Masonry Magazine April 1992 Page. 9
Ten Questions to Ask
Yourself Before Buying A
New Information System
Distribute these ten questions to employees involved in a software selection process for your company. Ask them to answer each honestly, and then get together and discuss their answers before you move ahead.
By CHRISTIAN BURGER
Senior Consultant
FMI Corporation
SO YOU THINK YOU'RE ready to purchase and implement a new information system? Well, maybe you are. The ten questions below are intended to challenge you on your preparedness. They are some of the questions I ask first when becoming involved with a client or are questions I see clients forgetting to ask themselves. The questions aren't concerned with specific technology. They are fundamental.
1. Are your employees committed to, and prepared for, the change? In other words, have they been a part of the process from the beginning, or is the system going to be thrust upon them? Don't underestimate the value of having everyone committed to a new computer system.
If your people are involved in the needs definition, selection process, and implementation planning, their participation will go a long way toward insuring a successful implementation. They will feel ownership and responsibility in the product that is chosen.
Also, let everyone know why the system is being selected. If they understand the benefits that are expected, they stand a better chance of meeting your expectations. After all, the computer and software alone aren't going to make the difference in your bottom line.
2. What is it I am buying? An information system is like any other resource in your company. It's the same as heavy equipment, people, cash or reputation. You can sell or buy a lot of it, but if not used properly, it won't yield the return required.
The first step in any selection process should be to assess the value the system will have for your organization. Will it help you be a low-cost producer, or get to a customer before anyone else? Will it speed up your estimating process? What do you expect, and how much is that worth to you?
3. Will the software (or hardware) really solve my problems? The information system consists of hardware, software, procedures and people. If any one of these components fail, the system becomes a very ineffective resource. People are quick to place blame. Be sure you are treating the problem and not just a symptom.
4. Have I really defined the company's needs specifically? If you cannot answer "yes" emphatically, keep working. I have seen over thirty demonstrations of software for each class of software (i.e., scheduling, accounting and estimating). They can all look strikingly similar if you do not have the right yardstick to measure them by.
5. Has the selection been made by the right person(s)? There are probably several people in your organization who are qualified to evaluate software and hardware.
Interestingly, they may not be the people you want to head up the process. Technically oriented people can sometimes lose sight of the big picture and need to work with someone who can keep the whole decision in context. For the technically oriented, the decision can focus simply on finding a "technically correct" solution rather than the "right" solution.
Also, be sensitive to any political issues that may cause a conflict of interest. I have seen many situations where someone achieved power in an organization because he or she built a system or managed the system.
I've also seen a number of people who wanted to prove themselves as programmers by writing their own accounting and project control systems. There is absolutely no reason to write your own. The applications are advanced enough that it makes no more sense to write your own financial applications than it does to write your own word processing program.
Finally, the person in charge should be involving many people in your company, not just him/herself and his/her department. Too many people are affected, or are dependent on the outcome of the decision, to leave it in the hands of one person.
6. Does the system require much customization to get it to work for us? If so, do I plan on doing it myself? If the system requires a lot of modification to meet your needs, you have one of two questions to answer. First of all, are the custom requirements really "requirements" or are they simply "nice to haves?" Or, are the requirements only requirements because it's the way things have always been done around your office and no one has ever thought to change them? Expect to change some of your own procedures to make the system work. Remember, you don't have the market cornered on good ideas. The vendors accept ideas from many sources, and you could stand to benefit from that.
The second question is, "Have I done enough research?" It may be that your needs can't be easily met by the software you have looked at so far. Keep looking before deciding to modify an existing program.
Another warning sign is if a vendor is all too willing to modify his system to meet your needs. You don't want a product that is dramatically different from the one he sells to rest of the marketplace. It makes receiving upgrades and enhancements risky and troublesome, not to mention expensive for the vendor. A vendor might