Principles for Software Customization
Scaling a Software Solution to a Business Problem
- 1. Never pay to program what you can buy off the shelf.
- 2. Use your consultants not just to design and implement the customized solution, but also to help you navigate your way through your options.
- 3. Never pay someone to customize what you can customize yourself.
- 4. Never pay someone for expertise that you can acquire for yourself.
5. To minimize cost, consider options which combine off-the-shelf software, advanced training and small-scale customization.
Many small businesses use commercial contact management software. Many of these programs, such as ACT or Maximizer, are quite versatitile.
But it always seems like there's just one or two more features that aren't there that are very important to you.
What do you do? Pay to have an entirely new contact manager constructed, specifically designed for your needs?
Often, this is not a good option:
- It takes an incredible amount of time
- It's usually extremely expensive
- It often requires a lot of your time and resources meeting with your software designer to keep the project on track
- It always falls behind schedule
- It seldom ends up being enough better than your old solution to justify the expense
We know.
We've been through it!
Usually, there's a much better solution: identify the essential features missing from your current solution and figure out a way to augment the software you have with other software.
Maximizer can be easily augmented by purchasing an add-in for Microsoft Access that allows you to read Maximizer's data files, which are stored in a format called Btrieve. Maximizer's manufacturer provide an ODBC driver allowing you to use the Maximizer data file as the centerpiece of a simple Access application. You can continue to use Maximizer as you normally would, while adding all the features and versatility in data manipulation available in Microsoft Access.
Symantec's ACT can be used in exactly the same way, for ACT's data are stored in the industry-standard DBF format, which Microsoft Access can read an manipulate transparently, with no add-ins needed.
In both of these cases, the original investment is maintained but leveraged and extended by narrowly designed and specifically targetted customizations.
Sometimes, however, it is important to consider fully customized software.
Partners | About DFA
©1997-2000, David Fenton Associates. Last updated July 5, 2000.