Customize vs. Configure

NB: A older version of this article once appeared several years ago on a previous employer’s web site.  I have updated it for timeliness and offer it up again, this time saved for posterity.

Every time I go to a trade conference, I tend to hear attendees ask the vendors the same question about their software:  Is your system fully customizable? While that’s a valid question, it probably isn’t the question that they (or you) meant to ask. Experience shows that what they really want to know is: is the system configurable? Is there even a real difference between the two?

Let’s abstract it away from the Service Management realm and bring it into something more recognizable on a daily basis.

Cars, since the beginning of time, are both configurable and customizable. There’s some small level of configuration available to a driver, right?  You get to adjust the mirrors, slide the seat back, set the clock, maybe even get the radio presets taken care of. Configurable means that you’re using the tools made available to you by the vendor (auto manufacturer in this case) to make simple tweeks to the environment around you. And, if after 5 years, you decide to upgrade to the newest model of car, most of those settings can be carried over (or re-executed) without major hassle.

Customization of a car takes many very different routes. It can be as simple as buying a pair of fuzzy dice for the rear view mirror. It can be as complex as a full engine swap. Or there are in-betweens, where you
can upgrade the radio or replace the muffler with one that gives you a huskier sound.  Take it from me, there are glossy catalogs and  companies whose lifeblood revolves purely around customizing your ride.  Customization is usually not easy to perform and always requires more (by way of tools and skill) than is provided by the original manufacturer. It takes on a higher level of commitment, both in the installation and support angles. Plus, if you trade in your car, there are absolutely no promises that any of the parts you have bought and installed on your own will work (or even fit) on a new vehicle. There are thousands of options when customizing, and the sky is the limit, because once you’re going down that road, it’s only time and money.

There is only one very common customization that you cannot get around, and that is custom reporting.

So, let’s bring this one back to your Service Management platform. Unlike an automobile, a mature IT Service Management system will have thousands of configuration adjustments, so that you rarely have to think about going the customization route.

Think about what is considered configuration these days: setting up teams, mailboxes (both incoming and outgoing), adding new fields to forms, building workflows to handle repetitive processing tasks. All of this can be done by the local admin or, if you want, you can hire a capable consultant to do the work for you. It all involves using the tools you’ve purchased from your provider, and all that’s left is creativity and the know-how to make your dreams appear in the system.

In contrast, you hope that you need very little customization at all. Customization involves things that are unique to you and your software environment. Think about things like 3rd party integrations to packages like your homegrown Billing System or maybe something as big as SAP. Now you’ve got real programming facing you, coding that has to be done for this integration, and if any of the APIs change over time, you’re back in the same position you started in – no working integration and a burning need for a developer versed in both systems.

Please do not take this as a rant against going ahead with a customization project.  There are many sound reasons to undertake this work.  You just need to keep in mind that this will always be the fragile underbelly of your system.  Marriage is difficult when you have two people possibly growing apart.  In this case, the two systems are destined to grow apart over time.  Keep spare money in your budget for development emergencies – you’ll need it (usually on short notice) when patches and upgrades come around.

There is only one very common customization that you cannot get around, and that is custom reporting. There’s no way to avoid this one – reports are all built to spec by a person trained in both the data schema and the reporting tool.  And experience tells us not to try cutting corners on this one.  This is the place where your system’s tires hit Management Boulevard.  You need to put your best foot forward, especially when it comes to showing the usefulness of your Service Management tool.  You must always remember this one truism – without reports that are both attractive and functional to the business, there is no point in having either that big ITSM system or the staff who enter the data.  Think of the money that Management could save without you…