Traditional software process models assume the software system will be developed largely by writing code from scratch, and thus fail to address many of the challenges associated with developing COTS-based applications (CBAs). This often leads to the selection of best-of-breed but incompatible COTS products, without considering the increased costs and reduced benefits incurred by trying to glue these together. This article presents a value-based set of processes that help steer CBA projects toward either avoiding or minimizing such value losses, based on our experiences in empirical analyses of both small and large CBA projects. These include five primary principles, an associated process framework, and a set of process elements to accommodate the needs of CBA development. Their use is briefly illustrated by a supply chain example.