Invited Talk

Patricia Oberndorf  
Tricia Oberndorf is Director of the Dynamic Systems Program at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI).  She has been a principal of the COTS-Based Systems Initiative and concentrates on the investigation of issues in integration and acquisition of systems from commercial and other off-the-shelf components. She is co-author the book entitled “Managing Software Acquisition: Open Systems and COTS Products.” She has spent much of her career in the investigation of a number of other integration and open systems questions, in the context of computer-aided software engineering environments and other kinds of systems.  Prior to coming to the SEI, she was with the Navy for more than 19 years.

The Effect of COTS-Based Systems on Requirements Management
For the last several years, the SEI’s work in the area of COTS-based systems has explored the realities of using COTS products in systems. In our studies of the techniques and processes that are needed to be successful, many lessons have been learned. Chief among them has been that use of COTS products has a much more profound impact on the system life-cycle than is commonly anticipated. This talk will present the evidence for this claim and the techniques we recommend be used to deal with the consequences, focusing particularly on how the adoption of COTS technology impacts requirements elicitation, negotiation and maintenance.