This document discusses best practices for software vendor selection. It begins by introducing Advantiv Solutions, which provides tools to help with complex procurement projects. The document then outlines lessons learned from past vendor selection projects, emphasizing that they should be business-driven projects with clear requirements and stakeholder involvement. It also discusses the vendor perspective and common mistakes made during selections. The document concludes by highlighting emerging practices like increased due diligence and stakeholder education, as well as advice from industry peers.
Introduction of CMMI High Maturity Handbook
The Book details the CMMI High Maturity practices and guides in your CMMI L5 Journey. The Book details on how to practically implement CMMI ML5 and how to interpret the High Maturity practices. The Book contains sample cases from CMMI Dev and CMMI Svc, with the entire High Maturity Lifecycle and relevant application of statistical techniques. The book is a must have for everyone in CMMI Journey!
Introduction of CMMI High Maturity Handbook
The Book details the CMMI High Maturity practices and guides in your CMMI L5 Journey. The Book details on how to practically implement CMMI ML5 and how to interpret the High Maturity practices. The Book contains sample cases from CMMI Dev and CMMI Svc, with the entire High Maturity Lifecycle and relevant application of statistical techniques. The book is a must have for everyone in CMMI Journey!
Understand the different types of requirements and their importance in the Business Analysis process
Learn techniques for gathering and analyzing requirements
Understand how to prioritize requirements based on business value and feasibility
In this Business Analysis training session, you will learn about Requirement Elicitation Techniques. Topics covered in this session are:
• Requirements Engineering
• Project Scope
• Landscape of Requirements
• Properties of Requirements
• Types of Requirements
• Stakeholder
• Requirements Elicitation
• Techniques
For more information, click here: https://www.mindsmapped.com/courses/business-analysis/become-a-business-analyst-with-hands-on-practice/
In this Business Analysis training session, you will learn about basics of Business Analysis. Topics covered in this session are:
• Introduction to Business Analysis
• What is a Project?
• Business Process – What and Why?
• Who is a Project Manager?
• Who is a Business Analyst?
• What is Business Analysis and why is it important?
• Roles, Responsibilities and necessary Skills for a Business Analyst
• Introduction to SDLC
• Requirement Analysis
• Design Phase
• Development Phase
• Testing Phase
• Release & Maintenance
• Current Trends in BA
For more information, click here: https://www.mindsmapped.com/courses/business-analysis/become-a-business-analyst-with-hands-on-practice/
The world is changing – how about your Operations Strategy?
The world is changing rapidly – same goes for your customers and suppliers. You are required to constantly improve your operations. Is optimising your current operating model sufficient or do you need to rethink?
A great Operations Strategy is what makes the sum of all operational capabilities of your business a competitive advantage.
Does your Operations Strategy fit in relation to environmental changes or changes in future customer demand?
Healthcare Enterprise Data Model: The Buy vs. Build DebatePerficient, Inc.
Every mid-to-large-sized healthcare organization will at some point need an enterprise data warehouse to consolidate data from its many source systems. The first question most will ask is, “Do I build it from scratch or buy a model?”
For some organizations, the answer to this question is simple and obvious. For others, it may be the source of internal debate on whether someone else can create a model that will address their nuances. Some will argue that a pre-built model will save time and money and should be explored as an option, while others may curb discussions due to the belief that their electronic medical records vendor already has it figured out.
In this webinar, we explored the pros and cons of building your own data model vs. buying one and looked at real customer use cases to help weigh the pros and cons of this critical enterprise decision. Topics included:
-How experience plays into the equation
-Which solution delivers value more quickly
-Which solution helps reduce the risk to the organization
-How easy is it to integrate other solutions
-How the decision to build vs. buy can impact your internal team
Understand the different types of requirements and their importance in the Business Analysis process
Learn techniques for gathering and analyzing requirements
Understand how to prioritize requirements based on business value and feasibility
In this Business Analysis training session, you will learn about Requirement Elicitation Techniques. Topics covered in this session are:
• Requirements Engineering
• Project Scope
• Landscape of Requirements
• Properties of Requirements
• Types of Requirements
• Stakeholder
• Requirements Elicitation
• Techniques
For more information, click here: https://www.mindsmapped.com/courses/business-analysis/become-a-business-analyst-with-hands-on-practice/
In this Business Analysis training session, you will learn about basics of Business Analysis. Topics covered in this session are:
• Introduction to Business Analysis
• What is a Project?
• Business Process – What and Why?
• Who is a Project Manager?
• Who is a Business Analyst?
• What is Business Analysis and why is it important?
• Roles, Responsibilities and necessary Skills for a Business Analyst
• Introduction to SDLC
• Requirement Analysis
• Design Phase
• Development Phase
• Testing Phase
• Release & Maintenance
• Current Trends in BA
For more information, click here: https://www.mindsmapped.com/courses/business-analysis/become-a-business-analyst-with-hands-on-practice/
The world is changing – how about your Operations Strategy?
The world is changing rapidly – same goes for your customers and suppliers. You are required to constantly improve your operations. Is optimising your current operating model sufficient or do you need to rethink?
A great Operations Strategy is what makes the sum of all operational capabilities of your business a competitive advantage.
Does your Operations Strategy fit in relation to environmental changes or changes in future customer demand?
Healthcare Enterprise Data Model: The Buy vs. Build DebatePerficient, Inc.
Every mid-to-large-sized healthcare organization will at some point need an enterprise data warehouse to consolidate data from its many source systems. The first question most will ask is, “Do I build it from scratch or buy a model?”
For some organizations, the answer to this question is simple and obvious. For others, it may be the source of internal debate on whether someone else can create a model that will address their nuances. Some will argue that a pre-built model will save time and money and should be explored as an option, while others may curb discussions due to the belief that their electronic medical records vendor already has it figured out.
In this webinar, we explored the pros and cons of building your own data model vs. buying one and looked at real customer use cases to help weigh the pros and cons of this critical enterprise decision. Topics included:
-How experience plays into the equation
-Which solution delivers value more quickly
-Which solution helps reduce the risk to the organization
-How easy is it to integrate other solutions
-How the decision to build vs. buy can impact your internal team
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Best Practices in Software Vendor Selection
1. Best Practices in
Software Vendor
Selection
Dan Miller, Advantiv Solutions
www.advantiv.com
Providing Plan-to-Procure® solutions since 1997
2. About Advantiv
Started in 1996
Product: DecisionDirector® - Cloud-based Plan-to-Procure™
platform for complex procurements, including stakeholder
collaboration and RFP response collection and analysis tools
Mission: Reduce the time, cost, and risk of technology and
services planning and procurement while increasing
stakeholder satisfaction with the process and the outcome
Experience: 300+ projects in Higher Ed, State & Local, DoD,
and Healthcare involving 250+ entities, 250,000 stakeholders,
300+ vendors, and dozens of consulting firms
3. Agenda
• Lessons Learned in Vendor Selections
– Best Practices
– Vendor Perspective
– Common Mistakes
– Great Advice from Peers
• Emerging Practices
4. Lessons Learned
• Vendor Selections are like family vacations (with
in-laws – all of them)
– A lot of people are affected, most won’t want to go
– Some will be happy and some won’t be
– You probably don’t want to be in charge, but knowing
you, you will be
• The best selections are well-planned IT-enabled
business projects that yield much more than a
chosen vendor
• There are good techniques but no good short-
cuts
6. These are Business, not IT, Projects
• Gartner CIO Agenda Survey – Since 2005, #1
senior management expectation of IT is “Improving
Business Processes”
• The most successful projects are “Business-
driven/IT-enabled”
• Clear support of strategic objectives and a strong
business case for the investment is a must
7. Begin at the Beginning
• Establish a clear across-the-board understanding of
the business need
– Create functional and IT partnerships
– Prepare the preliminary business case and presentation
– Gain necessary executive sponsorship and support
– Educate the troops – good communication is essential
• Create a project charter
– What will be achieved and who will be responsible
– How team will be organized and decisions will be made
– Criteria and requirements for success
– Risk factors and risk mitigation
– Establish a game plan
8. Begin at the Beginning
• Identify affected business processes
– At a minimum, name and define them and then
evaluate and prioritize them
– Ideally, collaboratively document key processes
– Understanding your existing business processes will
help in many ways
• First time for many to see the process “from above”
• Reveal immediate opportunities to improve
• Shared/validated sense of process priority
• Guide requirements and vendor demos
• Key to Fit/Gap analysis and implementation
planning
9. Requirements, Solicitations, and Demos
• Identify business and technical requirements
– Should tie to business processes
– High level reqs are easier to write / hard to measure
– Detailed reqs are harder to write, but easier to measure
• Prepare solicitation (RFP, RFI, etc)
– Many good examples available – strive for quality
• Prepare for demonstrations
– Scripts based on most important and realistic scenarios
– Tie scripts to requirements for easy cross-referencing
– Establish clear expectations, but allow vendors time to
highlight their strengths
10. Due Diligence
• Early due diligence to determine potential suitability
– Market focus, technology platform
• Subsequent due diligence
– Financial stability and future direction
– Reference checks – their list and yours
– Demonstrations based on your key scenarios
– Beyond the sales team – management, product
development, implementation, training, support
– Total cost of ownership (TCO) over reasonable life of
product
– Contractual terms and conditions
11. Due Diligence – Don’t Forget Yourself
• Is your organization ready for this project?
– Executive sponsorship and support
– Financial commitment
– Stakeholder commitment
– Project organization and governance
• Do you have or can you obtain the necessary skill
and experience sets?
– SMEs, technical, project mgmt and administration
• Do you have sufficient resources?
– Staffing backfill, project work space
12. The Vendor Perspective
• Technology sales is hard, expensive, and risky
– Big opportunities can cost $500k to chase, win or lose
– Lots of people, hoops, and pressure to pursue a sale
– Successful sales people personally invest in their
prospects
• Process vacuums will be filled
– If you aren’t providing information, vendors will seek it
– If you don’t establish a protocol, vendors will
• Credibility is something you can lose, too
– Don’t ask vendors to do something that you would not
be willing to do, e.g. fly a team out… next week
• The partnership mindset begins with you
13. Common Vendor Selection Mistakes
• Not Enough/Too Much Time
• Not Enough Research
• RFP is a Surprise / Poor Quality / Scoring Unclear
• No Plan for Demos
• Insufficient Due Diligence
• Insufficient Education and Buy-In
• No Rules of Engagement
• Fool Me Once…
• Entering Negotiations Alone, Naked, and Cold
14. We’ve Seen Them All…
Pre-RFP Planning
• Limited Stakeholder Involvement
• Poor Requirements
• Purchasing, Finance, and Legal
involved late
• Vendors gain access and
information however possible
RFP
• Borrowed
• Re-purposed
• Confusing to vendors
/ addenda
• Timing may surprise
or put-off some
Vendor Evaluation
• Vendor Canned Demos
• Limited Due Diligence
• Unclear Decision and
Project Governance Models
• Weak Contract Negotiations
Pre-RFP Planning
• Stakeholder Involvement Req’d
• Excellent Requirements
• Purchasing, Finance, and Legal
involved from the beginning
• Vendors provided controlled
access with rules of engagement
RFP
• Written to suit
purpose
• Clear and impressive
to vendors
• No surprises
Vendor Evaluation
• Good, scripted demos
• Solid Due Diligence
• Clear Decision and
Governance Models
• Highly-Effective Contract
Negotiations with Win/Win
Much Better Selection Process
Poor Selection Process
15. Great Advice from Peers
• “It’s the Design, Not the Features”
– Jim Ritchey and Phil Hill of Delta Initiative
– Features are important but the application design (monolithic
vs component) must be right for you
• “Leverage the custom requirements – internally
and with the vendors”
– Charlie Moran, Moran Technology
– Vendors can’t do everything, so use their scope and rough
pricing information from the RFP response to challenge or
confirm unique stakeholder requirements and get down to
what is really worth paying for
16. Great Advice from Peers
• “Remember, it’s a people problem”
– Ed Cornelius, President, Collegiate Project Services
– Without an enterprise-wide engagement process it’s often difficult
to get consensus going forward
• “While several vendors may provide solutions that meet your
needs, all vendors are not alike.”
– Vicki Tambellini, General Manager, The Tambellini Group
– The differences between vendors can be great. The software you
select is a small part of successfully meeting your requirements.
– Vendor differences include various approaches to training,
implementation support, help desk, upgrades and new releases,
business policies and legal risks.
– It’s worth the time to understand all of the details behind the
differences in the vendors and their solutions and approaches in
order to make the best “fit” decision for your institution.
17. What We Are Seeing More Of
• Heightened due diligence – internal and external
• Open, transparent, intentionally well-managed
selections
• Commitment to stakeholder education and
participation
• Strong business cases
• Cross-discipline teams
• Business process documentation and management
– Faster, better, easier tools make this possible
• Vendors engaged earlier and more effectively
18. Contact Info
Dan Miller, Advantiv Solutions
dan.miller@advantiv.com
866.966.2911 x101
www.advantiv.com
View our other presentations:
o Simplifying Complex Procurements
o Extending the Value of e-Procurement
o System Replacement Projects Simplified
o Best Practices in Software Vendor Selection
Providing Plan-to-Procure® solutions since 1997
19. Thank You
Dan Miller, Advantiv Solutions
dan.miller@advantiv.com
866.966.2911 x101
www.advantiv.com
Providing Plan-to-Procure® solutions since 1997
Editor's Notes
So, we’ve seen a lot of vendor selections
We’ve had a lot of experience in vendor selection projects, and thought it would be helpful to highlight some of what we’ve seen, learned, and anticipate.
This is probably not the view you want to see from your office window
What are we doing and why do we need to do it
Educate the troops – invest time in making sure everyone knows what is going on, why it is happening, how it will affect them, and how they can become involved
We’ve never done a project where this work had already taken place
FI$Cal story – safe to assume that no process documentation exists
(tools like Lombardi Software’s Blueprint are making it easier, faster, and better)
Best to establish scripts that are based on most important and realistic scenarios
Tie script to reqs – enables cross-referencing what is said/shown during the demo with what was stated in the proposal
Future direction – is their product roadmap aligned with your future
Beyond the sales team – depth, capability, compatibility
TCO – acquistion of hdw, sfw, implementation, integration, data migration, training, staffing, maintenance on all, 10 year life
Contractual terms and conditions – a separate presentation unto itself
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander – before you begin, you should make sure you’re prepared to succeed
By the way, good vendors will be asking these questions – so you can use the vendors’ questions and concerns as a barometer
Lots of people, hoops, and pressure to pursue a sale – it is not a given.
Due to the risk and expense, sales teams have to build their own business case for investing corporate resources in an attempt to gain your business
Sales people personally invest time, reputation, opportunity cost
Process vacuum – establish a proactive plan and protocol for engaging vendors, coach everyone, especially executives, on the plan – otherwise…
Don’t ask vendors to respond to an RFP over the Christmas/New Years break…
Fool me once… applies to vendors as well as stakeholders – stop/start stop/start
tightly integrated cross-discipline teams that are equipped, empowered, and held accountable to make or significantly influence technology investment decisions
Effective business process management - Faster, better, easier tools make this possible – most schools don’t do this because it is so hard to do – I can’t emphasize the value enough, especially given the new generation of tools that let you do this collaboratively, over the web