Length: 3 Days
COTS-Based Systems Engineering Training
Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software is a term for software products that are ready-made and available for purchase in the commercial market.
Over the past few years, public sector organizations have increasingly been relying on COTS applications to supplement, enhance or replace proprietary systems.
And it’s little wonder. The advantages of a COTS strategy are significant. Perhaps the No. 1 advantage is that the time needed to purchase this software is much shorter than the time it takes to develop it. Consequently, a COTS approach uses fewer resources like human capital, office space, and money.
COTS also has a greater chance of incorporating industry standards. They depend less on the platform, which means excellent reliability across environments and uses.
Additionally, COTS software has the reputation for being user-friendly and collaborative. Successful budgeting requires the participation of non-financial staff in the budgeting process. Legacy systems or spreadsheets may have served as the backbone to your organization’s budgeting process for years, but the system can be difficult for non-financial staff to navigate.
Even with training, when a legacy system is cumbersome to use and doesn’t provide the capabilities needed to budget, adoption rates by non-financial staff are likely to be low. A COTS budgeting application is designed to be user-friendly and provide intuitive dashboards that show critical data in a visually rich and interactive interface.
Most organizations use COTS to increase reliability, reduce cost, and keep delivery times short in software systems development.
The US government’s Federal Acquisition Regulations classifies COTS as NDIs, or non-developmental items applied under contract to the government. This kind of software is an alternative to in-house projects, and it costs less in the short term to purchase, develop, and maintain.
Typical COTS software are such things as word processors, spreadsheets, development environments like Visual Basic and Sybase, libraries that require connecting with existing codes like browser add-ons, game or graphics engines, and Windows DLLs.
Experts in this area recommend that organizations do their homework before getting involved with COTS. For example, before investing in COTS, a team should analyze the growth they anticipate and manage their expectations.
If there are errors in the initial gap analysis, it could cause setbacks in future implementation. A full-cost analysis factoring in costs over five years is best, especially if the software requires ongoing licensing and maintenance.
Additionally, if the COTS package is more than 5 years old, it could be in a legacy language, which means the vendor will find it challenging to improve or modify it anyway. It could be more practical to enhance the organization’s existing system.
COTS-Based Systems Engineering Training by TONEX, Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS)
COTS-Based Systems Engineering Training is a 3-day systems engineering training course focusing on using and considering Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS).
Learn how to plan, analyze, design, implement, verify, validate, operate, manage and adjust systems engineering projects considering Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) including commercial components, hardware, software and services both for use in the military and commercial projects.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the attendees will be able to
- Discuss systems engineering reference models and architecture
- Discuss key characteristics of COTS components including hardware, software and services
- Discuss the role of Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) in the systems engineering
- Compare and contrast COTS-based systems engineering with traditional systems engineering approaches
- Define and summarize role of COTS Infrastructure in the systems engineering projects
- Identify COTS functions and impact on systems engineering projects
- Describe how to effectively plan, manage and execute COTS-based systems engineering projects
- Describe management and execution of COTS-based systems engineering including impact on SEMP, ConOps, requirements engineering, design, implementation, verification and validation
- Illustrate sample implementations of COTS-based systems engineering
Who Should Attend
- Systems Engineering professionals
- Software and hardware engineers
- Project and program managers considering COTS components in their SEMP
- Vendors of COTS components (hardware, software and services
- Technical team leaders responsible for COTS technologies
- Engineering managers with COTS development ideas
- Government and military professionals using COTS-based systems
- Anyone else involved in engineering, developing, integrating, testing, evaluating, delivering, sustaining, and managing the overall system using COTS
Topics Covered
System Engineering Life Cycle Processes
- Life Cycle Processes
- Overview of the Traditional Life Cycle Model
- Concept Exploration and Benefits Analysis
- Project Planning and Concept of Operations Development
- System Analysis and Definition
- System Development and Implementation
- Verification and Validation
- Operations & Maintenance, Changes & Upgrades
- System Retirement, Replacement or Retrofitting
- Cross-Cutting Activities
Impact of Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) in Systems Engineering
- Definition of Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)
- COTS Key Concepts and Principles
- Use of Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Items
- Non-Developmental Items
- Opportunities for efficiency during system development
- Using Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Technology
- Observations on Using COTS Software, Hardware and Services
- Impact of COTS on the Interface Between Systems Engineering and Software Engineering
Investigation of COTS products - Benefits of using COTS components in system design
- Development time
- Faster insertion of new technology
- Lower life-cycle costs
- Reliability of up-to-date commercial industrial base
COTS-Based Systems Engineering
- Systems Engineering Environment using COTS
- Systems Engineering Concerns with using COTS Products
- COTS Life Cycle Considerations
- COTS Influences on SDLC
- Organizational Readiness Levels (NASA reference)
- Embedding Proprietary functions into COTS
- Requirements Development with COTS
- Architecture and Design
- System Effectiveness
- Availability and Reliability
- Reliability, Maintainability, Availability (RMA)
- Environment, Safety and Occupational Health (ESOH)
- Supportability and Logistics
- Durability
- V&V
- Integration
- O&M
- Supply chain risk management of COTS
- COTS-based System of Systems Engineering (SoSE)
- The process of planning, analyzing, organizing, and integrating the capabilities of COTS into a system-of-systems capability
- Challenges facing application of COTS-based systems engineering to SoS
- Cyber-Physical Systems and COTS
- COTS Lessons Learned
COTS-based Systems Engineering Deliverable
- Requests for Proposal (RFP)
- Project Plans
- Systems Engineering Management Plans (SEMP)
- Configuration Management Plans
- Technical Planning Documents
- Concepts of Operations (ConOps)
- Requirements Specifications
- Design Specifications
- Integration Plans
- Verification Plans
- Validation Plans
- Deployment Plans
- O&M Plans
- Miscellaneous
Factors That Drive the Systems Engineering Environment using COTS
- Development Models, Strategies, and Systems Engineering Standards
- Relationship to Architecture
- Relationship to Planning and Information Technology
- Relationship to Standards
- Systems Engineering Support Environment
- Systems Engineering Organization
- Procurement Options
- Estimating the Amount of Process Needed
- COTS Acquisition Strategy
- COTS-based Systems Engineering Plan (SEP)
- Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) using COTS
- Systems Engineering Design Considerations
- Alternative Systems Review (ASR)
- Software Development
- Parts Management
- Support Resources
- Product Support
- COTS-based Architecture Considerations
- Supply Chain Quality Management
- Example Projects
Illustrative Example Systems Engineering Projects Considering COTS
- Systems engineering approach with COTS
- Example Projects
- Project Example 1
- Project Example 2
- Project Example 3
- Case Studies
- CASE Studies Key Lessons
- Key Lessons Learned using COTS
- Roles and Responsibilities in Systems Development using COTS
- Roles and Responsibilities in Systems Development with and without COTS
- Systems Engineering Capabilities and Process Improvement using COTS
- Changes in Architecting Principles
- Systems Engineering Architectural Frameworks using COTS