COTS is a software package or solution that is purchased to support one or more business functions and information systems. ECI is a consulting company that provides a variety of COTS software products geared and optimized to provide more immediate business value than traditional pure custom solutions.
Benefits of COTS software integration
- New systems can be implemented more quickly because extensive programming is not required.
- Many organizations cannot afford the staffing and expertise to develop in-house solutions or buy custom solutions
- Vendors that supply COTS solutions spread their development costs across all customers who purchase their software, which allows them to invest in continuous improvements. The benefit to our customers is higher ROI (return on investment) and lower TCO (total cost of ownership).
- Feature capabilities and usability that individual businesses cannot always afford.
- Features you might not know you need are included. This is especially important if you’re unsure about the future vision of the system, or are in an early stage in requirements gathering.
- Software is more reliable because more users typically mean a more mature system that’s less likely to have surprise bugs, leading to fewer implementation issues.
- COTS software solutions are made available soon as core systems have already been written and can be modified to meet unique requirements.
- At ECI, our COTS software consulting services facilitate successful and sustainable roadmaps for our customers, identifying the risks involved with procuring and integrating solutions.
Our Solution Services
Our COTS integration services include:
- Project management, system specification, and scoping
- System design, technical, and application management
- Installation, configuration, and infrastructure optimization
- COTS solutions risk assessment, and troubleshooting
- System and user acceptance testing
- Implementation documentation
- End-user training and ‘Go-Live’ support
SharePoint
SharePoint’s rich feature set makes it natural to collaborate with business partners and customers via the extranet.
Microsoft has added many new features to SharePoint that make it an excellent choice as a platform for an extranet. This out-of-the-box solution requires expert COTS software consulting guidance to fully implement and utilize. ECI can provide your organization with expert SharePoint guidance to ensure your project’s success.
We can help you with:
- Developing security strategies for the extranet.
- Architecting SharePoint Server farms for extranet usage.
- Configuring forms-based authentication (FBA) for COTS solutions.
- Configuring alternate authentication providers (i.e. non-AD providers).
- Selecting and configuring tools to ease the burden of extranet administration.
- Establishing governance best practices for the extranet sites.
- Automating the process of new site requests and provisioning.
ECF
Could your Enterprise ETL environment benefit from a software product developed to provide robust logging and development conformance?
We have an open-source software solution developed to provide a set of proven and repeatable ETL processes in order to provide an environment for fast ETL development. Using a well-defined process flow, ECF will deliver business value by accelerating your ETL development while providing you with an ETL framework with the core features you expect. Please contact our sales team to schedule a technical overview (info@estradaci.com).
Project Server
ECI has the experience and expertise in COTS solutions to guide you through the process of successfully implementing Microsoft Project Server solutions in your organization.
We will use our proven methodology to make sure you get your COTS integration results right the first time. We realize that it takes more than just a “tool” to be successful at project management. That’s why we offer a full array of COTS software consulting services designed to help you achieve project management greatness.
- Microsoft Project Server Implementation Services
- Microsoft Project Server Training
- Mentoring and Support
Ad Hoc Analyzer
ECI’s Ad Hoc Analyzer product provides advanced analytical capabilities that dramatically improve productivity and ensure optimal execution. In addition to COTS solutions, you can utilize our Ad Hoc Analyzer to focus on simplifying the process of creating and editing reports and queries.
Highlights
- Provides the ability to generate reports and conduct analyses
- Provides the ability for users to create, store, and share their own custom queries and reports (based on standard or custom templates) in personal libraries.
- Supports structured queries to be designed by users that allow basic filtering and drill-down capability on ARJIS data.
- Supports the creation of custom data elements used in reports and queries, such as calculated values.
- Allows users to export all data in a wide range of formats, such as CSV, Fixed-Width, XML, PDF, Excel, SAS, and SPSS.
ECI’s COTS enterprise software solutions reduce total ownership costs and improves user productivity – allowing organizations to invest resources in other mission-critical priorities.
And Many More
In addition to these COTS software solutions, ECI also has significant experience with nearly all the leading solutions on the market today including Salesforce, ServiceNow, Microsoft Dynamics, OutSystems, Google Workspace, and Oracle to name a few. Please contact us for a free no-obligation consultation to discuss your project requirements in more detail.
With over two decades of experience providing market-leading technology to our clients, ECI has developed a business ethic founded on understanding and realizing client objectives.
Combining excellent service delivery with deep technical expertise in market-leading software applications, ECI enables its clients to identify business values, manage risk, and maximize success.
We utilize COTS solutions to help our clients ensure their business is not disrupted during system transition. Our consultants work alongside you to ensure you can conduct business as usual while the organization is learning, training, and migrating to a new system.
Many COTS integration projects fail due to a lack of support beyond the implementation phase. At ECI, we emphasize user adoption through appropriate training and securing post-implementation support in our solution and/or product evaluation.
ECI has assembled a team of senior business analysts and technology experts who have been performing packaged software (COTS) selections and implementation for nearly two decades. This volume of work and the experiences gained have allowed ECI to develop COTS solutions and execute an effective requirements definition and package selection methodology. This proven methodology has been utilized in dozens of COTS software consulting engagements.
Replacement of a mission-critical application with a commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) product and the required packaged software selection process is one of the riskiest IT projects an organization can undertake. Package selection is often affected by factors such as:
- Poorly defined business requirements resulting from a lack of specificity
- Insufficient consensus on requirements and relative priorities
- Lack of management commitment to the packaged software selection process
- The inability to clearly communicate business requirements that are needed for effective COTS solutions to the software vendors
- Lack of continuity between the software selection and the implementation plan
ECI’s software selection methodology accounts for all of these factors. Our tasks, milestones, and methods are developed with two goals in mind:
- Identify the software solution that gives the client the optimum blend between functionality and cost
- Minimize risk, both in the software selection and the implementation of the selected solution
Our evaluation criteria at a minimum takes the following into consideration:
- Functionality
- Reliability
- Cost (including license, subscription, and royalty fees)
- Ease of use
- Vendor reputation
- Ease of customization
- Ease of implementation
- Maintenance and Operation
ECI has assembled a team of senior COTS software consulting business analysts and technology experts who have been performing packaged software selections and implementation for nearly two decades. ECI’s COTS solutions team has a combined 100+ years of experience in the software industry.
Our COTS software integration team comprises a strong blend of business and IT skills to build a bridge between the business and IT groups. We selectively assign team leaders who have a strong foot in both IT and business worlds, serving as an intermediary who can translate business desires into functionality and, conversely, technical constraints into business reality.
ECI selectively recruits and develops employees with strong interpersonal skills to complement their solid business and technical acumen. Our consultants receive ongoing education through our professional development program and attend industry conferences and training to keep current on evolving best practices regarding COTS solutions. Nearly all our consultants are certified in their subject matter areas.
Beyond professional skills, all ECI consultants share our core values: honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility, excellence, care, and humility. ECI consultants demonstrated a deep commitment to our clients and a passion for excellence.
ECI’s COTS Software Solutions Center of Excellence is a centralized collection of resources that provide various commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software services. Our CoE comprises a team of software consulting experts in each of ECI’s COTS service offerings.
Continuous training and education are an integral part of ECI business and are supported by our Professional Development Program for consultants. Our COTS solutions professionals continuously keep current on evolving technologies, new applications, methodologies, and tools.
All of these components ensure that when you work with ECI, you don’t just get individual consultants, you get the support of the entire ECI team with access to 100+ years of combined knowledge and experience.
At ECI our EA Center of Excellence supports our client’s COTS project with:
- Setting up the implementation team
- Selection and customization of a COTS
- Creating and glossary of relevant COTS software development terms for client