1. by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology
End User Support
Chapter 8
Beisse
by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology

2. by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology
Objectives
How Product and Support Standards Emerged
Common tools and methods support specialists use to evaluate and select computer products
How organizations develop and implement support standards
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3. How Product Standards Emerged
Product incompatibility
Competition
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4. Problems Caused by Product Incompatibility
Incompatible systems
Excessive parts inventories
Lack of skills transfer
Increased support costs
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5. by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology
Incompatible Systems
Difficulty sharing data
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6. Excessive Parts Inventories
Need for large inventory of different and incompatible components
Increased cost to an organization to make simple component repairs
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7. Lack of Skills Transfer
Reduced productivity (employees unable to fill in for each other)
Substantial cost to train and retrain employees
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8. Increased Support Costs
Information centres confronted with trying to support very large number of incompatible hardware and software products
Training sessions may not meet needs of a significant number of employees who work with systems
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9. Development of Product Standards
Companies standardized a few selected hardware platforms selected to meet users’ needs.
They adopted standard operating systems, and in the 1990s, standard network operating systems.
They limited the choice of applications software to a few standard applications packages in each software category.
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10. Methods for Evaluating and Selecting Computer Products
Product evaluation: A process of researching and analysing computer product features, capabilities, and suitability to solve a specific user need
Product evaluation process
Collect product information
Test, compare, and evaluate competing products
Publish results
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11. Resources Available to Help Evaluate Computer Products
Vendor literature, marketing information Web sites, and user manuals
Product demonstrations and evaluation versions
Product reviews and comparison articles in computer periodicals
Opinions from industry experts available in trade publications and Internet news groups
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12. Product Decision-making Tools
Industry standard or best-selling products
Products used by competitors
Benchmarks
Weighted point evaluation method
Acknowledged subjective criteria
A request for proposal (RFP)
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13. Advantages of Using Industry Standard/Best-selling Products
Can reduce support costs
Likely to be targeted by trade book publishers, training material developers, and support service vendors
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14. Disadvantages of Using Industry Standard/Best-selling Products
May not meet unique requirements of end users with specialized needs
Market leadership changes over time; potential for obsolescence
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15. Using Industry Standard or Best-selling Products
Get user input before making software selection decision
Find out which products end users have experience with
Find out advantages and disadvantages of competing products for specific tasks
Find out whether users have preferences among products
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16. Products Competitors Use
Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of products that competitors use
Competitors may have thoroughly researched the market and identified strategic reasons for adopting the computer products they use
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17. by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology
Benchmarks
An objective test used to compare competing products
Popular because they are objective and provide an unbiased evaluation of a product
Objective evaluation criteria: Measurable factors that are not influenced by personal opinion
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18. Companies that Provide Hardware/Software Benchmarks
Business Applications Performance (BAPCO)
Symantec
Ziff-Davis
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19. Weighted Point Evaluation Method
Uses evaluation criteria of predefined importance to arrive at a numerical score for each product
Goal is to make the evaluation/selection process as objective as possible by:
Treating competing products equally
Eliminating possible favouritism or bias among evaluators
Forcing evaluators to specify in advance the important factors in evaluation
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20. Subjective Evaluation Criteria
Are based on personal relationships, convenience, personal preferences, and traditional practices
Do not give much weight to the match between end user needs and the features of the hardware or software
Are neither measurable nor repeatable
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21. The Request for Proposal (RFP)
A product selection or competitive bidding procedure that uses objective criteria to distinguish among products proposed by vendors
Often used as the basis for awarding a contract to provide computer products
One of the most common and most objective decision-making tools
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22. Primary Steps in the RFP Process
An agency or organization conducts a needs analysis.
Based on needs analysis, the agency develops a procurement specification for the equipment or software.
The agency defines the decision criteria and the importance of each criteria.
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23. Primary Steps in the RFP Process
The agency writes the RFP document.
The RFP document is sent to prospective vendors.
Interested vendors respond to the RFP with a written proposal that addresses how their products meet or exceed the user requirements; includes bid price.
The agency analyzes the response to the RFP, often using weighted point evaluation tools.
The company or agency chooses a vendor and awards the contract.
Feedback may be given to all vendors.
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24. Mechanics of the Weighted Point Evaluation Method
Decide on the evaluation criteria.
Decide on the importance of each criterion.
Rate each competing product on all the evaluation criteria.
If more than one evaluator rates products, compute the average rating for each product for each criterion.
Weight the product ratings for each criterion by the importance of the criterion.
Compute the total rating for each product.
Compare product ratings.
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25. Criteria in Weighted Point Evaluation Method
Specific type of hardware or software product to be evaluated
Needs of end users
Support issues
Cost
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26. Advantages of Weighted Point Evaluation Method
Forces evaluators to address two important issues early in the process
Identification of important criteria in product purchase decision or recommendation
Importance of each criterion in relation to the others
Uses measurable criteria in place of subjective beliefs
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27. Computer Product Standards
Help control user support costs by limiting the number of hardware and software options users can choose
Often adopted by larger companies with a substantial investment in computer technology because the potential for waste is so large
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28. How Companies Develop Computer Product Standards
Company culture and traditions
Product standards committee: Composed of support specialists and end users whose task is to define the current company standards and coordinate their use in the company
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29. Requirements for Computer Product Standards
Effective
Evenly administered
Enforced
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30. How Companies Implement Computer Product Standards
Adoption and implementation of product and service standards influenced by:
Investment in existing hardware and software
Continual arrival of new products, services, and product upgrades
Loss of employee productivity during conversion to new standards
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31. Adopting or Modifying Technology Standards
Requires analysis and evaluation of products and services
Triggers potential support cost increases for installation, upgrades, training, documentation, trouble-shooting, and help desk services
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