On the Use of i* for COTS components selection: principles and consequences

Abstract

Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components selection is an activity that plays an increasingly crucial role in the delivery of software systems. We are using i*, specially Strategic Dependency models, for driving this activity. Software domains are modeled as actors, and the relationships among them and with external actors (people, other software systems, organizations, etc.) are represented using the concept of dependency. While providing some satisfactory findings, our proposal has also given light to some interesting questions that we have tackled or are still dealing with, remarkably: Which are the foundations of COTS components selection? Which are the properties of interest when selecting COTS components and how do we formalize them? How do we build i* models in a consistent way? What is the precise meaning of the i* constructs that we use in our models? How do we organize the knowledge about the marketplace and how do we use this knowledge during selection? What type of tool-support is appropriate? In this chapter, we present our current state of research in the COTS components selection area and provide some partial answers to the questions above.