A risk-mitigating model for the development of reliable and maintainable large-scale commercial-off-the-shelf integrated software systems

There has been a tremendous interest within the software industry in building reliable, cost-effective, large-scale and distributed software systems through the utilization of both generic and domain-specific commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software products. Compared to the traditional in-house software development, the COTS software integration approach promises faster delivery of software systems to the market with less resource cost. However, underestimating the technical risks associated with COTS software integration has often resulted in longer schedule delay, higher development cost, and higher maintenance cost. The COTS-based integrated system development (CISD) model addresses the needs for a more integration-centric approach to software development. Unlike traditional software development models such as Waterfall and Spiral, the CISD development life-cycle is centralized around the approach of software-based system integration. This approach to development is also known as component based software engineering. The CISD model consists of three phases: identification, evaluation, and integration/enhancement. These phases provide a development framework in which procedures for identifying, evaluating, selecting, and integrating software products can be effectively and systematically implemented.