Ten Questions You Need To Answer Before Buying Any Process Improvement Tool
- Can it handle my process problem?
- Not all process improvement tools are the same, they each
have particular strengths. Don’t be lulled into a false
sense of security with an overview or a canned demo. The vendor
is going to show you things that they can do easily which
may or may not match with your needs. You will need to make
a list the major types of problems you want to include and
have the vendor show you how that particular problem will
be addressed.
- How easy is it to learn and use?
- You’re already busy or you wouldn’t have a job
in process improvement! Ask specifically what capabilities
have been developed to help you learn the software and become
productive quickly. It isn’t more features that make
it easy-to-use but the features designed to solve the problems.
- Does it require training?
- Training is seldom needed to perform the basics in any system.
Online tutorials and comprehensive manuals make getting started
a snap. The problem is that real processes are generally complex,
requiring the use of combinations of features to model the
process accurately. The real answer is to put your people
in front of a mentor with extensive process improvement experience.
Training is a minor expense in comparison with the potential
benefit you will realize.
- What will it cost for ongoing maintenance and support?
- There are three major types of support: Pay per incident;
yearly fee; and free. Customers have reported support fees
exceeding the original cost of the software. It is likely
that you will want to speak to knowledgeable people that know
how the software works. Understand the real costs before you
buy.
- How will I be supported after the sale?
- Some companies out source their tech support to foreign countries.
Others hire college students’ part time to answer questions
by learning on the job! Talk with the actual people that will
be helping you answer your questions post sale. Get a feel
for the level of expertise and willingness to assist. Find
our how far they will go in helping you to solve problems.
- Can it be deployed quickly?
- Does the product reside on the server or can it be deployed
at the PC level? PC installs require less internal evaluation,
approval time, IT intervention and installation time.
- Will it show performance of planned systems?
- Many tools will show what is happening now in the real
system, but fall painfully short when predicting what will
happen with the proposed system. Complexities, interdependence
and randomness of real systems make them difficult (if not
impossible to predict accurately without simulation.
- Will it optimize the process?
- A study of 250 processes revealed a socking 5.7%1 potential
was left undiscovered because people ran out of time at the
analysis stage of the project. That number equates to hundreds
of thousands of dollars in lost savings. It wasn’t that
they didn’t have a good model but just that they didn’t
take the time to explore all of the possible changes to the
model. This is understandable because if you tried to explore
all the possible permutations of even a medium sized model
it could take hundreds of thousands of experiments. Optimization
will actually modify the model dynamically and hunt for the
best combinations. Optimization can find things that you may
never think to look at. This saves you hundreds of hours and
finds hidden dollars.
- Will it reduce the time to communicate complex issues?
- This complex world we live in is difficult to describe to
others. The tool must help you to explain these complexities
and yet not over burden the user. Simple animations foster
understanding. It has been said that a “picture is worth
a thousand words” A simple animation is worth tens of
thousands of words. Look for something that will help you
communicate for understanding and sell your ideas.
- Is there education to match the tool?
- It is a good practice to look at the training materials to
determine the expected level of support after the purchase.
Professional, clear materials show that the after purchase
support is matched with the flashy sales presentation that
helped you to develop interest in the product.
- How will the tool mesh with other methodologies?
- Some tools require a special methodology. If you are not familiar
with the methodology then additional training is required.
- Average number representing a wide range of variation. Some models exhibited greater than 15% improvement.
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