Download Experience Component Inventory

Document Summary

This document is the Technical Guide for Download Experience Component Inventory.

This document is a component of op1digital Applied Intelligence™.

The latest version of this document may be found at: https://op1digital.com

This document contains a written description of Download Experience Component Inventory.

This document contains version 2025-06-28 of this description.

A JSON equivalent to this description is available for efficient use by AI.

Disclaimers

Download Experience Component Inventory does not represent the views or experiences of any current, past, or future company or any specific company, organization, or individual’s supply chain, product, product experience, processes, people, technologies, supply chain design, supply chain implementation, audit findings, security, supply chain risks, or risk decisions. This research has been conducted independently. See license terms for terms, including additional disclaimers.

License

op1digital Applied Intelligence™ components, including Download Experience Component Inventory, are licensed under:
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Commercial license terms are available for parties unable to accept our standard license terms.

Purpose

What does it do?

The download supply chain is a tool for delivering business-critical information to customers. When we focus solely on cybersecurity risk and think only about software engineering and delivery, we may overlook risks of great potential severity.

The existing body of supply chain knowledge is often presented in formats suited for large organizations with dedicated resources. Every download supply chain is different, and every download supplier has unique needs.

Download Experience Component Inventory has been constructed to support teams of all sizes, including teams producing non-software downloads and small open source projects, to illuminate invisible download supply chain risks. Download Experience Component Inventory is a lightweight approach that can be used during the design, implementation, and audit of download supply chains.

Landscape Description

Download Supply Chains

Millions of separate download supply chains collectively serve billions of downloaders worldwide. In modern terms, a download occurs when a file is retrieved from a server and saved to a computer. Downloaded files can contain an application, a document, an image, a video, or other data. Downloads typically occur over the internet. An estimated 67% of the world population is internet-connected. Downloads can also occur over a corporate or university network. Downloads can occur to a mobile device, tablet, laptop, desktop computer, server, virtual machine, or cloud environment. There are billions of active devices globally.

Download activity differs from other types of internet activity in several ways. File assets are typically prepared in advance by a person or process and stored statically for exact, unaltered delivery. File assets are often opened by dedicated software on the computer or through a browser plugin. The saved copy of the data could be processed either immediately or later. File assets can range from very small to large, with transmission times varying from sub-second to hours.

Downloadable files are produced and delivered through a download supply chain. Downloaders may have varying degrees of technical knowledge and expertise and may or may not know that a download is being performed or how delivery occurs through the supply chain. Downloads can be initiated by a person, such as when a PDF document is requested, or can happen automatically, as is the case when the operating system performs automated updates to software installed on a computer. Regardless of whether the downloader knows the details, customer satisfaction, brand reputation, and business results may depend on successfully delivering downloadable files.

With millions of different sources for downloadable assets, there are millions of varying download supply chains. Some download supply chains are operated by paid employees of a company, such as one of the 55,000 companies listed on a stock market, and others are operated by volunteers or hobbyists. Some download supply chains serve paying customers, while others serve a broad community or ecosystem of users. The download producer entirely operates some download supply chains, while others depend on centralized infrastructure from a hosting provider.

Problem

What are we solving?

Download delivery systems can be a complicated mix of technology, process, and people. Limits or failures in the design, implementation, documentation, or risk management practices around download delivery systems can result in risk, including hidden risk.

Impact

Why do we need to solve this?

• Hidden vulnerabilities
• Compliance issues
• Poor user experience
• Excess implementation, maintenance, and operating direct cost
• Opportunity cost

Solution

How do we solve this?

• Holistic and Ecosystem-Oriented: Download Experience Component Inventory considers a comprehensive set of 12 problem domains, including human factors, the extended product ecosystem, adversarial and disinformation risks.
  • Product Specifications
  • Product Supports
  • End-User Responsibilities
  • Product Experience
  • Delivery Methods
  • Delivery Environment
  • Lifecycle Management Experience
  • Producer Responsibilities
  • Production Experience
  • Production Environment
  • Oversight Responsibilities
  • Data Collection Experience
• Human-Centric Considerations: Download Experience Component Inventory recognizes that people (end-users, producers, overseers, volunteers) are critical risk points and emphasizes usability, training, trust, and communication to reduce vulnerabilities.
• Visualization: Download Experience Component Inventory includes visual models to support the overlay of relevant information and the visualization of risks, making it easier to identify gaps and understand complex risk relationships. Current risk state, planned risk state, and inventory status can be visualized.
• Scope and Scale Adaptive: Download Experience Component Inventory represents a comprehensive view that covers the scope and scale present in most download supply chains. Many supply chains implement only a subset, and Download Experience Component Inventory adapts to cover only relevant factors.

Result

• Documentation: Download Experience Component Inventory helps to document both intended and actual state of download supply chains. Strong definitions aid communication within teams and help memorialize requirements to reduce risk of change-driven regressions in the future.
• Measurement: Download Experience Component Inventory supports data-driven insights by enabling teams to qualitatively and quantitatively understand their download supply chain, track changes, and integrate with other analytic techniques and frameworks.
• Continuous Improvement, Risk Reduction: Download Experience Component Inventory can be used as a one-off approach to evaluate or tame a download supply chain, or as part of incremental work to continuously improve a download supply chain to drive meaningful risk reduction.

Technical Attributes

How does this solution align to your needs?

By design, Download Experience Component Inventory exhibits:

• Inclusive Scoping: Download Experience Component Inventory works equally well for traditional software projects, non-software assets, and organizations of any size, including small teams and open-source volunteers.
• Planning, Implementation, Audit Support: Download Experience Component Inventory can be applied at any point in the design or implementation process, and post-implementation as part of an audit strategy.
• Greenfield or Brownfield Viability: Download Experience Component Inventory can be applied during design of a new system (greenfield design) or when assessing the need to retrofit an existing system (brownfield design).
• Technology Agnosticity: Download Experience Component Inventory is adaptable to any technical environment or delivery method, supporting diverse scenarios such as different file formats, infrastructure configurations, or compliance regimes.
• Human and AI Compatibility: Download Experience Component Inventory is a modern approach, recognizing that work is done by humans, by AI, and by humans working with AI. Download Experience Component Inventory includes detailed written descriptions and efficient JSON descriptions.

Risk Summary

Every download supply chain is different, and every download supplier has unique needs. Business requirements and risk appetite can guide design priorities.

Download supply chain integrity is the ability of a download supply chain to correctly and accurately deliver the intended product experience. Problems with download supply chain integrity can be visible or latent. Download supply chain integrity problems may be expressed as IT (information technology) issues, UX (user experience) issues, or risks.

The risk present in every download supply chain and the severity of the potential impact will differ.

A download provider may place different levels of value on customer satisfaction, protecting their brand reputation, and achieving business results that depend on successful download delivery. Perceived cost may also be critical in download supply chain design and implementation decisions.

Design Risk Details

RCAM (Resource Constrained Action Model) is a problem-solving technique available from op1digital that enables problems to be visualized and attacked from multiple directions. RCAM was used to evaluate different risk impacts related to design deficiencies for the download supply chain. The following risks were identified:

Complexity, inconsistency, or knowledge gaps

• Every component of the supply chain may contribute to complexity and potential risk. Each aspect of each component present in the download supply chain can offer an opportunity to align supply chain behavior to the needs of the user and the business. Industry best practices and standards can provide helpful guidance on technology implementation.
• Components in the download supply chain are interconnected and interdependent. These relationships provide an opportunity to validate the correctness and consistency of the download supply chain design and implementation – whether the supply chain is consistent with itself.
• Knowledge gaps can mask risks. While download supply chain risks can be assessed and managed using established risk practices, these risks are likely to be overlooked, ignored, or incorrectly prioritized if the download supply chain is not part of a risk management program.
• It is important to document why decisions have been made since guidance changes over time.
• People are the least controlled element of the download supply chain. Whether we have staff under a contract, work with volunteers under an honor code, or have good relationships with our end users, people remain the greatest source of risk in the supply chain.
• Siloed and stovepiped implementations can be inconsistent. When different components of the download supply chain are not maintained consistently, the user can receive conflicting information, legitimate user needs can be impeded, and controls may not effectively prevent undesired behavior. When people, processes, and systems are handled consistently, there is potential to present a smaller attack surface.
• Download supply chain measurement is critical for business understanding and consistent production of business value but is sometimes underdeveloped. Measurement data, logs, reporting, oversight, and audit activities can be helpful in the timely detection of emerging threats and rapid diagnosis of business concerns. Governance, policies, regulations, and other factors may constrain how data is collected, stored, or used. For example, GDPR (European user privacy protections), CCPA (Californian user privacy protections), and data retention policies.

Impacts on system function or capabilities

• When installing some products, changes to the system are required to turn off network firewalls, malware detection software, or security mechanisms like SELinux. The user should be aware of these changes and their potential impact.
• The product installation, upgrade, downgrade, or uninstallation should not leave the system in a non-functional state.
• Finally, it is considered best practice that the product is secure by default. The product installation, upgrade, downgrade, or uninstallation should not require further user action or configuration to reach a secure state.

Incomplete, failing, or unnecessary product or delivery experiences

• Supply chain risks are not all security risks. A download supply chain is successful if user needs are met, including fast and secure delivery of a product that meets the user’s needs. While some supply chain risks are security risks, the download supply chain can also be impacted by information technology (IT) risks, such as capacity planning and availability issues, and by user experience (UX) risks, such as a failure to correctly manage end-user expectations, respond to failures, or align with end-user capabilities.
• It can be better to have only those components that serve a legitimate need rather than having more components, even when those components are implemented to best practices. The download supply chain is a way download providers address the needs of their users and businesses. Right-sizing depends on understanding both user and business needs. Only by understanding needs can the download provider plan an appropriate download supply chain.
• People seek solutions when they encounter problems. Do we want a user to respond with rash actions suggested by a third-party forum when encountering a problem? Do we want staff to subvert controls to enable an on-schedule release? When an experience breaks, who will users and staff rely on to guide them? How and when can norms be resumed?
• Problem detection should be considered, especially when trusting large-scale providers. Many download supply chains leverage cloud infrastructure, hosting providers, or centralized package repositories. These can be practical tools that provide consistency and high-quality delivery with less staff overhead. However, where a download provider cannot perform an in-depth audit or establish their controls on vendor-supplied infrastructure, additional consideration should be given to how problems with their downloads could be detected. Is the business dependent on users to find problems?

Poor usability or accessibility

• Every download supply chain is built to deliver a specific set of files, a product, to an intended set of users. The legitimate needs of the intended users are paramount, and supply chains can be designed and implemented to support user needs.
• A download supply chain may require security, information technology to support the production and delivery of assets, and consideration of user experience to understand and address user and business needs.
• The downloader considers success first based on whether the download accurately met their needs. If the product does not meet their needs, they may feel their time is wasted. Download delivery interfaces have a role in educating potential users about the product.
• The downloader expects downloads to be delivered securely and quickly, and secure and fast delivery is the primary purpose of a well-built download delivery system.
• The downloader also expects to pivot from downloading the product to using it with minimal fuss. If the product experience has been built well, this can be achieved.
• Accessible interfaces make the product available to the most significant potential audience.

External subversion

• Users may go around a protected supply chain. The ability to connect intended users to a protected supply chain may be subverted by third parties offering competing links through SEO (search engine optimization), diverting user clicks through advertising content, instructing users to use the product differently than intended or to obtain the product or an entirely different product from a different source, resulting in one person’s potential users becoming someone else’s actual users. Where the user is human, we might need to consider any point where disinformation could taint the user’s behavior and lead them away from our intended experience.
• Temporal (time) and longitudinal (over time) factors are often underappreciated. Rather than thinking about just the initial launch, we need to consider the full lifecycle, both internally and externally. Internal considerations include what happens if a person leaves the company and is the file owner for files related to the product? External considerations include what happens when a product is discontinued, to the domains, namespaces, and hosting infrastructure once used? Attacks on expired domains are perhaps better known, but recent research has identified that the users of end-of-life software may be attacked through previously legitimate distribution channels.
• We have the most significant potential to control our behavior and less potential to control the behavior of others (end users, third parties, and the greater ecosystem). Awareness of risks outside our control can enable risk responses within our controlled areas, such as informing the user of norms, monitoring download traffic for unexpected patterns, and providing channels for support issue escalation.

Implementation Risk Details

RCAM (Resource Constrained Action Model) is a problem-solving technique available from op1digital that enables problems to be visualized and attacked from multiple directions. RCAM was used to evaluate different risk impacts related to implementation deficiencies for the download supply chain. The following risks were identified:

Increasing costs or overhead

• Attackers can target supply chains at any time, using any single or multiple methods, so defenders must maintain effective supply chain defenses, even when limited resources restrict available defenses.
• Denial of service (DoS) attacks, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, the generation of download activity or communications that do not serve a legitimate purpose, competitive behavior, and anti-competitive behavior have the potential to increase cost or overhead.

Adding malware to the product or delivery platform

• Many initiatives, with due cause, focus on hardening software engineering practices and consider improvements to third-party software dependency management as ways to reduce the likelihood of malware being introduced to a product before product delivery.
• The delivery environment may also be targeted, either injecting malware into the product during the product delivery process or using the platform to separately distribute malware.
• Malware delivery or malware behavior may be targeted to specific downloaders.
• Many points in the download supply chain can work together to maintain integrity even if some supply chain controls fail or are bypassed. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to defense in depth for a download supply chain.
• Non-software downloads can also contain malware. While most guidance on digital supply chains is focused on software production, some downloadable assets are PDF documents, images, and video files. Since the production of these non-software assets could be corrupted to include malware, it is crucial to consider these download supply chains.

Blocking or slowing product release or delivery

• A download supply chain is successful if user needs are met, including fast delivery. The downloader can be located anywhere, on any type of internet connection. The downloader may use VPN (virtual private networking) or onion routing. The speed of the download delivery will depend on factors such as the speed of the downloader’s internet connection, the speed of the internet connection for the server delivering the download, and the proximity of the downloader to that server. It may be impractical or impossible to receive large files in some locations or over some internet connections.
• Problems that impede the release or delivery of product updates can leave users on older, potentially more vulnerable product versions. The ability to mitigate user problems can depend on the timely release and uptake of new versions. Users may be more likely to upgrade if they know the risks associated with not upgrading and understand what has changed in the latest product versions. Testing and validation remain essential.
• Dependencies and dependents can both introduce unexpected outcomes. Many initiatives are working to enumerate software dependencies and mitigate the risk of malicious code introduction via dependencies. There has been less focus on the influence of dependents, the software that depends on the product. Dependents influence product sourcing, including the product used to satisfy a named dependency, installed product versions, and the instructions used to implement products. Dependents can block upgrades to a product.

Obtaining unauthorized access to Intellectual Property (IP) or data

• In addition to supporting the legitimate needs of intended users, the download provider may also consider rejecting unauthorized users and illegitimate needs essential. Controls can be established within the download supply chain to enforce policies and security requirements and perform other risk mitigation.
• Controls may be needed to limit who can access approved releases, prevent the unauthorized release of intellectual property (IP), or prevent unauthorized access to collected data such as log data, measurement data, or reports.

Introducing defects or alternatives

• A supply chain consists of multiple components. When considering the product experience, the supply chain includes the production of a downloadable asset, delivering the downloadable asset, and the resulting product experience.
• Download supply chain integrity can be corrupted by:
  • Design limitations
  • Defective implementation
  • Accidental, incorrect, unexpected, or complicated behavior
  • Inattention, ineptitude, or responsibility failures
  • Malicious acts
• A corrupt download supply chain can impact availability, compliance, confidentiality, cost, intellectual property, opportunity costs, overhead, people, reputation, resources, satisfaction, trust, and vulnerability.
• The ecosystem may influence users through third-party websites and associated search results. The product ecosystem includes our product, products that have our product as a dependency (dependents), products our product depends on (dependencies), and the extended community, which includes our product, dependents, dependencies, peers, partners, competitors, and their users.
• Promotion of alternatives, such as competing products, third-party product variants, malware, or off-label product use, can generate unexpected user outcomes.

Visual Models

Visual models support understanding and can aid visualization.

See "Visualizations" for guidance on visualization practices.

See "Working with Images" for details on available image formats.

See "Visual Model Descriptions" for text descriptions of the visual models.

Component Model

Component Group Model - Vertical

Component Group Model - Horizontal

Component Group Model - Stacked

Component List and Inventory Questions

The following download supply chain components can be evaluated when considering a download supply chain. Supply chains vary, and some listed components may not be relevant to some download supply chains. Listed components are intended as a starting point, and the listing can be amended to account for the specific needs of a download supply chain.

Each component includes a representative starter question that can aid the inventory process. In follow-up, additional questions should be asked to gain a sufficient understanding of how the supply chain design and implementation address the component.

A. Product Specifications

Product Specifications define the products to be produced, and the number of product variants delivered through a download supply chain.

B. Product Supports

Product Supports guide or influence an end user’s behavior when implementing or using a product. Incorrect guidance can result in unintended outcomes.

C. End-User Responsibilities

End Users are the reason that downloadable assets exist. By considering what a responsible end user would want to do and understanding that some end users may not align with this motivation, we can appreciate critical interactions between the end user, the product, and the infrastructure.

See "Human Factors" for a timeline view that includes these responsibilities

D. Product Experience

The Product Experience includes product capabilities, behaviors, and procedures, which are significant user behavior factors. When the product experience does not align with the end user’s expectations, this can trigger the user to take actions that have unexpected outcomes.

E. Delivery Methods

Delivery Methods include the protocols and technologies used to serve traffic to the end user. Each delivery method uses a different delivery application and configuration, has different security attributes and control capabilities, has different associated best practices, and is applicable only if end users use compatible client technology.

F. Delivery Environment

The Delivery Environment allows the end user to retrieve downloadable materials upon request. A separate delivery environment may exist for each delivery method, product experience, and product variant.

G. Lifecycle Management Experience

The Lifecycle Management Experience defines various capabilities related to managing the product life cycle, such as launching a new product version or declaring a product’s end-of-life. These capabilities may offer problem-solving options when new business needs arise.

H. Producer Responsibilities

Producers are people who take the actions needed to generate downloadable assets and contribute to product success. These responsibilities can be segmented or duplicated among multiple people.

I. Production Experience

Production Experience considers the processes used when generating downloadable assets.

J. Production Environment

The Production Environment includes the systems, tools, and infrastructure to generate downloadable assets.

K. Oversight Responsibilities

Oversight of people, processes, and systems helps ensure supply chain operations occur as intended. These responsibilities may be segmented or duplicated among multiple overseers.

L. Data Collection Experience

The Data Collection Experience defines various types of information commonly used to confirm the proper functioning of the download supply chain. This list includes typical download supply chain KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Data can offer insights when business questions arise, but collection must be planned since retroactively obtaining data may not be possible. Policy, governance, and regulatory requirements may guide how information is collected, stored, and used.

Deep-Dive Questions

1. Does the download supply chain implementation align with business-desired outcomes?
2. Are there any extraneous components within the download supply chain?
3. Are aspects of the implementation consistent with each other, except for intended variants?
4. Which processes are automated, and which are manual?
5. Do sufficient controls exist across the download supply chain?
6. Is effective oversight present for all aspects of the download supply chain, including people, systems, processes, and data (e.g., files, logs, measurements)?
7. Have best practices been identified and applied in the implementation?
8. Do sufficient supports exist for the end user to be successful?
9. Does our product include other products or advertising, or is our product ever bundled with other products?
10. Are all aspects of the supply chain genuinely accounted for, or are there tools and information used that are outside our awareness?
11. Are there any known cases where normally-collected data, such as logs, were not collected, or were modified, removed prematurely, or lost?
12. Are there any known cases where a storage or server device, network infrastructure, hard drive, cryptographic key or certificate, domain, hostname, IP address, product, product version, release, or released file was decommissioned, replaced, removed, or lost; or known cases where physical security, network security, or system security were breached?
13. Are there any known cases where availability was impacted, delivery was unavailable or slower than expected, or a delivery SLA (service level agreement) was breached?
14. Are there any known cases where intellectual property was released accidentally, where a release was rolled back, where the release or rollback process failed, where malware detection triggered an alarm, or where a release occurred accidentally or without proper approval?
15. Are there any known incidents, policy violations, or honor code violations, including cases without a formal response and cases that invoked an incident response plan?

Implementation Practices

Download Experience Component Inventory is inclusive of a broad range of implementor needs, but is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Consider implementation needs before implementing.

Implementation Steps

1. Determine whether your immediate objective is design, implementation, or audit.
2. Engage organizational resources relevant to the defined objective.
3. Use Download Experience Component Inventory to determine the scope of inquiry.
4. Engage organizational resources relevant to the defined scope.
5. Prepare findings (design, implementation plans, audit conclusions) based on analysis. Work with decision-makers to determine next steps.

Implementation Considerations

• Customization: Download Experience Component Inventory is designed to be right-sized for your need. Unneeded scope should be identified.
• Requirements: Download Experience Component Inventory is not aware of your specific organization or organizational requirements. Requirements should be identified for your organization with your organization.
• Quality: Download Experience Component Inventory helps to identify scope, but does not prescriptively convey best practices or quality measures. Implementations should implement best practices and quality measures as needed to achieve the desired outcomes.
• Rollout Methods: Changes can be deployed one-at-a-time, in incremental batches, or all-at-once. Consider user impact and organizational needs.
• Measurement: Measurement is needed to understand the performance and return on investment (ROI) of your work. Measurement also supports identification of opportunities for improvement and confirmation that changes have produced improvement.
• Additional Considerations: The list of considerations presented here is not exhaustive. Audit and audit support, incident response, disaster recovery, documentation, change management, success criteria, threat assessment, and other factors may need to be considered. Download Experience Component Inventory provides common language that supports communication by different business teams to help align to a shared goal.

Visualizations

Visualizations help show the current state, intended state, before/after comparisons, residual risks after mitigation, and assist with incident response. Colorization alone should not be used to represent severity.

See "Visual Models" for details on the standard visual models for Download Experience Component Inventory.

See "Working with Images" for details on available image formats.

See "Visual Model Descriptions" for text descriptions of the visual models.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence may play many different roles, depending on your specific circumstances. AI may be an end-user, producer, be involved with infrastructure, and aid oversight practices.

Consider threats and threat responses, response quality, decision support gaps, how best to support AI when AI is directed to support a business need, and how control effectiveness can be maintained.

See "Working with JSON" for details on available JSON versions of Download Experience Component Inventory descriptions.

Integration with Other Methods

Collaboration and Decision Support

While Download Experience Component Inventory can help identify and assess risks, further steps are needed for risk management. Risk conditions in a download supply chain are not equally important; some require a greater or faster response. Download supply chain risks cannot be eliminated but can be avoided, transferred, mitigated, exploited, or accepted.

Professional guidance from IT risk management, user experience (UX), legal, and IT operations professionals may be needed.

Risk response can include compliance activities, IT controls, capacity planning, availability management, Quality Assurance (QA), focus on operational excellence, continuous improvement, User Research (UR), and User Testing (UT).

Strategic Planning

The following considerations are helpful when evaluating a download supply chain strategically:

• What are the needs of the user and the business?
  • The answer is influenced by the things the user needs.
  • The answer may include things the user needs, future-looking things we believe future users will need, things needed to counter competitor offerings, or things required by governance.
• How would the business measure success, and how would a user measure success?
  • The answer is influenced by the things the user needs.
  • The answer may indicate a competitive misalignment in the approach.
  • The answer may indicate an unneeded supply.
• How does the approach differ from that of competitors?
  • The answer is influenced by the things our competitors do and the things we do.
  • The answer may indicate a competitive advantage or competitive disadvantage in the approach.
  • The answer may indicate an unneeded supply.
• What norms would users expect based on the other products they use?
  • Considering any one product, most users spend more time on other varied products.
  • The answer is influenced by the things the user needs.
  • The answer may indicate a competitive disadvantage in the approach if norms are not met.

Human Factors

Consider the human factors carefully. People remain the most significant source of risk in the supply chain because their actions are most challenging to predict, complex, leverage substantial resources, and subject to outside influences. To a limited extent, a business can modify human actions through norms setting, training, honor codes, and contractual obligations. For example, a business could instruct users to scan downloads with anti-malware tools, verify cryptographic sums and signatures, and download the product from reputable sources. Compliance monitoring and enforcement of policies may be needed.

Event Condition Timeline is a problem-solving technique available from op1digital.com for experience mapping. The following model considers the potential experience of a responsible end user through the event of downloading the product:

Several techniques can help model the user experience for download supply chains:

• User Experience Inventory is a problem-solving technique available from op1digital.com for comprehensive, holistic analysis of a user’s experience. User Experience inventory uncovers gaps in understanding and helps to account for the variability, constraints, and complexity in download supply chains. User Experience Inventory can consider not just users and customers but also adversaries who want to gain unauthorized access to downloads. User Experience Inventory internally detects misalignment between expectation and experience.
• KLM-GOMS can be used to predict the time needed for a user to complete a series of interactions with an interface, such as a download interface and the product interfaces. KLM-GOMS can help evaluate potential interface improvements and perform competitive comparisons.
• NASA-TLX can be used to measure the load placed on a user asked to perform tasks, such as performing a download and product installation.

Suggested Resources

The author of this paper is not associated with these resources.

Background on Supply Chain Risks

• Supply Chain Security Gaps: A 2022 Global Research Report from ISACA
• Uptime Institute annual outage analysis
• Systems Thinking: A Product Is More Than the Product, Don Norman (2010)
• Schneier on Security, tagged “supply chain”

Starting Point for Identifying/Implementing Best Practices

• Deque University accessibility courses
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework
• NIST Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management
• NIST SP 800-161 Rev. 1
• NIST SP 800-218
• Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity (2021, United States)
• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guidance
• CISA ICT Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force guidance
• Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) secure supply chain projects
• OWASP Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM)
• ISO/IEC 20243-1:2023 (OTTPS)
• ISO/IEC 27036 Series
• ISO 28000:2022 (Security and resilience)
• OpenChain
• TUF
• Uptane
• SLSA
• in-toto
• Software Package Data Exchange
• Building Security In Maturity Model (BSIMM)
• CycloneDX
• Software Identification (SWID) tagging
• Semantic Versioning (SemVer)
• Reproducible Builds
• CSA Cloud Controls Matrix
• code signing standards (e.g., RFC 3161, X.509 Certificates)
• various Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) standards
• various package manager security enhancements (e.g., Debian, Red Hat, Docker, Python)

Visual Model Descriptions

Component Model

This description is of the standard visual for Download Experience Component Inventory's Component Model. The visual may be customized when used in visualization.

1. At the top, heading content: a title, copyright notice, and link to the provider of the visual model.
2. Below the heading content, a large segmented rectangular field.
3. Within the rectangular field, each cell contains text.
4. Within the rectangular field, each row contains a set of boxes containing specific related topics.
5. Within the rectangular field, the first column consists of an identifier of the topics.
6. Within the rectangular field, most identifiers span one row, but D. contains an extended set of topics so spans two rows.
7. Within the rectangular field, the background color alternates between white and light gray, changing when the topic identifier changes.
8. The first row consists of a box at left containing the text A. Product Specifications, then 12 boxes labeled A1 through A12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for A. Product Specifications.
9. The second row consists of a box at left containing the text B. Product Supports, then 12 boxes labeled B1 through B12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for B. Product Supports.
10. The third row consists of a box at left containing the text C. End-User Responsibilities, then 12 boxes labeled C1 through C12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for C. End-User Responsibilities.
11. The fourth row consists of a box at left containing the text D. Product Experience, then two rows of 12 boxes, totaling 24 boxes, labeled D1 through D24 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for D. Product Experience.
12. The fifth row consists of a box at left containing the text E. Delivery Methods, then 12 boxes labeled E1 through E12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for E. Delivery Methods.
13. The sixth row consists of a box at left containing the text F. Delivery Environment, then 12 boxes labeled F1 through F12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for F. Delivery Environment.
14. The seventh row consists of a box at left containing the text G. Lifecycle Management Experience, then 12 boxes labeled G1 through G12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for G. Lifecycle Management Experience.
15. The eighth row consists of a box at left containing the text H. Producer Responsibilities, then 12 boxes labeled H1 through H12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for H. Producer Responsibilities.
16. The ninth row consists of a box at left containing the text I. Production Experience, then 12 boxes labeled I1 through I12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for I. Production Experience.
17. The tenth row consists of a box at left containing the text J. Production Environment, then 12 boxes labeled J1 through J12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for J. Production Environment.
18. The eleventh row consists of a box at left containing the text K. Oversight Responsibilities, then 12 boxes labeled K1 through K12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for K. Oversight Responsibilities.
19. The twelfth row consists of a box at left containing the text L. Data Collection Experience, then 12 boxes labeled L1 through L12 containing identifiers as found in the Component List for L. Data Collection Experience.

Component Group Model - Vertical

1. At the top, heading content: a title, copyright notice, and link to the provider of the visual model.
2. Below the heading content, a segmented rectangular field consisting of 12 cells with one cell per row.
3. Within the rectangular field, each cell contains text.
4. The first row contains the text A. Product Specifications
5. The second row contains the text B. Product Supports
6. The third row contains the text C. End-User Responsibilities
7. The fourth row contains the text D. Product Experience
8. The fifth row contains the text E. Delivery Methods
9. The sixth row contains the text F. Delivery Environment
10. The seventh row contains the text G. Lifecycle Management Experience
11. The eighth row contains the text H. Producer Responsibilities
12. The ninth row contains the text I. Production Experience
13. The tenth row contains the text J. Production Environment
14. The eleventh row contains the text K. Oversight Responsibilities
15. The twelfth row contains containing the text L. Data Collection Experience

Component Group Model - Horizontal

1. At the top, heading content: a title, copyright notice, and link to the provider of the visual model.
2. Below the heading content, a segmented rectangular field consisting of 12 cells with one cell per column.
3. Within the rectangular field, each cell contains text.
4. The first column contains the text A. Product Specifications
5. The second column contains the text B. Product Supports
6. The third column contains the text C. End-User Responsibilities
7. The fourth column contains the text D. Product Experience
8. The fifth column contains the text E. Delivery Methods
9. The sixth column contains the text F. Delivery Environment
10. The seventh column contains the text G. Lifecycle Management Experience
11. The eighth column contains the text H. Producer Responsibilities
12. The ninth column contains the text I. Production Experience
13. The tenth column contains the text J. Production Environment
14. The eleventh column contains the text K. Oversight Responsibilities
15. The twelfth column contains containing the text L. Data Collection Experience

Component Group Model - Stacked

1. At the top, heading content: a title, copyright notice, and link to the provider of the visual model.
2. Below the heading content, a segmented rectangular field consisting of 3 rows of 4 columns of cells.
3. Within the rectangular field, each cell contains text.
4. The row 1, column 1 cell contains the text A. Product Specifications
5. The row 1, column 2 cell contains the text B. Product Supports
6. The row 1, column 3 cell contains the text C. End-User Responsibilities
7. The row 1, column 4 cell contains the text D. Product Experience
8. The row 2, column 1 cell contains the text E. Delivery Methods
9. The row 2, column 2 cell contains the text F. Delivery Environment
10. The row 2, column 3 cell contains the text G. Lifecycle Management Experience
11. The row 2, column 4 cell contains the text H. Producer Responsibilities
12. The row 3, column 1 cell contains the text I. Production Experience
13. The row 3, column 2 cell contains the text J. Production Environment
14. The row 3, column 3 cell contains the text K. Oversight Responsibilities
15. The row 3, column 4 cell contains containing the text L. Data Collection Experience

Working with JSON

The following JSON files are available for Download Experience Component Inventory:

Working with Images

Visual Models

The following files are available for the Download Experience Component Inventory visual models:

Supporting Images

The following files are available for the images supporting Download Experience Component Inventory:

Support

Teams of any size (be it one or one thousand) who need help managing a download supply chain should seek external support. Professional guidance from IT risk management, user experience (UX), legal, and IT operations professionals may be needed.

The following topics are expansive and, as real-world needs can substantially vary, are areas where expert guidance may be needed:

• Strategic planning
• Technology implementation
• Metrics and KPIs
• Risk prioritization
• Risk mitigation approaches
• CI/CD pipelines
• Automation
• Scalability and high availability
• Governance
• Regulatory compliance, privacy laws, export restrictions, and content delivery licenses
• License compliance and standards conformance
• Open source licensing
• Best practices identification and standards implementation
• Human risk management
• Dependency management
• Proactive threat detection
• Continuous Improvement
• Audits
• Control implementation
• Vendor and third-party management
• Incident response and recovery