COTS Adaptation Method – A Lifecycle Perspective

More and more organizations customize Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) standard systems instead of developing the bespoke ones. Despite this, there are still few methods that support adaptations of COTS standard systems. The ones that exist are either outdated or they only focus on some specific steps. None of the currently defined methods cover standard system adaptation from the lifecycle perspective and none of them provide concrete guidance for how to adapt COTS systems to the customers’ needs. As a result, many organizations have to develop their own adaptation methods in a trial and error manner. This paper suggests COTS Adaptation Method (COTSAM) including steps and guidelines providing advice for how to develop and evolve COTS-based systems during their lifecycle. The method has been explored and evaluated within one company that has used COTS for supporting the company’s business processes for more than a decade. Keywords-standard systems; reuse; lifecycle; business process.