Rules of Thumb for the Use of COTS Products

More and more organizations are realizing the benefits-and sometimes the necessity-of incorporating commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products in the systems they acquire and use. But COTS products are not necessarily the right solution for every system. When is it wise to pursue a COTS-based systems approach, and when is it best to hold back? How can sound COTS-based-system practices be reconciled with an organization's regulatory and policy constraints? This report provides some information to help guide these decisions.

PDF [135 KB]

Authors

Michele Motsko

Tricia Oberndorf

Ellen-Jane Pairo

James Smith

This report is related to the following area(s) of work:

Acquisition Support

Technical Report
CMU/SEI-2002-TR-032
December 2002

Cite This Report

SEI:

Motsko, Michele; Oberndorf, Patricia; Pairo, Ellen-Jane; & Smith, James. Rules of Thumb for the Use of COTS Products (CMU/SEI-2002-TR-032). Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 2002. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/02tr032.cfm

IEEE:

M. Motsko, P. Oberndorf, E. Pairo, and J. Smith, "Rules of Thumb for the Use of COTS Products," Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Technical Report CMU/SEI-2002-TR-032, 2002. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/02tr032.cfm

APA:

Motsko, M., Oberndorf, P., Pairo, E., & Smith, J. (2002). Rules of Thumb for the Use of COTS Products (CMU/SEI-2002-TR-032). Retrieved May 23, 2013, from the Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University website: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/02tr032.cfm

CHI:

Motsko, Michele, Patricia Oberndorf, Ellen-Jane Pairo, and James Smith. Rules of Thumb for the Use of COTS Products (CMU/SEI-2002-TR-032). Pittsburgh, PA: Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 2002. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/02tr032.cfm

MLA:

Motsko, M., Oberndorf, P., Pairo, E., & Smith, J. 2002. Rules of Thumb for the Use of COTS Products (Technical Report CMU/SEI-2002-TR-032). Pittsburgh: Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/02tr032.cfm

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