Managing the software selection process

Selecting new business software for your company can at times seem like an overwhelming task. By approaching this task as a "project," you may be able to greatly reduce the stress to yourself and your company by approaching the project in phases.

As a member of the Project Management Institute, I follow the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Using PMBOK, and your own common sense, can help you plan your project correctly.

Initiating a project

In the first step, you need to answer the question, "What am I trying to do?" Define what you are trying to accomplish and write it down to make sure everyone affected understands and agrees.

What are you trying to accomplish with your new software? Reduce man hours? Increase data security? Involve less people in the process? List and define these goals before you start your search.

Planning

The key here is to determine when it needs to be done and who is doing what. Begin by assigning a timeline for all steps of the project. Next, determine who is assigned to each item of the project. Finally, you need to communicate what each person is responsible for, the expectations for each task and the time within which the task needs to be accomplished.

Planning is critical to software selection. Not setting a timeline from the beginning can result in a delay of your software's implementation as well as possibly causing you to exceed your originally planned budget.

Executing

This is where you and your team will be performing the specific functions that were laid out in the planning stages. In the execution phase, you may encounter unexpected results. Some things that you may want to allow time for during the execution phase of your next software project include:

R.I.C.E

Reports - what reports do you currently have and what do you need to manage your business?

Interfaces - what programs (Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, etc) need to either send data to your new system or receive data from your new system.

Conversion -  how much old data are you bringing to the new system.  Are you bringing balances or transaction level detail?

Extensions - What special (custom) thing do you do that the new system can not do that you will need to do?

Monitoring and Controlling

Communication throughout any project is vitally important. Monitoring everyone's progress and communicating this back to the team and steering committee must be done at regular intervals. 

With a software project, this means having regular project meetings and guidelines about what is to be reported, how it should be reported, and when it should be reported.

Closing

At the end of any project you should take time to consider what you have learned, both the good and the bad.  Take the time to write this down and use it as a reference for future projects.