A systems engineering approach to the design of a COTS management system

This project applies the management systems engineering methodology to the design and development of a management tool to be used in managing change of the Commercial-Off-The-Shelf [COTS] software, firmware, and hardware utilized within the Mapping Branch of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency [NIMA] (formerly known as the Defense Mapping Agency [DMA J). The management tool is used to support the management process overlaying the work process for changing COTS products. By using the management systems engineering methodology to understand how COTS products are changed, the functional requirements for a management tool can be derived in a clear and concise manner. Concurrently, the systems approach is applied in the development of the management tool, referred to as the COTS Management System. The COTS Management System is identified as required by NIMA due to the increasing number of COTS products being used within the Digital Production System [DPS]. The DPS is NIMA's conglomeration of segmented computer systems combined to provide the tools and functionality necessary to produce the myriad of mapping, charting, and geodesic products in both hard-copy and digital format. NIMA also desires to implement the COTS Management System in an effort to achieve the Software Engineering Institutes [SEI] Capability Maturity Model [CMM] Level 3.