Patricia A. Oberndorf

A Process for COTS Software Product Evaluation

The growing use of commercial products in large systems makes evaluation and selection of appropriate products an increasingly essential activity. However, many organizations struggle in their attempts to select an appropriate product for use in systems. As part of a cooperative effort, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and the National Research Council Canada (NRC) have defined a tailorable software product evaluation process that can support organizations in making carefully reasoned and sound product decisions. This paper describes that process.

Facilitating component-based software engineering: COTS and open systems

The development of software systems from existing components continues to hold the attention of the software engineering community as it is considered to be an effective technical approach to reduce cost and development time, while increasing the quality of systems. A range of concepts and technologies have been promoted to contribute to component-based software engineering. Two recent technology trends have been the use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products and the creation of open systems. This paper relates them to the engineering of component-based software systems.

Ontological support for managing non-functional requirements in pervasive healthcare

We designed and implemented an ontological solution which makes provisions for choosing adequate devices/sensors for remote monitoring of patients who are suffering from post-stroke health complications. We argue that non-functional requirements in pervasive healthcare systems can be elicited and managed through semantics stored in ontological models and reasoning performed on them. Our contribution is twofold: (i) we enrich the elicitation and specification of non-functional requirements within the requirements engineering discipline and (ii) we address the pervasiveness of healthcare software systems through the way of choosing devices embedded in them, and through user expectations in terms of having access to pervasive services personalized to their needs.

A project support environment reference model

Abstfact The Navy’s Next Generation Computer Resources (NGCR) program set up a Project Support Environment Standhmk Working Group (PSESWG) to help in the task qf establishing inkvjhce stan&rds that will allow the U.S. Navy to more em”ly and @ectively assembkksoftware-intensive Project Support Environments (PSEs)fkom commercial sources. A mqjor focus qfPSESWG is the devdbpment qfa stm”ce-based refenmce model that will provide the context for categorizing and rekuing existing standard and the ia%ntijication qfinteface areas that may bene)ltfromfutuw standHMlo “ n. This paper presents a report on this r@erence moa%l.

Evolution of a software engineer in a SoS system engineering world

Many U.S. defense programs and commercial industry (hereafter referred to simply as ‘programs’) have difficulty in fielding and sustaining systems in a timely and cost-efficient manner. As software assumes an ever-increasing and important role in the engineering of systems, not only do these programs struggle to employ good software engineering practices, but the dialog between systems engineers and software engineers starts later in the life cycle than it should. Although these difficulties are faced by single, stand-alone systems, such systems are no longer the norm. System and software engineers are increasingly faced with the challenges of systems of systems (SoS)

Issues in the definition of a project support environment reference model

Abstract In an effort to establish interface standards to help the US Navy more easily and effectively assemble software-intensive Project Support Environments (PSEs) from commercial sources, the Navys Next Generation Computer Resources (NGCR) program has set up a Project Support Environment Standards Working Group (PSESWG). The foundation of this groups work is the development of a service-based reference model that will provide context for categorizing and relating existing standards and the identification of interface areas that may benefit from future standardization. This paper presents a report on the lessons learned in the definition of this reference model.