COSTUME: a method for building quality models for composite COTS-based software systems

Abstract

The use of quality models during the selection of Commercial, Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products provides a framework for the description of the domains which the COTS products belong to. Descriptions of COTS products and user quality requirements may be translated into the quality concepts defined in the model, making selection more efficient and reliable. In this paper we address the construction of quality models for Composite COTS-based Software Systems (CCSS), defined as systems that are composed by several interconnected COTS products. Selection processes carried out when procuring a CCSS require not a single COTS product to be selected but a set of them. As a consequence, instead of a classical quality model, we need a more elaborated one, defined as the composition of those models that belong to the domains of the COTS products that form the CCSS. We propose a method aimed at supporting the construction of quality models for CCSS as a composition of four activities. Most of the new quality features that appear in the CCSS model are defined in terms of the quality features of the component COTS products. As a result, we obtain quality models easier to understand, maintain and reuse, as well as compliant with the ISO/IEC 9126-1 quality standard.