Bespoke systems
When should you configure a product rather than customise it?
A custom field is easy to add. A custom way of working becomes a commitment every time the product changes.
Published 25 September 2026
Challenge the reason for difference
A product's standard workflow may be less familiar but good enough. Adapt the process when the difference is only habit. Keep a requirement when it protects a material obligation or distinctive service.
Test the difficult cases in configuration before commissioning code. A sales demonstration of the easy case is not sufficient.
Price the extension for its whole life
Customisation adds testing, documentation and the risk that an upgrade changes behaviour. Name who will maintain it and how the business can leave the product later.
A small, separate integration may be safer than altering the core. The right answer is the smallest departure that solves a consequential problem.
A firm wants a unique approval screen because its current paper form has six signatures.
First ask which signatures reflect real authority and which repeat a historic habit. Configure the product for the necessary controls; customise only what its normal workflow cannot represent.