| COTS Lessons Learned |
| Lesson Learned Statement |
Recommended action |
Date Added |
Details |
| Cultivate COTS knowledge and expertise in your procurement organization. |
Educate procurement people about COTS |
12/10/2003 |
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| Time-driven programs present different issues than requirements-driven ones. |
Do not rush evaluation and selection or, if it is necessary to rush it, be prepared for problems due to bad functional fit to arise later |
12/10/2003 |
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| All the usual sound engineering tasks are still needed, so engineers with these skills are also still needed. |
Choose developers with adequate engineering backgrounds, especially a skilled architect. |
12/10/2003 |
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| New skills are needed as well. |
Keep track of what skills are needed on COTS projects, and use that information to choose personnel on new COTS projects. |
12/10/2003 |
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| It may be beneficial to augment your staff’s skills with those available from consultants. |
Be open to bringing in a consultant, instead of assuming the necessary expertise can be gained along the way by existing personnel. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Transition to COTS products must take into account transition of Business Processes as well. |
Plan for business process migration |
12/10/2003 |
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| Transition to COTS products will affect education and training needs. |
Plan for education and training |
12/10/2003 |
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| The use of prototypes is especially important for CBS development. |
Use prototypes. |
12/10/2003 |
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| The use of COTS products will likely require changes in the business processes for a system’s end users. |
Plan for business process migration |
12/10/2003 |
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| It may not be easy to change the business processes. |
Use business process models. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Expectations of all participants must be managed. |
Include everyone whose business processes will change |
12/10/2003 |
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| It is important to manage customer and end-user expectations. |
It is important to let them know of the schedule impact and risks associated with the extra effort to accommodate these preferences |
12/10/2003 |
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| It is important to establish good customer and end-user relationships. |
Educate the customer that managing CBS development is different from the traditional approach |
12/10/2003 |
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| DII COE will impact process and create new risks while mitigating some old ones. |
unknown |
12/10/2003 |
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| Licensing brings specific procurement issues. |
It is better to negotiate and work with the OEM vendor rather than a third party reseller. The procurement organization should provide guidance on the strategic approach to each purchase. |
12/10/2003 |
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| The use of COTS products affects contracting for development and integration services in new ways, but other aspects remain the same. |
Understand the experience of the bidders. The procurement organization needs to be involved in the technical aspects of the program. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Choosing an appropriate vendor is important to success. |
Consider the characteristics of the vendor as part of the acquisition. COTS software should be obtained from vendors who view the software as one of their products. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Knowledge of the marketplace and of specific technologies and products is critical. Assumptions and naïveté are deadly. |
Do your homework. |
12/10/2003 |
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| Sound evaluation practices are essential to successful CBS development. |
Apply similar evaluation and selection processes to tools as well as components. |
12/10/2003 |
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| A sound COTS product evaluation process must support the selection. |
Use a formal process |
12/10/2003 |
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