Book description
Despite the sophistication of modern off-the-shelf IT products, most organisations find they don't get the benefits they expected. This practical book presents a proven decision-making process to help IT and business managers select the off-the-shelf software product that best fits the needs of their organisation, whether in the commercial or public sector. Offering a structured approach to managing stakeholders, requirements and candidate IT vendors, this practical 'how-to' guide will help deliver a rigorous, defensible decision within an aggressive timescale. As well as illustrating the techniques, this book includes case studies from business managers who have been through the process. Useful templates and additional articles are available by download from the supporting website. --- 'Martin is the guru of robust decision making. The process he describes in this book combines intuition with rigorous, transparent logic. Good choices are easy to explain, sell and defend whilst spurious bias is left with nowhere to hide.' Mike Berners-Lee, Founder, Small World Consulting Ltd --- 'Martin's book builds on his clear, detailed understanding of assessing and selecting off-the-shelf IT and provides a rigorous, practical method to get the solution needed.' David Nickson, Author and Bid Consultant --- 'I've long experience of how newcomers react to the selection method in this book - they like it a lot. I'm very confident that readers will quickly appreciate the benefits and how to apply it to their projects.' Professor David Brown, Lancaster University Management SchoolTable of contents
- Front Cover
- BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- List of executive perspectives
- Authors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and glossary
- INTRODUCTION: PURPOSE AND PRINCIPLES
-
1. INTRODUCTION TO OFF-THE-SHELF SOLUTIONS
- 1.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 1.2 Introduction to off-the-shelf solutions
- 1.3 Interaction of strategy and software
- 1.4 Impetus – the project pre-conditions
- 1.5 Why buy an off-the-shelf solution?
- 1.6 Avoiding common pitfalls when procuring off-the-shelf software
- 1.7 IT consultancy for IT selections
- 1.8 Chapter summary
- 1.9 References
- 1.10 Further reading
- 2. TALENT MANAGEMENT: SUPPLIER PSYCHOLOGY (with Cathy Humphreys)
-
3. INITIATION: SHAPING AND AUTHORISING THE PROJECT
- 3.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 3.2 Overview
- 3.3 Determining scope
- 3.4 Scoping workshops
- 3.5 Studying costs and feasibility
- 3.6 Establishing project phases
- 3.7 The executive sponsor
- 3.8 Project initiation or terms of reference
- 3.9 Launch events
- 3.10 Chapter summary
- 3.11 References
- 3.12 Further reading
-
4. REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS: CAPTURING THE ORGANISATIONAL NEEDS
- 4.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 4.2 Overview
- 4.3 Some cautionary notes on requirements capture
- 4.4 Studying best practice
- 4.5 Capturing requirements
- 4.6 Selecting interviewees and organising interviews
- 4.7 Preparing attendees for interviews or workshops
- 4.8 Preview of later use of requirements
- 4.9 Chapter summary
- 4.10 References
- 4.11 Further reading
- 5. REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT: DOCUMENTING AND AGREEING REQUIREMENTS
- 6. TRAWLING THE MARKETPLACE: ESTABLISHING THE LONGLIST
-
7. ASSESSING LONGLIST CANDIDATES: SELECTING THE SHORTLIST USING THE RFI
- 7.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 7.2 Overview
- 7.3 Approach to evaluation at RFI stage
- 7.4 Prior planning
- 7.5 Formulating effective questions
- 7.6 Preparing the RFI
- 7.7 Technology used for RFI questions and responses
- 7.8 Marking scheme
- 7.9 Preparing ideal answers
- 7.10 Distributing the RFI
- 7.11 Who – roles on the assessment team
- 7.12 Assessing the RFI responses
- 7.13. How – the main RFI assessment meeting
- 7.14 Summarising the assessment outcome
- 7.15 Presentation to the project board
- 7.16 Chapter summary
- 7.17 References
- 7.18 Further reading
-
8. DETAILED EVALUATION: ASSESSING THE SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES
- 8.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 8.2 Overview
- 8.3 Who – the roles, teams and skills
- 8.4 Where and when – the meeting administration
- 8.5 How – the evaluation process and mindset
- 8.6 Defence mechanisms in the evaluation
- 8.7 Note-taking by the evaluation team
- 8.8 Chapter summary
- 8.9 References
- 8.10 Further reading
-
9. SCORING: ESTABLISHING DEGREE OF FIT AND RANKING
- 9.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 9.2 Overview
- 9.3 Crucial role of scoring
- 9.4 Stage outputs – scoring matrix
- 9.5 Definitions document with language ladders
- 9.6 Who – the scoring team
- 9.7 Where and when – the meeting administration
- 9.8 How – the scoring meeting process and mindset
- 9.9 Time management during the meeting
- 9.10 Steps to complete the scoring
- 9.11 Verifying scores with suppliers
- 9.12 Thresholds, error and defences
- 9.13 Selecting demonstration candidates
- 9.14 Addressing significant gaps in capability
- 9.15 Presenting to your project board
- 9.16 Chapter summary
- 9.17 References
- 9.18 Further reading
-
10. DEMONSTRATIONS: PROVING THE FIT
- 10.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 10.2 Overview
- 10.3 Objectives and risks of demonstrations
- 10.4 Who – the people who make the difference at demonstrations
- 10.5 Where and when – setting up the meetings
- 10.6 Further preparations
- 10.7 How – conducting the demonstration
- 10.8 Analysis after the demonstrations
- 10.9 Decision-making after demonstrations
- 10.10 Chapter summary
- 10.11 References
- 10.12 Further reading
-
11. REFERENCE SITES: REAL CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
- 11.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 11.2 Overview
- 11.3 Why – objectives of references
- 11.4 Who – reference sites attendees
- 11.5 Where and when – meeting location and format
- 11.6 How – example questions
- 11.7 The ‘anti-reference site’
- 11.8 Building relationships
- 11.9 Chapter summary
- 11.10 References
- 11.11 Further reading
-
12. CONTRACTS: NEGOTIATION AND AGREEMENTS
- 12.1 What you can learn from this chapter
- 12.2 Overview
- 12.3 Why – objectives of a successful negotiation
- 12.4 What – decisions and preparation before the negotiation meetings
- 12.5 The scope of supply
- 12.6 Who – negotiation team members
- 12.7 Preparing to negotiate
- 12.8 Negotiation agenda with relevant terms
- 12.9 Free modifications
- 12.10 The supplier version of the agenda
- 12.11 Where and how – the negotiation process and mindset
- 12.12 After your negotiation
- 12.13 Chapter summary
- 12.14 References
- 12.15 Further reading
- 13. IMPLEMENTATION: PREPARING THE GROUND
- 14. VIEWPOINTS BY THEME
- 15. CONCLUDING - RECOMMENDATIONS AND RESOURCES
- APPENDIX 1 SIZING QUESTIONNAIRE: TO SCOPE A SELECTION PROJECT
- APPENDIX 2 COMPARATIVE METRICS: EXAMPLE PROJECT PROFILES
- APPENDIX 3 CHECKLIST: DETAILED METHOD STEPS
- Index
- Back Cover
Product information
- Title: Off-The-Shelf IT Solutions - A practitioner's guide to selection and procurement
- Author(s):
- Release date: March 2015
- Publisher(s): BCS Learning & Development Limited
- ISBN: 9781780172583
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