Site visits are a crucial part of the selection process for enterprise software such as ERP. They are useful for observing real implementations as they occur in the wild of comparable enterprises. Adhere to best practices to avoid the common pitfalls of site visits.
Best Practices for Site Visits
There are 13 different best practices for site visits. Following these practices enables enterprises to optimize the dollars they spend on evaluating different solutions and to ensure that vendors don't manipulate the process.
1.Visit at least two similar enterprises. The host site should be similar in terms of size, structure, and industry. Decision makers must ensure that the relative success (or lack thereof) of a particular product isn't due to unique characteristics of the host site. Exceptional features may include:
- Overly large IT departments in terms of budget or headcount.
- Development staff sophistication in terms of maturity or requirements management.
2.Recognize showcase sites. Vendors may offer special incentives to sites that host visits. These incentives include additional support or even custom development. Ask both potential hosts and their respective vendors if they have a special arrangement. A lack of candor on the part of either the host or the vendor is reason for concern.
3.Stay in the same geographic region. Visiting a local implementation enables decision makers to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a vendor's support infrastructure. Support may extend beyond just the vendor's capabilities. Smaller enterprises, for example, may depend on the local supply of consultants or Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). This strategy has the added benefit of minimizing travel costs.
4.Control the agenda. Prior to the visit, communicate with the vendor and specify the functionality that should be vetted during the visit. Reputable vendors have the account relationships to manage these requests. Beware of vendors that can't honor agenda items.
5.Take a cross disciplinary team. The visiting team should have representation from all departments in the enterprise. In addition to management, the team should have members from development and support, and some who are end users. Prior to the visit, each team member should prepare a questionnaire about features that are important to them. They should be completed before leaving the visit site. The completed questionnaires are valuable inputs for the ultimate vendor selection process.
6.Beware of "spring break" evaluation bias. A vendor that foots the bill for a site visit may regale their prospects with top notch hotels and expensive dinners. Ensure that the evaluation team reviews the product and not vendor-provided entertainment.
7.Get out of the boardroom and away from PowerPoint. A site visit shouldn't be controlled by the vendor. Start with a site meeting and then break into groups to visit different departments. Team members should be matched in closed-door sessions with their peers in the host enterprise.
8.Look for gaps in the official story. Users will inevitably provide information that may not conform to the material provided by the vendor. Pursue these gaps with as much prejudice as possible, but remember that users may be completely wrong about system functionality.
9.Separate customization from default functionality. Particular features may be the result of extensive development efforts. Ensure that desirable features are actually part of the default functionality of the application. If they're not, determine if they are included as part of the vendor's product roadmap.
10.Put consultants, bolt-ons, and ISVs in their place. Functionality can be the result of third-party products. End users are unlikely to be aware of the difference between native and external functionality so verify specifics with the host's IT department.
11.Discuss intentions. Hosts provide valuable information about the limitations and support issues of their implementations. The easiest way to elicit this information is by asking them about how they plan to support or augment their system in the future.
12.Explore critical moments. Use very specific questions to get information from end users. Querying them about problems they have experienced can be particularly revealing. Questions to ask include:
- "Could you describe a problem you had with the system in the last week?"
- "How did you resolve this problem?"
13.Validate the experiences of the host site with user groups. Most large vendors sponsor an active user group. Membership to these groups is generally very affordable (<$500 per year). Members can access online forums and attend events. While national events will have the broadest representation from end users, most groups also host regular regional events that may be timelier and geographically convenient. In some cases, even non-members can access online forums hosted by the user groups.
Bottom Line
Site visits are essential in the selection and evaluation process for ERP enterprise software. Use the above best practices to get the most out of site visits.
ERP Selection Series
This is the last research note in a series discussing ERP selection. Previous notes in this series include:
