Budgeting and ePurchase Requisition Systems. To purchase off the shelf or to develop from scratch?

Budgeting and ePurchase Requisition (ePR) Systems are the rising trend these days. These systems usually come in handy for companies that reach a stage where they need to install processes in place to ensure that annual budgets are adhered to by everyone, and that purchases are made according to policies and approvals. Very often, Budgeting and ePR Systems can come accompanied with other modules such as Contract Management and Payment and Reimbursement systems. These could also be integrated to finance and accounting systems for reconciliation.

However, how do you decide whether to purchase Commercial Off The Shelf systems (COTS), or to custom develop your own?

(1) Decide if the COTS software features suit your needs. Is there any thing you need that the COTS cannot do? Or, does the COTS have too many features that you don't need? If there is no proper fit to your company culture, then you may consider custom development.

(2) Decide if the COTS price is worth it. Very often, COTS systems go by user licenses. Therefore, if your organisation requires 100 people to use the system, then you would need to pay for 100 user licenses each year which can cost a bomb every year. In that case, then having a customised system may be more affordable in the long run because these usually come with fixed annual maintenance costs and unlimited user licenses that could turn out to be more affordable.

Therefore, the decision is cast in stone, and the decision will have to be made based on your own use circumstances. If you would like our help to sort this out, do feel free to contact us anytime.