Technical Selection

Definition:

DecisionPath defines a Technology Selection engagement to potentially encompass: (a) working with a business to develop or refine business-driven functional and tool requirements, preferably based on the BI Requirements Portfolio and the BI Roadmap; (b) translating those requirements into a defined set of weighted business and technical selection criteria and a Proof of Concept designed to prove vendors ability to meet the requirements within the company technical environment; (c) conducting market and product research; (d) providing technical support for the Proof of Concept; and (e) providing source selection support as desired.

Purposes:

1. Reduce business and technical risk by using company-specific business requirements to drive functional and technical requirements.
2. Leverage a company-specific Proof of Concept to move beyond general product and market research, e.g. Gartner and Forrester, and “look under the hood” at claimed features and functions and how they actually work and perform.
3. Use structured selection approaches that balance and trade off various business and technical factors that go into making capital investment decisions.

Benefits:

1. Allows technology selection criteria to be architecturally-appropriate, technically specific, and weighted toward product features and functions that truly matter for the specific company.
2. Allows for a more objective approach to product selection.