PREPARING THE FEASIBILITY STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

PREPARING THE FEASIBILITY STUDY - Essay Example All of these factors are critical but sometimes, some of these factors are overshadowed by others because of some considerations that the business or organization might make. The organization under focus is a chain of retail stores that needs a software for processing sales transactions and managing its inventory. All the transactions will be backed up in the system’s main server that will be located in the business’ head office. This means that among other requirements for the software, it should be able to handle a huge volume of transactions, have high security levels as well as have high level of efficiency. Since the core function of the business is supply and retail, the system should give the business a competitive advantage by achieving very high levels of efficiency and significant cost reductions in business operations. These strategic reasons necessitate development of an in-house software that will be developed with the organization’s key requirements. The costs of developing, implementing and maintaining an in-house software can be high as compared to purchasing COTS but it has a longer economic life than a COTS. This is because COTS will require frequent updates from the vendors and this shortens their life. Developing an in-house software application is cost effective as the software will have only the desired features and functionalities. This is not the case in COTS as the business will pay for features they do not need while purchasing the COTS software (Ledeen, 2009). The developers will also have the opportunity to determine the level of software the retail chain needs based on its financial strength. This is usually a consideration made by the developers before they commence developing the software (Emery, 2007) . An in-house developed software will give the retail business more control over the software and the entire system. This is