Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Pre-Built vs. Custom-Built XBRL Solutions


To Build or Not to Build? That is the question...
The key to avoiding reputation risk concerns is to create a secure, integrated platform for data collection, return management and analytics. Building a customized solution has its advantages in terms of customizing for specific market needs, but the cost of building and maintaining these custom systems can prove to be astronomical and they are usually less flexible in terms of adopting new and ever-evolving financial reporting standards.
One could also argue that in this global economy, customizing a solution for a specific market need is fairly shortsighted. Standard and Globally-approved Taxonomies have evolved over the past decade with the primary intention of leveling the playing field and ensuring that the financial health of an organization is measured and assessed against these global standards. Commercially available off-the-shelf software (COTS) solutions are also more dynamic, usually Taxonomy and/or metadata driven, easily cascading any changes to the taxonomy throughout the system.
Custom solutions are not only more expensive but are also riskier to develop/deploy than COTS solutions that have been proven across many deployments around the world. Solutions based on COTS software have been proven to be more flexible, dynamic, cost effective and can often be deployed in less than 90 days, avoiding lengthy delays and exponentially increasing the likelihood of success.