Commercial Off-The-Shelf Software (

Commercial Off-The-Shelf Software (COTS)
Considerations
The preceding discussion has focused on the use of Performance Based Contracting for
custom development. Since they are developed for a specific customer with a specific
hardware and software environment, these areas should not present an issue. COTS is
developed for a wide range of customers who may share common hardware and software
platforms, but the product is not tailored to any organization’ s unique characteristics.
Therefore, when purchasing COTS it is essential to verify these details, and others.
For the Business Analyst, the use of COTS to address a business problem is potentially either
a tremendous benefit or a huge waste of resources. Taking steps to ensure that the ultimate
decision creates benefits rather than waste will take careful and persistent attention. All too
often the impetus to acquire COTS is the result of a glitzy advertising campaign, a skilled
sales pitch by the vendor, or a presentation by industry peers that focuses solely on the vendors may solve the same problem in a way that does not require large bandwidth. The
acquisition of this resource, if needed, must be factored into the overall cost of the proposed
solution

off the shelf software