SEL COTS Study

Problem

A current trend in software development, in both government and industry, is a move toward COTS-based software development. The Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is also experiencing this shift in the way that satellite ground support software is being developed. The FDD has had a well defined, documented process in place for many years that covers the area of standard software development. The logical step at this stage in the FDD’s evolution is to document its COTS-based, or "package-based", development processes. The task of the SEL COTS study is to determine what difficulties and successes FDD developers have had integrating COTS, and how it has changed the software development process.

Goal

• Revise data collection for COTS-based projects.
• Produce baseline models (effort, defects, schedule etc.) for COTS-based projects in FDD, where possible, after collecting data from COTS-based project team personnel.
• Revise the SEL Package-Based System Development Process document as needed, after evaluating the experiences of COTS-based project team personnel who have evaluated, selected and integrated COTS products into their software systems. The revised document should define a robust process that effectively works for COTS usage in the Flight Dynamics area, so that the SEL can distribute this as a SEL recommended process for COTS-based projects.

Keywords

COTS-, GOTS-, package-based software development

Participants

Computer Sciences Corporation:

• Steve Condon
• Steve Burke
• Amy Parra

NASA/Goddard:

• Steve Kraft

University of Maryland:

• Carolyn Seaman
• Daniil Yakimovitch
• Victor Basili

References

The Package-Based Development Process in the Flight Dynamics Division. A. Parra, C. Seaman, V. Basili, S. Kraft, S. Condon, S. Burke, D. Yakimovich, to be presented at the Software Engineering Workshop, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, December 1997.