Commercial Off The Shelf Software

Buying a commercial system has the advantage of initial cost savings and system capabilities. And the COTS system has already solved a lot of implementation details that you would have to address if you create a custom system. There is also support in the form of on-line help and telephone support. However, a COTS system has two main disadvantages:

1. You have to set the software up yourself, and
2. You have to adapt to their workflow and capabilities.
   

The first issue is how to set up the system. And this does not mean how to install it on your computer, it means, using the software, how will you set it up to track the information that you need. How difficult this is generally depends on your level of expertise with the COTS product. In an specimen inventory database this means setting up your fields, edit checks, reports, etc. so that they meet your requirements. If you are unfamiliar with the product or lack the general technical knowledge that you need to set up your database, you may be in for a very difficult implementation/maintenance cycle.

The second issue is critical. In a custom system you design the system to mirror your workflow. However, in a COTS system you have to adapt your workflow to their system. Adapting your workflow might mean tracking some information via external software (like Excel), or changing the order in which you do things to conform to the COTS system capabilities.

A good example is a freezer tracking system. There are several COTS packages available that will track your available inventory for you, but they will remove the specimen information after it has been shipped out of the inventory. But suppose you need to retain this information? You will have to track it externally, in something like a spreadsheet. Then you have to worry about how you are going to save all the spreadsheets that you create after years of shipping specimens. How will you make sure they are equivalent in structure and form? How will you search across spreadsheets if you need to find some information for a specimen shipped 5 years ago? So you document and implement some standards on historical worksheets. You have just adapted your workflow to the restrictions of the COTS system.

See also Custom Software and Customized Software.