Abstract
As commercial off-the-shelf components starts used effectively, in building Component based Systems and new methodologies and processes not only for development and maintenance, but also for other lifecycle phases that are strongly affected. For example, some software vendors have begun to successfully sell and license commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, and this fact leads to a considerable number of components being available for use. Thus, requirements engineering techniques have to change to deal with more flexible requirements to provide a match between stakeholder requirements and COTS component's services. In addition to changes in activities such as composition and component specification, that are specific to Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE), there are also a number of managerial issues that require change. Many of these issues are not yet established in practice or even developed. The main goal of this article is to present some characteristics of a CBSD and discuss some of the current issues associated with applying CBSE.