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DesCOTS-EV: A Tool for the Evaluation of COTS Components

C. Quer, X. Franch, X. Lopez-Pelegrín

Universitat Politècnica Catalunya

http://www.lsi.upc.es/~gessi

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SUMMARY

• Selection of COTS components

◦ The COTS Marketplace

◦ Quality Models

◦ The Quality Framework

◦ The Identification of Domains

• The DesCOTS System

• Functionalities of DesCOTS-SL

• Current and Future Work

• Contents of the DesCOTS web page

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Selection of COTS: The COTS Marketplace

COTS Consumer

What kind of product do I need?

Which aspects do I have to consider to state my requirements?

Which products satisfy my requirements?

Mail Servers

Anti-virus

Video-edition

Middleware

Anti-spam

Compression Tools

Chatting

Document Management

Web Content Management

e-sourcing

Procurement

Warehouse Management

Customer Service and Support

COTS Marketplace

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Selection of COTS: Quality Models

Quality Model

Products

ProductEvaluation

Evaluations

v a b q pus z

1. ------ 2 . ------ ----- - 3 . ----- 4 . -----

Requirements

Specification ofRequirements

r1 r2 r3 r4

ProductsSelected

ComparisonNegotiation

Quality Model: “The set of characteristics and the relationships between them which provide the basis for specifying quality requirements and evaluating quality” ISO/IEC 14598-1, Software product evaluation – Part 1: General overview. 1999.

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Selection of COTS: The Quality Framework

Hierarchy ofSubcharacteristicsand attributes

Subcharacteristics

Characteristics

Metricsƒ ƒ½ abcabc abcƒƒ

Based on the ISO 9126-1 standard

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Selection of COTS: Identification of Domains

Communications

Business Applications

Sigle-userMulti-user

Content Management

CustomerRelationships

Document Management

Web Content Management

Customer Service and Support

e-sourcing

Mail Client Chatting

Categories

Domains

Quality Models are defined for Software Domains

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Selection of COTS: Identification of Domains

Communications

Business Applications

Sigle-userMulti-user

Content Management

CustomerRelationships

Document Management

Web Content Management

Customer Service and Support

e-sourcing

Mail Client Chatting

Categories

Domains

Products and evaluations are related to Software Domains

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Selection of COTS: Identification of Domains

Communications

Business Applications

Sigle-userMulti-user

Content Management

CustomerRelationships

Document Management

Web Content Management

Customer Service and Support

e-sourcing

Mail Client Chatting

Categories

Domains

Selection Projects are related to Software Domains

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The DesCOTS System

Taxonomy QualityModels

Users

AD

QMj

Domain Expert

Evaluationsi

EVi

Provider orDomain Expert

Requirements

SLk

Consumer

Administrator

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Functionalities of DesCOTS-SL

• Identification of the domain

• Management of Projects-Requirements

• Giving priorities to requirements

• Formalization of Requirements.

• Selection of Products

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DesCOTS-SL: Identification of the domain

What kind of product do I need?

Question = Is the product for the collaboration of users or for the management of data?

Answer = Collaboration of users

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DesCOTS-EV: Identification of the domain

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DesCOTS-EV: Identification of the domain

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DesCOTS-EV: Identification of the domain

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DesCOTS-EV: Identification of the domain

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DesCOTS-EV: Identification of the domain

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DesCOTS-EV: Identification of the domain

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DesCOTS-EV: Identification of the domain

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DesCOTS-EV: Identification of the domain

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I open my project to select a Reference Manager Tool

DesCOTS-SL: Management Projects-Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Management Projects-Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Management Projects-Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Management Projects-Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Management Projects-Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Management Projects-Requirements

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I have to give priorities to my requirements

DesCOTS-SL: Giving Priorities to Requirements

Ordinal

AHP

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DesCOTS-SL: Giving Priorities to Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Giving Priorities to Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Giving Priorities to Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Giving Priorities to Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Formalization of Requirements

Which aspects do I have to consider to state my requirements?

RQ1 = I would like to have my references classified into three databases (research, teaching, home).

RQ2 = I would like to capture references from the digital bibliographic databases to which I have access.

RQ3 = I would like to have interoperability with my word processor and to have a copy of my reference databases in my PDA.

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DesCOTS-SL: Formalization of Requirements

RQ1 = I would like to have my references classified into three databases (research, teaching, home).

RQ2 = I would like to capture references from the digital bibliographic databases to which I have access.

RQ3 = I would like to have interoperability with my word processor and to have a copy of my reference databases in my PDA.

Formalized RQ2 =("ISI filter" in Predefined Import Filters) or Adding Import Filters = TRUE

Formalized RQ1 = Number of Libraries > 3

Formalized RQ3 = ("Open Office Word" in Word Processors Interoperability) and Synchronizing with PDAs = TRUE

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DesCOTS-SL: Formalization of Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Formalization of Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Formalization of Requirements

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DesCOTS-SL: Selection of Products

Which products satisfy my requirements?

DesCOTSEvaluations Database

RMT1 RMT2 RMT3

Number of Libraries

Unlimited Unlimited 30

Predefined

Import Filters

Ovid

Silver Platter

PsycINFO (APA)

ISI

ISI-CE

Ref. Update (ISI)

ISI

ISI-CE

Adding Import Filters

FALSE TRUE FALSE

Word Proc. Interoperability

Open Office

Word 2003

Word Perfect

Open Office

Word 2000

Word 2003

Word XP

Word 2000

Word 2003

Synchronizing with PDAs

FALSE TRUE FALSE

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DesCOTS-SL: Selection of Products

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DesCOTS-SL: Selection of Products

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DesCOTS-SL: Selection of Products

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DesCOTS-SL: Selection of Products

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The DesCOTS System

Taxonomy QualityModels

Users

DesCOTS-AD

Domain Expert

COTS Provider or Domain Expert

Administrator

DesCOTS-QM

DesCOTS-EV

Requirements

COTSConsumer

DesCOTS-SL

DesCOTS-SL• I manage the Taxonomy• I validate the Quality Models• I add users to the system

• I construct the Quality Model of a domain

• I evaluate

Products

• I define requirements in a selection project• I select and negotiate until I find the desired products

Evaluations

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Current Work

• We are improving the usability of the formal

definition of requirements.

• We are improving the reusability of metrics

in quality models, by developing a general

metrics manager for QM.

• We are filling QM and EV of data

E-learning Tools

Anti-virus Tools

Web Editors

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DesCOTS Web Page

http://www.lsi.upc.edu/~gessi/DesCOTS

• References of papers

• Slide Presentations and Posters related with DesCOTS

• Manuals for the use of the tool

• Information about new versions of the tool

• Possible download of the client program of the tools

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Questions?