Metrics-based framework for decision making in COTS-based software systems

The growing reliance on Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components for developing large-scale projects introduces a new paradigm in software engineering, which requires the design of new software development and business processes. Large scale component reuse leads to savings in development resources, enabling these resources to be applied to areas such as quality improvement. These savings come at the price of integration difficulties, performance constraints, and incompatibility of components from multiple vendors. Relying on COTS components also increases the system´s vulnerability to risks arising from third-party development, which can negatively affect the quality of the system, as well as causing expenses not incurred in traditional software development. We aim to alleviate such concerns by using a framework based on software metrics to accurately quantify factors contributing to the overall quality of a COTS-Based System (CBS) and guide decisions regarding quality and risk management.