Technology assessments generally occur for one of three reasons:

• An unsuccessful system implementation
• Unhappiness with the effectiveness of the IT Department
• A major change in corporate direction

In the first case, a company may have implemented a major new system and the project failed to live up to its expectations.  In the second case, the IT Department may have lost the confidence of the company’s executive management.  Often these two situations converge.  In the third case, a significant business change may require a reassessment of IT.

Our services are designed to understand the situation and develop a strategy to recover both the system and the effectiveness of the IT Department.  We do this by

• Identifying the client’s business needs and requirements
• Confirming the client’s original goals and expectations for the system and IT
• Reviewing the history of projects and/or IT
• Reviewing the automated business processes
• Examining the accuracy and integrity of the system and its interfaces
• Reviewing the organization and staffing of the IT Department
• Reviewing the plans, budgets and accountability for the IT Department
• Reviewing the business processes, including computer operations, technical support, incident handling and others for the IT Department.

We provide these services without system bias.

Our goals are to successfully complete the implementation, to enhance the effectiveness of IT and to restore the client’s confidence in its systems and IT Department.  Often this is done without replacing existing systems.  Occasionally, the client has to start over, regrettably.  Often better reporting restores confidence in the system.  We work with the IT employees and company executives to enhance IT’s effectiveness.  New policies, procedures and standards may be instituted.  Training may be provided.  Sometimes communications between the two groups needs to be reestablished.  Sometimes personnel changes occur.

In each case, we develop a three-part action plan with short-term interventions, mid-term activities and long-term commitments.

Major systems require major investments.  We work with our clients to understand their situations and improve the effectiveness of their IT systems and department.  We solve technology problems.
Where Business Needs Drive Technology

Typical reasons for a system assessment:

• Executive and/or user dissatisfaction with the automated systems
• Insufficient financial and/or operational reporting
• Significant unfulfilled expectations with respect to new systems
• Significant cost and schedule overruns

Two client examples:

• We were asked to assess a retailer’s ERP system and a custom point-of-sale system.  Neither was working satisfactorily after more than two years of internal and external effort and an investment exceeding $5M.  Our diagnosis – both could be satisfactorily completed.  The ERP system implementation was completed.  The design of the point-of-sale system was completed and agreed to by the client.  The programming was completed and acceptance testing was instituted to identify any gaps.  The point-of-sale system subsequently went live.
  
  
• We were asked to assess a construction company’s implementation of another ERP system.  This system was installed three years earlier also at a cost in excess of $5M.  We determined that the systems involved were appropriate for the client and developed a series of short-term, mid-term and long-term steps to complete the implementation and update the software to current versions.  A major deficiency of the new systems was executive information; a major facet of the project was designing and developing custom reports to provide the company’s executives with the information they needed to effectively manage the business.