roundup march 9, 2003 vetting vendors

ROUNDUPMarch 9, 2003

Vetting Vendors

Dawn Trygstad Rubin

Affiliate Consultant,

CompassPoint

dawnrubin@attbi.com

Robert Weiner Strategic Technology Consultant

robert@rlweiner.com

With input from Michael Stein

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Agenda

Information Technology Planning

Project Management

Needs Assessments

Establishing a pool of qualified vendors

RFP/I/Qs

Proposal Review

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Agenda

Demonstrations/Presentations

Due Diligence

Contract issues

Implementation issues

Support issues

Questions & Discussion

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IT Systems Project Cycle

Strategic ITPlan

NeedsAssessment

AlternativesAnalysis

ImproveExistingSystem

Outsource

SelectSoftwarePackage

CustomSystem

Develop &Implement

Org. Ready?

Maintenance and Evaluation (incl. annual budget)

Right people interestedStrategic Plan (risk)Technology ObjectivesResources

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Information Technology Planning

• Part of Strategic Plan (mission-driven).• Process: business model, data/work flows,

assess effectiveness, identify problem areas & possible solutions, prioritize projects.

• Plan: list inventory, desired changes (projects), resources, training & IT management.

• Individual projects should fit overall plan.

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Project Management

1.Project Selection– organizational needs, list of projects from

plan, objectives, allocate resources.

2.Team Building– team members & roles, responsibility matrix.

3.Planning– task list, Gantt chart, CPM diagram, other

agencies, project budget.

4.Tracking / Implementation– issues list, time sheets, receipts / accounting

reports.

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Information Systems Model

IT Management

Information Functions

Technology Infrastructure

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Needs Assessment

• Develop detailed requirements

– Interview key stakeholders.

– What’s really wrong?

– Help them envision new capabilities.

– What do they really need?

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Needs Assessment (cont.)

• Requirements (continued)

– What are their top priorities?

– What’s on their wish list?

– What can they afford and support?

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Needs Assessment (cont.)

• Options:– Stay with current system

– Build

– Buy

– Outsource

• “BOB” or integrated package?

• Will you buy based on the “next release”?

• Vendor or technology restrictions?

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Needs Assessment (cont.)

• Rate requirements (required/desired).

• Will you use an RFP?

– If so, requirements will be the basis of the RFP.

– Are there other procurement requirements?

• Will RFPs or demonstrations be scored numerically?

– point ranges, met/unmet, numeric weights.

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Vendor Pool

• Vendors must fit client’s culture, staffing, and budget, as well as meeting functional needs.

• Vendors should be experienced with clients of this type and size, unless client is willing to take risks.

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Vendor Pool (cont.)

• Client probably has some vendors in mind.

• If you don’t have experience with this type of project, ask other consultants, listserves, professional orgs (AFP, etc.), talk to similar organizations.

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Request for Proposals

• An RFP is a document that precisely summarizes your needs.

• An RFP is a formalized process for vendor interaction.

• Get complete team signoff on the RFP.• Make sure you get it right.

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Request for Proposals (cont.)

• Describe your project– What opportunity are you trying to seize?– What problem are you trying to solve?– Give the lay of the land.– Describe your desired outcome.

• Lay out your project specifications– Operational details.– Technical details.

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Request for Proposals (cont.)

• What do you want to learn from vendors?– Their experience with similar projects.– Their general approach to projects.– Their recommended solution.– Their pricing.– Why do they want to work with you?– References from similar clients.

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Request for Proposals (cont.)

• Should you disclose your project budget?– It helps vendors decide if they’re a good fit.– Don’t put the budget in the RFP, but discuss

verbally with vendor.

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Proposal Review

• Review vendor’s proposed solution– Have they met your technical and operational

needs?– Does their proposed solution match your future

budget and staffing?– Frequency of product upgrades.– Ability to customize; how do customizations

work with upgrades?– Interfaces & integration.

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Proposal Review (cont.)

• Is their development/ implementation process clear?

• How will existing data be converted?• How will training be handled?• How will ongoing support be delivered?• Is their proposed timeline reasonable?• Is their pricing understandable? • Is their ability to do the project clear?• Do they want your business?

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Demonstrations

• When hiring a service vendor, make sure the people you’re interviewing will be the ones doing the work.

• For software demos, make vendors show what the client needs to see.

• Use scenarios for software demos. – Goal: comparing apples to apples.– Scenarios should show real situations derived

from the Needs Assessment.

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Demonstrations (cont.)

• Choose scenarios that cover the most critical functions.

• At big organizations consider separate demos by department, each with its own scenarios.

• Sample scenario:– Add a member.– Add a major donor.– Marry the two records and show joint giving.– Divorce the records.

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Demonstrations (cont.)

AREA RATING COMMENTS

Data Entry

Membership Mgmt.

Prospect Management 

Events Management

• Make sure key stakeholders can attend demos.• Invite all interested staff.• Collect input from everyone.

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Due Diligence

• Reference checks– Talk to previous similar clients.– Was work delivered on timeline and on

budget?– How was training?– How is ongoing support relationship?

• Site visits – May be to vendor or to client sites

• Viability of vendor

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Reference Checks

• Sample Software Reference Questions:– How long did it take for you to “go live” on the

software? – How many of your staff worked on the project?– What assistance did the vendor provide?– Did you use consultants or other 3rd parties?– Were you happy with the training provided by

the vendor? – What would you do differently if you had it to

do over?

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Contract Issues

• Software price may not be negotiable.• Training, customizations, implementation

assistance, consulting, and schedules are often negotiable.

• Consider payments based on performance, especially if buying based on unreleased features.

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Implementation Overview

• Policies & Procedures: responsibilities, access, “rules.”

• Reports: map old to new, include letters and other outputs.

• Processes: work & information & paper flows; system use.

• Customizations: features, reports, interfaces.• System Set up: codes & fields, security

(users, groups and permissions), preferences, business rules.

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Implementation Overview (cont.)

• Training:– team at beginning of project.– end users at end of project, during final

data conversion.• Documentation• Data Conversion: map data, 2+ tries until

right, data clean-up (now in legacy system, in conversion, afterwards in new system).

• Testing: all parts above.

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Support

• Plan & budget for support (upgrades, staff turnover).

• Define a support “hierarchy.”

Level 3 • Consultants• Vendor support

Level 2 • IT Staff• Accidental Techie

Level 1 • Power Users• Self-help (Online, Procedures, Help Guides)

Com

plexity, Skill Level,

Tim

e

$

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QUESTIONS

?