While the concept of software product lines has been used effectively in a number of commercial domains, the government acquisition environment presents unique challenges. Successful product lines are often long lived, and some of the systems created from the product-line approach will have entered the sustainment phase. Here the amount of software evolution may be more limited than during full-scale development, but it is likely to be more influenced by real operators at their work stations who want improved utility for their mission.
Meanwhile, other, newer systems may still be in the design phase, working through the mission threads that guide selection of architectural approaches that best support the key quality attributes for their unique functional approaches. In government settings, managing a product line is harder because each system is typically considered unique in the acquisition universe. The government is obliged to pursue full and open competition for its purchases and avoid sole-source procurements whenever possible.
Government acquisition professionals thus worry about " vendor lock " that limits healthy competition for military-specific needs, like stealth fighters or ballistic missile submarines. Our research efforts in effective product-line architectures and open-system architectures include years of investigation into how software systems can be created to maximize the value of reusing the majority of system elements--a core with new elements to address similar functionality in different hardware packages.
These software components typically fit within weapon systems or other hardware with very different operating modes. For example, a command-and-control system for a surface ship would likely share many capabilities needed for a submarine. Command and control of the unique aspects of submarine operation, such as diving and surfacing, would require that some software systems not be shared across the product line.
From a software component perspective, many computer software configuration items CSCIs would be identical across the product line. Some CSCIs might be modestly modified; a few might be unique to the specific weapon system under development. Over the years, the SEI has worked closely with government organizations dedicated to the continuous evolution of the software content of various military systems.
Long-standing laws require government owned-and-operated sites to assure the continued readiness of our weapon systems after their development by a contractor. Software sustainment was initially viewed as limited to fixing errors with small patches, but the need for greater capability has grown, including major revisions in software design.
Consequently, engineers have rethought the idea of conventional software maintenance. Today, they have evolved toward the process as continuous engineering , which lies at the intersection of fixing problems and providing new capabilities made possible by new hardware or new threats that demand new functionality.
In this environment, software sustainment needed to become a well-developed capability in the government's software development centers. Various laws governing the DoD's acquisition of weapon systems recognize that many systems must be maintained long after production. The company that built the system may go out of business or move on to different products.
Code directs government-owned sites to acquire called "organic," since they are within government rather than "commercial" or contractor sites needed competencies to preserve wartime capabilities for core systems. These systems are identified early in the acquisition cycle.
Over time, Congress added the option for public-private partnerships PPP on government sites to expand sustainment capabilities beyond the limits of government hiring.
This option provided needed competencies, processes, and equipment and enabled the prime contractor for a system to establish its presence on a government-operated site. We were particularly interested in this case because the systems were developed by a single contractor using product-line strategies for both software and hardware.
In fact, the initial products in the product line were successfully deployed and in operation. Based on this success, the government is acquiring variants of the system from that contractor.
Some basics of software product line practice, the challenges that make product line acquisition unique, and three basic acquisition strategies are all part of this white paper. This report describes a technique for formulating the production strategy of a production system. This technical report provides guidance for creating, using, and evaluating a production plan, which is a description of how core assets are to be used to develop a product in a product line.
This report provides guidance for DoD organizations for mining legacy systems to obtain core assets that will fit into a previously defined software architecture for a product line. This TSP Symposium presentation introduces software product line development, essential activities and underlying practices, and costs and benefits of adoption. In this presentation, Linda M. This report introduces an approach that will help managers make resource allocation decisions. This report highlights the mutual benefits of combining systematic reuse approaches from product line development with flexible approaches for implementing business processes in a service oriented architecture.
This report characterizes the status of measurement associated with the operation of a software product line, suggests a small set of measures to support its management, and provides guidance for those establishing measurement activities within a software product line.
This presentation from SATURN codifies the the architecture knowledge required for evoloving products in a given viewpoint. This report provides an end-to-end view of the activities that are needed to support the automatic derivation of products within a software product line. This paper presents the basics of product line practices and reports the results of two DoD product line workshops in which important issues and successful practices were shared.
This report chronicles the decisions a program manager might face in considering the adoption of a product line approach. Examples cover diverse domains and show the kind of improvements you can achieve using a product line approach.
Three diagnostic tools for understanding an organization's readiness for and initial approach to software product lines. This report introduces a variant of the Factory Pattern called the Adoption Factory pattern that provides a generic roadmap to guide a manageable, phased product line adoption strategy. This presentation introduces the concept of strategic, planned reuse and a new way of conducting one's software business. This book provides a framework of specific practices, with detailed case studies, to guide the implementation of product lines in your organization.
This report expands on the testing practice area described by Clements and Northrop. Test-related activities that can be used to form the test process for a product line organization are described. This technical note examines three key DoD acquisition policies and regulations, along with their implications for launching a product line.
This report offers a case study of organizations that have adopted a software product line approach for developing a family of software-intensive systems. This report describes the concepts needed when creating core assets with included variability. These concepts provide guidelines to core asset creators on how to model the variability explicitly, so it is handled consistently throughout the product line and managing the variability becomes feasible.
Software Engineering Institute. Publisher: Software Engineering Institute. Abstract A software product line is a set of software-intensive systems that share a common, managed set of features satisfying the specific needs of a particular market segment or mission and that are developed from a common set of core assets in a prescribed way. Benefits Product lines can help organizations overcome the problems caused by resource shortages. Example organizational benefits include: Improved productivity Increased quality Decreased cost Decreased labor needs Decreased time to market Ability to move into new markets in months, not years This collection includes two decades of SEI work on software product lines.
Essentially, a client selects one vendor, and they inherit a whole collection of marketing technology components and services already wired together. This is the fastest way for a marketing organization to implement a big chunk of new marketing infrastructure, requiring a minimal amount of marketing technologist talent on its team.
Simply put, a successful suite provides two things at once: a core set of features that maintain stability, and an identifiable target audience. The most evident challenge facing modern marketing technology suites is that the fabric of new marketing is still being woven. A suite provider must keep up with all the diverse facets of modern marketing under their umbrella -- websites, search, email, social, mobile, etc.
A suite runs the risk of becoming the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. But this is precisely why trusting a suite with your small business could be a good idea -- what your startup needs is reach and accessibility, and a suite provides that for you in just one-stop.
However, for larger, thoroughly established organizations with more at stake in their marketing infrastructure, the risks and benefits of a suite are more difficult to weigh. Does a suite mesh well with your structure and operations?
Is it a cultural fit, for both your organization and your customers? One solution to the constraints of an integrated suite is to open it up by using a marketing technology platform. To the untrained eye, a platform may initially appear suite-like, as they both provide a wide collection of features out of the box. But unlike a closed suite, a platform is inherently open, making it available for partnerships with companies that may not even exist yet.
By making it easy to swap out or enhance those features you find stagnant or simplistic in the package of a suite, a platform broadens your marketing ecosystem by way of integrating evolving third-party and custom components. A platform is more than a starter-collection of disparate features.
Typically, a platform has one primary purpose, something that can serve as a foundational service or master data repository that other software and services can leverage.
Successful marketing platforms provide four things: digital asset management, e-commerce, web content management, and advertising data management.
While it can be more work for your company to harness a platform, the benefit is a solution that is more tailored to your business. Growing a partner ecosystem is much more a business mission than a technical one: how much does your chosen platform company really invest in the success of their third-party developers?
Choosing between using a suite or a platform can seem like a daunting task, but it is one that will feel obvious to you once you identify the core strategy of your company and clarify the strengths and challenges facing you. Originally published Jun 26, AM, updated January 26 Subscribe to Our Blog Stay up to date with the latest marketing, sales, and service tips and news.
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