This is the issue that hundreds of agencies have to deal with as they decide how to automate their case management needs. Do we go with Off the Shelf Software? Or do we customize a solution to meet our exact agency requirements?  This post gives some high level strategies to help determine which is the best route.

In general, Off the Shelf Software is the preferred choice because it generally costs less and because of a larger customer base, has fewer bugs to address during rollout. Support mechanisms are also in place whereas support for custom systems is automatically limited because customizations only apply to your particular organization.
  

Is An Off the Shelf Software Package Right For You?

The disadvantage of “off the shelf” software is that it may not have all the forms you need, or it may not have the workflow that matches your organization. As a person responsible for automating your agency, it may get a little confusing as to which course to take.

A path that will work for almost any agency is to investigate the various off the shelf software packages available. As you work with various vendors, indicate the most important aspects of your agency, programs you support and reporting requirements that you have. Then during demonstrations, make sure anyone responsible for these items at your organization are present, and make sure the package addresses the issues.  Sometimes they won’t exactly do that, and in this case make a note of it. It doesn’t mean that the package won’t work, but you may have to change your internal processes a bit to match the software. An internal process change may sometimes be better than tailoring a package to meet your needs, so keep this in mind.

If you’ve determined that an off the shelf package will work with possibly a few internal process changes, congratulations! And if not, the process gets a little more complex.  As you’re viewing demonstrations, for each package, make notes of what needs to change.   And, determine from the vendor how systems are customized or programmed. Some vendors will tell you what language their software is programmed, such as VB.Net, C#.Net, or other languages. Some vendors will tell you that their system is programmed on top of a “platform”. If it’s programmed within a platform, ask what types of applications the platform is best suited for. 

Generally, if a case management system is programmed on top of a type of “human services” or case management platform, that could be good as customizations may be safer and more economical. Ask if customization can be made by third party programmers, or whether they have to be done by the software vendor. Customization that must be made by the software vendor carry risk of being locked in to the high price of customization and future support, so beware going that route, but don’t necessarily rule it out.

If possible, look for platforms where the entire case management system has been programmed and the underlying code can be changed by others than the vendor. You’ll not want to touch code that the vendor maintains, but often code that is used by the underlying application can be a starting point for tailoring and customizing your system. If your organization has technical capabilities, make sure your most tech-savvy person is present while learning this part of the software package.

Get Others Involved In The Decision Process...
   

After you’ve collected the information from the systems you’ve reviewed, it’s time to start grading what each system does best and match it to your organization’s needs. This part of the evaluation process can be trickiest, and requires input from others in your organization involved in the acquisition process. Make sure and have stakeholders and users involved in the decision making, not just technical people.

This is a very brief and high level post regarding selection of a case management system. I invite posts from those who have implemented systems, and I also plan on follow up posts to further delve into the details of each step of selection, especially regarding evaluation checklists referred to in the previous paragraph.