Metroplex Interactive

Commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) refers to software that is fully functional immediately after purchase and installation on a computer. Commercially-off-the-shelf software and products are typically less expensive when compared with custom software design and development since the development costs are distributed over many customers. While commercial off the shelf components vary from application to application they typically include a database for storing data, a decision layer to tell the application how to handle data, and a graphical user interface (GUI) which the application user uses to execute commands (eg clicking on a menu and selecting a task). COTS can be highly functional, stable and robust especially titles that have evolved over time and are mature in their versions release (versus a beta release). However, COTS typically do not perform as much of the needed functionality verses custom software. For instance, a business might require software to submit accounts receivable entries into different databases and create highly customized reports before distributing the reports via email, FTP, and an enterprise document management system whereas a COTS solution might only handle one or a few of these functions.