When it comes to dealing with IT suppliers, not knowing exactly what you want and where to get it will result in a great deal of wasted time and money. Scott Blum gives his guide to avoiding the technological tender traps
People Management (article updated June 2002), 25 Jun 1998
Open any personnel magazine (preferably People Management) and there, among the adverts for recruitment consultants and employment lawyers, will be several large and glossy adverts for human resource information systems (HRIS). But, unlike choosing a recruitment consultant for their contacts or a lawyer for their knowledge, the difficult task of selecting an HRIS will combine a range of knowledge and acumen used only once or twice in a personnel professional’s entire career.
A second generation of sophisticated, demanding computer-literate users now occupies senior positions. And a new breed of hard-nosed, professional suppliers has entered the HRIS marketplace.
More astute suppliers now want to know whether there is real management commitment before they even spend time with a potential client, making it crucial to agree on an organisation's requirements well before asking suppliers what they can offer. Attempts to use a supplier to identify requirements will end in frustration all round. Find out who needs what, and why - and only then ask for it.
A tender invitation
This stage takes the form of an invitation to tender (ITT), formally asking systems suppliers to offer their product against a specification of needs. Preparing your ITT provides an invaluable checklist to ensure that you have specified your HR system requirements in full, as well as giving you an idea of how you will evaluate responses from suppliers. Make sure that the criteria you use for assessing tenders are agreed (see "Creating the framework for an ITT").
Once you have prepared the invitation to your satisfaction, show it to your IT department and a number of business managers. They can make useful suggestions and will not be so involved that they cannot see the wood for the trees. Then prepare yourself for a long wait. It may be tempting to extend deadlines, but you will be favouring the tardy and putting the prompt at a disadvantage.
Is what you see what you get?
When evaluating tenders, give a thorough analysis of responses according to the criteria you have set and identify further questions to ask in the series of meetings that should follow. These meetings are for your benefit, giving an opportunity for suppliers to demonstrate their systems and for you to clarify your uncertainties.
Don’t allow the suppliers to take control and tell you only what they want you to know. Ask about their services and future plans, as well as the product itself. And don't fall into the trap of pretending you know more about the technology than you do. Allow one day for every visit, and ask each supplier to follow up in writing anything important that was not included in the original tender document.
Once the visits are completed, you should have a good idea of which suppliers are most likely to be successful. Follow up any references by telephone, and ask for a date to visit. It may even be better to ask people through the grapevine to get a "warts and all" appraisal.
And the winner is...
By the time you reach the formal evaluation, you may already have a front runner. Again, as with recruitment decisions, continue to evaluate each supplier objectively against your criteria. But by all means allow gut feeling to play a part.
The process should place the suppliers in order of preference. Write a brief report showing how and why the decision was reached, and your firm recommendation. Be courteous, of course, to all the suppliers that submitted a bid. They know their chances, but will still want to hear the reasons for being accepted or rejected, and should be informed as early as possible.
Once you have decided on the supplier, get on with it: products and information age rapidly in this market. You don't want to go through the whole process again within two years!
Measured response By dramatically reducing the time and money spent on managing human capital, the latest HR software systems are freeing up more time for strategic thinking
