection methods at two stages: (I) When evaluating COTS candidates: our approach is used to estimate the anticipated fitness of the candidates if their mismatches are resolved. This helps to base our COTS selection decisions on the fitness that the COTS candidates will eventually have if selected. (2) After selecting a COTS product: the approach suggests alternative plans for resolving the most appropriate mismatches using suitable actions, such that the most important risk, technical, and resource constraints are met. A case study from the e-services domain is used to illustrate the method and to discuss its added value

COTS Evaluation Supported by Knowledge Bases

Selection of Commercial-off-The-Shelf (COTS) software products is a knowledge-intensive process. In this paper, we show how knowledge bases can be used to facilitate the COTS selection process. We propose a conceptual model to support decision makers during the evaluation procedures. We then describe how this model is implemented using agent technologies supported by two knowledge bases (KB): the COTS KB and the methods KB. The model relies on group-decision making and facilitated stakeholder negotiations during the selection process. It employs hybrid techniques, such as Bayesian Belief Networks and Game Theory, to address different challenges throughout the process. In addition, the paper also describes how the COTS knowledge base can be used at three levels of usage: global (over the internet), limited (between limited number of organizations) and local (within a single organization).

Decision support for customization of the COTS selection process

Software technologies need to be customized to make them effective and efficient for a specific context. In this position paper, we consider the customization of the COTS selection process. We have developed a methodology which customizes the selection process based on the actual project domain characteristics (PDCs) including attributes such as available effort or project criticality. The customization of the process is done at both the process level and the activity level. We suggest a hybrid approach that integrates formalized knowledge with human expertise. This principle has already been successfully used in the context of the software release planning. The advantage is two-fold: Firstly, we exploit the existing empirical results related to different stages of the COTS selection process. Secondly, we facilitate involvement of human judgment to determine most appropriate decisions among the ones proposed by the formalized and knowledge-based solution techniques.

Mismatch handling for COTS selection: a case study

Using Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products to build software systems requires the evaluation of existing COTS products, the selection of the COTS that best fit system requirements, and the integration of the selected COTS into the system. During this process, it is inevitable to encounter two types of mismatches: (1) COTS mismatches, which are encountered during COTS selection between requirements and COTS features, due to an excess or shortage of COTS features, and (2) architectural mismatches, which arise when integrating multiple COTS products that do not fit well together. This paper focuses on the ‘COTS mismatch’ problem. The paper describes a real-world case study of a single COTS selection with the aid of a method called MiHOS (Mismatch Handling for COTS Selection) to handle the COTS mismatches. MiHOS runs on top of existing COTS selection models in order to properly address COTS mismatches with limited resources. The case study was conducted in the e-service domain. The goal was to validate MiHOS and to answer two key questions: (1) How useful is decision support during different phases in the process mismatch handling? And (2) what is the effort vs benefit of using MiHOS? The results are promising and illustrate the potential benefits of using MiHOS. Copyright

Sensitivity analysis in the process of COTS mismatch-handling

During the selection of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products, mismatches encountered between stakeholders’ requirements and features offered by COTS products are inevitable. These mismatches occur as a result of an excess or shortage of functionality offered by the COTS. A decision support approach, called mismatch handling for COTS selection (MiHOS), was proposed earlier to help address mismatches while considering limited resources. In MiHOS, several input parameters need to be estimated such as the level of mismatches and the resource consumptions and constraints. These estimates are subject to uncertainty and therefore limit the applicability of the results. In this paper, we propose sensitivity analysis for MiHOS (MiHOS-SA), an approach that aims at helping decision makers gain insights into the impact of input uncertainties on the validity of MiHOS’ results. MiHOS-SA draws on existing sensitivity analysis techniques to address the problem. A case study from the e-services domain was conducted to illustrate MiHOS-SA and discuss its added value.