A long established company was running a 10 year old order entry, invoicing and warehouse system on an ageing AS400 hardware platform.

Though technically experienced, and with an in-depth knowledge of the Windows operating system, the IT staff member had no purchasing experience at this level and little knowledge of the AS400 operating system. The Operations Director did not have an IT background but was an experienced purchaser and negotiator and had a clear understanding of the business capabilities of modern IT systems.

They were fairly clear what they expected from a replacement system, but recognised that they would need some hand-holding and tutoring through the process of choosing, purchasing, and implementing the technology that would provide the performance and stability their company needed for a further 10 years. Their decision would have to be based on accurate assessments, in-depth negotiations and a high level of experience.

A detailed consultancy package of 10 to 15 days over a 12 month period was agreed with Plaintalk. This involved assistance in choosing an appropriate hardware platform and operating system to run the system on, and selecting suitable software vendors. Plaintalk then helped write a timeline for the entire project, with defined roles and objectives for everyone involved. Problem areas and risks were highlighted from the outset, with advice on how to mitigate them.

Plaintalk also provided assistance in writing a detailed Request for Information (RFI) to be sent to selected suppliers. This was based on input by users of the existing system, from order entry to management business reports, and time spent watching the operatives on their current system. It also took into account a number of adaptations in how the company might use the system in future.

After RFI responses were received back from potential vendors, they were carefully analysed and clarification was sought on the possibility of any adverse issues.

Vendors were short listed, and invited to demonstrate their proposed solution to a tightly defined set of business scenarios, in order to demonstrate that the systems could perform the set tasks with ease of use.

Plaintalk then negotiated prices and contracts with the selected vendor, and made sure that the project management of installation and implementation was in place. Agreement on levels of support and maintenance were also settled, together with possible future costs, training of users and adherence to RFI details.

The system went live after a full and planned programme of implementation, customisation and user training, leading to final system sign-off to agreed budgets and time-scales.