One of the selection criteria for using a software platform like IBM FileNet, rather than completely bespoke software, is that you get a core set of integrated, reliable, scalable, flexible (et al “-ables”) software that makes it easier for you to get a solution delivered. It’s already integrated and either makes the solution quicker to deliver, or provides features that you’d have to build otherwise. Both are true for IBM FileNet, but sometimes you have to make sure you’re using the right platform tool and approach for the right reason. There are thousands of features in the platform and it’s easy to pick the wrong one for the right problem.

The integration you get from a platform means you have to understand all of the downstream impacts of your design process. You’ve paid for the platform and been sold the benefits of using it, so make sure you know what you can, can’t, should and shouldn’t do. Some choices you make will restrict what you can use elsewhere in the solution; others will cause additional effort or cause you to require other software components to do what you need.

Have you ever used a spreadsheet as a database? There are probably millions of companies with some aspect of their business depending on spreadsheets for storing and analysing their business data. It’s a valid solution, but if you push the solution only a small way with larger volumes of data or more complex analyses, it becomes a millstone rather than a solution. When you first start using the spreadsheet it’s a quick and viable solution, but the effort, time and costs get greater very quickly as you expand it. Understanding the features of the platform is just as critical as knowing when to, and when not to, use them.

Have you ever been told to use a form package so you can change the form when you need to, or a business process design tool so you can change the process quickly? Both are recurring messages from the marketing materials of multiple software vendors. Without proper design, using the tools by themselves does exactly the opposite. Each individual component has design and behavioural dependencies that you must understand before you can conceive of changing the design. Getting the design wrong at the beginning may preclude you from making that change easily, or may require so much additional work that it makes it unviable.

None of the platforms come with the warnings you see on medication which advise the amount to use, the possible side effects and under what circumstances to seek professional help, yet the result of using them in certain ways can be just as bad for your solution or business.