For anyone who has ever been burned by a COTS Solution :)

[tractor]

...

They also seem to avoid reading any documentation or best practice recommendations for transferring data.

spot on!

To be fair regarding the documentation though, most of it is gobbledegook, even for another techie because the vendor usually has it's devs write the docs and they do it from their silo because they are only allowed to develop 5 lines at a time , rarely is any of it coherent and to find anyone who has an overview from a client/configurator perspective is usually an impossibility and the salesman always left the day before you hand the cheque over.

Hear what you say about data capture, cleanse and ETL though, this is often their last consideration when it should be one of the requirements artefacts.

I also have to say that I have found one or two exceptions to the rule though.

[vetran]

Companies who buy COTS usually have "best practice" somewhere in their tender requirements.

Often, they fail to align their processes and want the package changed

Instead of firing the people who make the decisions/spend the money, they cry and blame and struggle, then often start all over again making the same mistakes.

Keep invoicing and try not to smile too much!

They also seem to avoid reading any documentation or best practice recommendations for transferring data.

spot on!

[tractor]

....

depends if you choose the right box and the right people opening the box.

having seen both I have had big wins with both.

seen some massive failures as well.

Companies who buy COTS usually have "best practice" somewhere in their tender requirements.

Often, they fail to align their processes and want the package changed

Instead of firing the people who make the decisions/spend the money, they cry and blame and struggle, then often start all over again making the same mistakes.

Keep invoicing and try not to smile too much!

[vetran]

depends if you choose the right box and the right people opening the box.

having seen both I have had big wins with both.

seen some massive failures as well.

[cojak]

Never been burned - but I've made a lot of money from people like that

'Out of the box' = KERCHING!!

[DS23]

i've made a bloody *career* out of it! the companies that sell it, the companies that buy it and the companies that implement it all need help and i'm here to do what i can.

[TheFaQQer]

For anyone who has ever been burned by a COTS Solution

Never been burned - but I've made a lot of money from people like that

[tractor]

....

This is almost too close to the truth to be funny ...

https://youtu.be/jZZ0MUPW5MU

Trust me, it's not only the government that gets burned...

Can't post the pic cos it's copyright

[ContractTester]

This is almost too close to the truth to be funny ...

https://youtu.be/jZZ0MUPW5MU