Buy a product, extend an existing system or build an integration?
Compare three delivery approaches against the same business task, including fit, human participation and ongoing maintenance.
Original guidance and working materials. Validate against your business; these are not measured project results or delivery commitments.
Define one comparable task
Use the same materials, outputs and acceptance criteria. Identify systems that must connect, permitted actions and approval points. This compares delivery approaches, not named products or measured performance.
Compare three approaches
| Approach | Conditions to consider | Questions to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Buy a product | Your work closely matches its supported workflow | Sample handling, export, integrations, account and data conditions |
| Extend an existing system | Data and users already work in a business platform | Extension points, permissions, versions, ownership and upgrades |
| Build an integration | Cross-system rules or steps have specific requirements | Interface access, exception ownership, code and documentation, support |
Compare with shared samples
Run the same normal and exceptional samples through each candidate. Record failures, review and recovery. Keep untested conditions open instead of treating marketing materials as acceptance evidence.
Include the full effort
Estimate setup or development, accounts and usage, human review, exceptions, maintenance and upgrades separately. Record scope, period and evidence. Leave unquoted costs blank or label them as assumptions.
Record a defensible choice
Keep reasons, unmet conditions and triggers for reassessment. Preparing data or validating a rules-based process may be the appropriate next step. Revise the choice when samples or constraints change.