Introduction to information systems T. Cornford, M. Shaikh is1 060 2013

4.5.2 User-written programs and commercial software packages
We can write programs if we have the skills and the time, but most 
computer users rely on packaged software – sometimes called packed 
applications, or COTSS (commercial off the shelf software). It is possible 
for even large organisations to perform almost all of their information-
handling requirements using purchased application packages, and 
it is even more likely that a small business will operate in this way. 
Application packages exist for all standard business tasks. Payroll 
programs are a good example – most payrolls in any given country have 
to perform the same basic set of calculations in order to compute tax 
and insurance contributions and most organisations will want to keep 
similar information about their employees. The result is a strong market 
in such standard applications – perhaps expanded to all aspects of human 
resources management and known as HR (human resource) packages. 
It makes good sense for most organisations – both big and small – to 
consider buying such packages rather than developing their own from 
scratch.
Activity
Go to the website of the software company SAP at www.SAP.com / This is one of the 
largest business software companies in the world. 
Make a list of the types of organisation they target in their marketing, and all the main 
business areas and tasks they offer software for. At the time of writing you can find this 
information under the ‘Solutions’ and ‘Lines of Business’ tabs on the website. If they 
reorganise the website there will certainly be similar information available.
Choosing to use a purchased application package is easier if the 
organisation is prepared to alter their ways of doing things to fit in with 
the package’s capabilities. If the package is a good one, it should express 
good ways of working, best practices, meeting legal requirements, and be 
easy and logical for staff to use. Some organisations, however, will want 
some things to be done in a special or particular way for which packages 
are not available or for which those that are available are not quite 
suitable.
At this point, organisations have a choice to make. Accept what the best 
available software package offers, and configure it as best they can to 

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Chapter 4: Contemporary trends in information and communication technologies
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suit their needs. Alternatively, they can choose to spend time and money 
adapting the package (if possible) – known as customisation, or they can 
write their own programs or contract somebody else to do it. Of course, 
each of these latter options implies a more significant commitment 
of resources and higher costs. The challenge of developing bespoke 
(tailored or customised) information systems, which may or may not need 
bespoke software, is part of the topic of the third section of this syllabus – 
information systems development concepts (see Chapter 6 of this guide).