Combined Selection of COTS Components

In this paper the problem of the combined selection of COTS components is analyzed in organizations of a specialized nature. This is currently a process of great interest: once many organizations have implemented recently ERP systems for supporting their central management areas, they need to select specialized components for other more particular business areas. We propose a model of combined selection of components based on the distinction of two levels. At the global level the combined selection process takes place, and it includes the initial planning, the enactment of the individual selection processes, the proposal of scenarios to evaluate and the final selection of COTS components. At the local level we locate all the individual selection processes of the different particular business areas, under the supervision of the process at the global level. The model presented here arises from the observation of an ongoing real case.