Our COTS Approach

What Is COTS?

COTS is a type of software that is available to anyone who wants to use it. This means that there are no special licensing fees associated with using COTS. You simply buy the software and install it on your computer.

What Does COTS Stand for In Business?

COTS stands for "Commercial Off-The-Shelf," and it is a tool that businesses use to acquire pre-existing, ready-made products and services. This technology can be used in a variety of contexts and industries, ranging from manufacturing to software development. Once the COTS product is acquired, the company can then customize it as needed for their own use.

Why Should You Care About COTS?

COTS is an acronym for Computerized Transaction System. It is used by businesses to manage transactions such as invoicing, payments, inventory management, and more. Many small businesses do not realize that they can save money by implementing COTS into their business.

The Benefits Of Using COTS

There are several benefits to using COTS in your business. First, it will help you reduce costs. Second, it will allow you to automate processes so you can focus on other aspects of running your business. Third, it will improve customer service because you will be able to process orders faster. Fourth, it will make your business more efficient. Finally, it will provide better security for your data.

How Do I Start My COTS Implementation?

If you are interested in implementing COTS into your business, there are some things you need to consider first. You should start by determining what type of system you would like to use. This decision will depend on your needs and budget. Next, you should determine whether you want to go with an open-source solution or a proprietary one. Open-source solutions are free while proprietary ones cost money. Lastly, you should decide whether you want to build your own software or buy pre-built software.

How Can I Manage My COTS Implementation?

Once you have decided on a particular type of COTS, you will then need to choose between open-source and proprietary systems. Open source solutions are typically more flexible than proprietary solutions. However, they also require more technical expertise to install and maintain. Proprietary solutions tend to be easier to set up and manage. They also offer more features and functionality.

Integrating a COTS Software with Your Existing Systems and Platforms.

When implementing COTS into your business, it is important to ensure that the software is integrated correctly with your existing systems and platforms. In order to do this, experts recommend starting small, focusing on integrating a single feature or tool at a time. As the integrations become more complex and the technology is tested more extensively, you can begin to incorporate more COTS solutions into your business processes.

COTS stands for "Commercial Off The Shelf" software. It's used by many businesses to automate processes and save money on IT costs.

Our work on the strategic initiatives begins when the program components are initiated. Many of the components will be managed as projects, and formal project management processes should be followed. Each component would create a charter that will formally recognize the component as being worked on at this time.

A project manager would be assigned to each component, even if the organization has a different name for that role. The Project manager will manage initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing the components for which he or she is responsible

COTS components is an important factor that we must consider when choosing or designing the architecture of a system. The use of COTS has its associated risks, as COTS components can be thought of as black boxes that just work. The tradeoffs between COTS components and homegrown components are development time versus flexibility and control. COTS projects are surrounded by known and unknown risks, both for implementation and for ongoing sustained engineering and maintenance

COTS projects are surrounded by known and unknown risks, both for implementation and for ongoing sustained engineering and maintenance. COTS solutions begin with the WBS of deliverables. From the WBS, the deliverable “ requirement abilities” or desired features or outcomes can be put into functional and technical requirements matrices or performance matrices that are provided by a COTS solicitation. These matrices make it easier for the vendor to identify if they have an exact match, or similar functionality, need to make a modification, identify if there is a future release that will have the functionality, or that their solution cannot provide the specified requirement due to base system constraints.

The COTS model shifts in-house development resources to activities that proactively study for the best COTS solution match to the desired product requirements and to processes that integrate the chosen solution. Subcategories of COTS can be databases, hardware components, application systems, networking, and middleware.

The requirements activity changes considerably as compared to traditional development. Projects reported that, with COTS, not all requirements are equal. Some are ‘ free,’ or provided by the COTS. Some are not immediately available but can be worked out with reasonable extensions and add-ons. 

COTS feasibility “ should consist of a complete requirements definition, a high-level architecture, an effort estimation, and a risk assessment model. The high-level architecture allows the team to sketch dependencies amount COTS, incompatibilities, and integration effort.”

The project management strategy must bring added value, be based on data, prioritize objectives, understand resource availabilities and capabilities, and go for the maximum benefit.

COTS project management processes are challenging because of the integration of the vendor’s software and hardware as well as the extension of the in-house system or environment. Understanding the threat and value brought to the organization by COTS also requires a highly flexible plan

COTS configuration support, and COTS tailoring activities must correlate to the COTS vendor milestones. COTS solutions still require some type of software development methodology to allow parallel activities of vendor and customer. The five project management process group activities for the overall project as well as the project phases or iterations.

The alignment for integration of the COTS solution between the customer in-house deliverables and vendor COTS deliverables cycle for integration testing and checkpoint integration milestones must be included in COTS contracts.

Checkpoints should be integrated into the overall project schedule to allow for appropriate learning, discovery, and prioritization.

The program team must assure that the component deliverables meet the requirements in order to fulfill the realization of benefits. Program status reports need to include the progress of meeting deliverables but also must communicate if there are any additional actions required to realize benefits

Signoff on deliverables is important within the program itself. The components will complete deliverables, and the program governance needs a process for review, measurement, and acceptance of them. A unique characteristic for a strategic plan program is that the benefits realized through the component deliverables may rely on the market or other factors. Nevertheless, the program team must manage the deliverables but focus and report on benefits realized. This necessitates communications and interactions with the highest levels within the company. The program team must seek to influence and/or control factors normally outside of the realm of a typical program team.

Through an ongoing process while benefits are realized, the program team must transition the completed component work product to operations. The changes created through strategic initiatives now become the new norm for the organization. This transition necessitates that the program team be skilled in (or elsewhere purchase the skill) organizational change. The benefits realized from strategic initiatives and goals could be far reaching and extensive.