Bethany, as a general rule, COTS implementations are much broader in scope (ERP class vs. custom SW development), are a greater risk (b/c vendors are involved), and usually longer timeline and higher dollar amount. Today, the industry trend is to COTS implementations as opposed to companies developing their own software. I have managed both COTS and large scale custom applications. The checklist I developed is written at the 4000 foot level. The exception to the above musings is the insurance industry that does a lot of custom SW development. I have attached an ERP checklist that I've used in the past.
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Bipin Lekshmanan PMPProject Manager| Wipro TechnologiesEdison, Nj, United States
Yes. ERP projects have more scalability than conventional SW development projects in many instances. Saving Changes...
Yes, very much so, scalability is a key factor! Saving Changes...
Steven WestmorelandCEO| FS Property Investments, LLCBeaverton, Or, United States
Tom, would you have any information on a rating scale for COTS implementations that would keep me from reinventing a wheel that I hope already exists? Specifically, I am putting together a ranking sheet for our CIO that will show Basic, Highly Configured, Modified/Customized, and In-house Augmented COTS solutions in a scale with degree of difficulty. This is in response to a notion that "COTS implementations should be easy and why are they taking so long". These comments are comming from our CIO & CTO as well as from some of their sub-managers. This is a government agency and I'm not claiming that our IT management has a high degree of maturity in considering these things.
Steve, I'm sorry that I have not given this any thought, except to say think about the number processes your automating as a factor...meaning 3 or more processes = very complex. Also, the criticality of the application with mission critical requiring greater care and thoughtfulness. Saving Changes...
