Business Process and Systems Consulting
Feasibility Assessments
Choosing a packaged enterprise application or assessing the benefits of existing systems began and often ended with analyses of the costs to implement, deploy, and maintain them. However, a pure cost-oriented approach like total cost of ownership (TCO) does not allow an organization to measure the full economic impact of the investment. By measuring not just cost and financial benefits, but also risk or uncertainty as well as future flexibility, enterprises can establish a more inclusive and accurate picture of the return on investment (ROI). Our approach examines the Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) of issues in adopting packaged applications, establishes criteria for a robust ROI analysis that is used to evaluate opportunities in vendor selection, consolidation, upgrade/migration, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployment scenarios.
The selection and evaluation of products must be done in a consistent, quantifiable manner to be effective. By using a formal method, it is possible to mix very different criteria into a cohesive decision; the justification for the selection decision is not just based on technical, intuitive, or political factors.
This is designed to evaluate the usefulness of the software as it relates to the functional requirements and business processes; these have proven useful in the past. McNair Business Development Inc. prepares the following evaluation Matrix.
Note: Consultation with Key Stakeholders at this stage is useful when defining the perceived value/importance of individual processes or requirements.
1. Priorities Matrix - This is a list of major requirements outlined from the Functional Requirements Definition Documentation
2. Risk Matrix - A list of the current known project risks taken from the Risks Analysis need to be incorporated into a document.
3. Intangible Matrix - Intangible factors are not the traditional "quality" factors, but rather factors that are programmatic decisions. These are decisions that can or will affect the overall project during its life span. Most of the decisions also depend on intangible factors that are difficult to quantify.
4. Evaluation Framework/Criteria Documentation - These matrixes allows an organization to compare various products by using the selection criteria (Priorities, Risk and Intangible Matrix) and assigning a weighted value to the criteria.
Total Economic Impact™ (TEI). TEI allows the measurement of the effectiveness of an IT decision or project and can be used as a proactive, predictive tool. Because it includes risk, TEI can also be used with a portfolio analysis methodology to determine the best mix of IT spending that aligns with organizational goals.
Project Deliverables:
- Evaluation Framework/Criteria Documentation
- Priorities Matrix, Risk Matrix, and Intangible Matrix
- RFI or RFP for Suppliers
To discuss in more detail our application development capabilities and implementing a technology solution into your business, please contact Tyler LeCouffe, Senior Business Systems Consultant - Business Systems Innovation, to discuss.
