Commercial-Off-The-Shelf

An agency’s choice to go with a COTS solution is often a managerial decision rather than technical decision based upon specific risk and costs parameters. COTS products offer the additional confidence a solution is immediately operational and will be fit for purpose. Many solutions are described as COTS products, however there is a significant spectrum of characteristics and functionality across COTS products.

COTS is a generic term for out-of-the-box software for a core operational product used by multiple customers. The advantage of any COTS system is that the overall development and implementation costs are lower and meet the most common requirements of a broad customer base. Many COTS products can vary significantly in their ability to provide; configurability, transparency, flexibility, extensibility and future independence on the part of the client. RSI has identified two unique categories of COTS products across this spectrum which RSI has coined COTS 1.0 and COTS 2.0.

Careful consideration should be given in determining which COTS version, COTS 1.0 or COTS 2.0, will best meet an agency’s specific requirements.

Read more – Not All Integrated Tax Systems (ITS) COTS Products are Created Equal