I’m not saying that they modifications aren’t negotiated, but again, this is not the main purpose of specifiying requirements before evaluation.

Here’s my main reason for wanting to hear from BAs on this topic: a piece of COTS software has a feature set that is based upon the generalized requirements elicited from multiple SMES (customers), perhaps thousands. Essentially, the development of a single feature may be negotiated over time with those SMEs, and when a potential customer (SME) sits across a new negotiation table asking the COTS product manager to “…respond to my requirements…”, the product manager may be incredibly close to alienating a potential customer who wants to play “hardball” with the sale, demanding modifications to meet their “unique” needs.

There are legitimate times when a BA has to meet generalized business need with a COTS solution, and times when a solution may need to be modified to meet requirements that are truly unique.

Do you, as a BA, know the difference between the two? At what point do you ask the hard questions of your own SMEs regarding business “uniqueness”? How well do you understand your own business domain, both internally and across the industry? And, finally, to Barb’s final point, are you capable of looking beyond the flash of a sales presentation, and see into the real capability of the COTS product?

Those are challenges to the BA community.