Requirements Engineering for COTS Selection

Abstract

There is growing interest in the notion of software development through the planned integration of COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) products. The potential advantages of this integrationcentric approach are shorter development time and reduced cost. Often a COTS based development process consists of an evaluation, selection, adaptation, integration, and evolution of components obtained from external vendors. However, most methods focus on system adaptation and integration but neglect the processes of evaluation and selection of COTS. This paper introduces a COTS-Based Requirements Engineering Model that focuses on nonfunctional requirements to assist the processes of evaluation and selection of COTS products.