Lifecycle management of open-source software in the public sector: A model for community-based application evolution

Similarities in public sector organizations allow the reuse of SW products using open-source (OS) like characteristics. This enables cost savings as organizations can reuse and tailor SW products developed by other organizations free of charge. However, without coordination SW products will evolve in an uncontrolled manner. This article argues the importance of application lifecycle management during the evolution of SW products in the public sector's open-source communities. The state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice are well established in open-source development and SW product lifecycle management but they need to be applied for public sector. This article defines models for the lifecycle management of open-source like SW products in the public sector. The models have been developed in cooperation with OS specialists, lifecycle-management specialists and a number of public sector organizations. The results and experiences of this research are interesting to the public sector in other countries that are considering open source as a way to increase the cost efficiency of the information systems development. This article is also targeted at IT research organizations and software companies that operate with public sector organizations.