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Vendors

Reviewing vendors and buying tools is an integral part of large-scale software development. If you are building anything substantial you will need to buy tools and, if not already available, a DBMS. Hardware purchases may be outside your direct responsibilities, yet your expertise might be used to specify the hardware’s operational requirements.

In this chapter I discuss an approach that flexibly allows you to review vendors; I also provide a cautionary tale demonstrating the lengths that vendors will go through to sell you their wares.

Artful Purchasing

When your employer enjoins you to buy a software package for your company you must brave the pressure of many conflicting forces. Of course the vendors and their employees have a near manic desire to have you select them over their competitors. It’s always better to be at the “choosing” end of the vendor relationship than at the receiving end of uninvited solicitations. Be wary of vendors who make the first effort to contact you… I will further describe one such salesman horror-story in the next chapter.

Your staff may have their preferences based upon their own familiarities or tastes. Yet considering the fiduciary responsibility you owe your employer, your role requires you to override their preferences and execute due diligence to evaluate the vendors on a level playing field. You may feel that pleasing the biases of your superiors comes first, but you should still behave as if you are representing the company’s owners.

Begin with some exploratory internet searches to discover software with the keywords representing some of your more specific requirements. This will give you a clue to the names of the main contenders. Then run a query with the top three package names along with the words “comparison” or “review.” This should retrieve some industry zines with a more thorough examination of what the vendors offer.

Now create a spreadsheet for yourself with “weighted” line-items for the characteristics you need. Remember to add lines for Vendor stability and facilitation record: more than just purchasing software you are buying a long-term service relationship with a company. How are they run? Are they stable? How is their customer service? It can easily take a few days to conduct a thorough review.

After you narrow the field ask the top two choices if you can get a demo. Since some of the actual folks in your company who will be using the package day-to-day may lack the skill levels to be comfortable with the software allow them time to examine it and then gather their impressions.

Large purchases may require considerably more effort in the review including issuing formal RFPs, evaluating the impact of any BPR that may need to occur, and determining how you will integrate the new purchase into existing systems. Don’t be shy to retain professional assistance for larger selection efforts.