Requirements Definition starts by assessing the overarching business factors: The business strategy —the objectives and vision with respect to the application; why are you making a change? Projected growth —do you expect the company to grow in the next five years? If you do expect to grow, by how much? Any international offices? Business entities —does the application need to provide services to more than one business or business unit? Will they each run their own instance? Do the numbers need to roll up into one corporate-wide report?
Accountability— do you anticipate new regulatory changes or market trends requiring greater accountability to the management and presentation of key data? Phase 2: Evaluate the Potential Solutions. Here are the steps to follow: Identify five or six potential solutions based on initial research and references from colleagues.
Issue an RFI to each vendor to collect detailed information on the functionality that each solution provides as well as the system requirements. Evaluate each RFI response against your knock-out requirements to reduce the list two or three potential solutions.
Working with more than three will make it too confusing to compare solutions. In talking about hiring executives he makes two points that also apply to selecting tools. Related: Automation is the key to software testing. To begin, identify the key technical capabilities that provide value to the end users, administrators and management. Your organization will have additional capabilities.
Next you need to weight the technical capabilities. When creating this scale, place higher weights on those capabilities you deem most important. This helps you evaluate for strength rather than lack of weakness, as described above. I participated in a few reviews in which a cursory process resulted in badly weighted capabilities, which in turn led to the wrong tool being selected.
Identify and evaluate the tools: Employ a variety of sources such as industry events, publications, user communities and industry peers to investigate and select qualified candidates.
What tools are you already using? You might have several candidates already in-house. You might find that this exercise grows beyond tool selection and gets in to tool consolidation if you currently own tools that need retired. If you end up with multiple tools you might need to provide guidance internally on which tool to use and why. But we can discuss those in future articles. The Data Quadrant Buyer's Guide is a summation of hundreds of data points that gives you a quick snapshot of the market.
Use this detailed report to quickly validate your top features and shortlist your top contenders. For even more detailed reports on individual products, see the Product Reports. The Data Quadrant measures the complete software experience, comparing both the experience with the software and the relationship with the vendor.
Gather insight into whether your vendor is going to treat you like a partner using the Emotional Footprint Buyer's Guide. Organizations increasingly rely on software vendors to be true partners to help improve their operations. The Emotional Footprint helps you understand how you can trust and rely on the vendor to support you through your relationship. We collect 25 data points outlining that experience, from the initial contracting and negotiation phase, though how they will support you during conflicts, to how their overall product strategy and direction will help you improve.
Use this report to understand which vendors focus on building relationships to create a loyal customer base. The Emotional Diamond helps identify which vendors provide the best overall experience when compared against the perceived value of the software. Comprehensive support typically includes access to a call center as well as various online resources.
Conversely, some vendors offer no support or training, or outsource support and training. What type of support and training do we need? Garner major advantages when working with a vendor that understands your business and allows for industry practices built into the system. Ask yourself: Does the nature of your business require a specialized platform?
Implementation is vital to getting your new ERP system up and running. This step will be critical if you anticipate an involved implementation, such as migrating from a legacy system to a new ERP. You can use this list to evaluate solutions throughout your entire software selection process. Selecting an ERP system is a long process with many factors to consider.
But you can break it down into manageable parts. What approach do you follow during ERP software selection process? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Thanks, great to see a comprehensive guide. What are the suggested ERP systems for the smaller end of town? Seems like most ERP platforms are cost-prohibitive for smaller companies? Talk to our team, too. They could give you some recommendations based on your specific needs and business size. Your email address will not be published.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Pricing, Ratings, and Reviews for each Vendor. PLUS… Access to our online selection platform for free. Jumpstart your selection project with a free, pre-built, customizable ERP requirements template. ERP Product Directory.
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