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A lifecycle‐based method for the acquisition of commercial‐off‐the‐shelf (COTS) technology to support organizational processes
Author(s) -
Salter Christine P.,
Buede Dennis M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
systems engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.474
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1520-6858
pISSN - 1098-1241
DOI - 10.1002/sys.10000
Subject(s) - business process , process (computing) , stakeholder , process management , computer science , commercial off the shelf , systems engineering , system lifecycle , knowledge management , software , engineering , operations management , work in process , application lifecycle management , public relations , political science , programming language , operating system
Organizations are seeking commercial off‐the‐shelf (COTS) information technology (IT) solutions to enable the innovation of business processes. The ability to acquire IT should impact how an organization designs its processes. Likewise, the design of processes should influence which IT solutions are selected. Selecting IT solutions that support the business processes of an organization is critical for aligning IT with organizational goals. A formal decision process is needed to enable organizations to make an effective decision about which COTS IT solutions it acquires and shapes its organization around. The Stakeholder Life Cycle Method for COTS Solutions (SLIC) was developed to support the lifecycle‐based acquisition of COTS information technology (IT) solutions. A critical step in the lifecycle is the selection of COTS technology that will be used to enable the redesign of organizational processes. The SLIC method uses the IT requirements defined by a process model of the organization to create the criteria for the evaluation of potential IT solutions. The SLIC method was validated with a case study for a group of three newspaper publishing organizations located in southeastern Massachusetts. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Syst Eng 4: 287–304, 2001