Evaluate and Recommend Hardware

Reading: Evaluate and recommend hardware

Evaluate and recommend hardware

Inside this reading

Contacting vendors

Where to look and what to look for

Using the information you find

Requests for proposals

Selection criteria

Product requirements

Support, maintenance and training

Price

Issues of vendor continuity

Evaluating vendor responses

Documenting recommendations

Purchasing procedures

Organisational purchasing procedures

Summary

Contacting vendors

IT hardware and peripherals are often expensive and are purchased with medium-term capital value in mind; meaning that devices are seen as lasting from two to five years, before needing to be replaced or updated.

To consider what is involved in replacing IT equipment, think of a major purchase in your life, such as a television. You would have thought about and researched the features available and what you want, the brands that offer that range of features, the relative price of brands and models within brands, and where the brand and model you decide on might be bought at a reasonable price.

Where to look and what to look for

To say the IT marketplace is ‘as wide as the world’ is both a figure of speech and true—you can find and buy equipment from almost anywhere. Yet unless you are in a large organisation with specific and possibly unique needs (and therefore can’t avoid costly and untimely international delivery), you’ll more likely deal with local or national retailers. Sometimes you may go direct to the manufacturers and at other times through an agent, consultant, licensed reseller or retail store.

New hardware and information about new hardware (including peripherals such as printers and scanners) can be found via:

• computer magazines
• newspapers
• the Internet
• IT consultants
• the yellow pages (for retailers, resellers etc)
• computer suppliers
• IT fairs and exhibitions.

Some suppliers provide quarterly updates or give access to a web site, or both, to promote new equipment releases. The Internet warrants special mention. As noted, freight charges can be high and there may be long delivery times if hardware is ordered from interstate or overseas, so you need take care to find out the local availability and prices. Equipment bought interstate or overseas might also present later problems and delays for any technical support you may need. In general, you should be able to find local support for any equipment from major manufacturers.

Table 1 summarises many issues and variables to consider when buying new or replacement equipment. You need to consider these issues in relation to suppliers, the organisation and the software and hardware being installed.

Table 1: Issues and variables when buying new or replacement equipment

Suppliers / The organisation / Software and hardware
Total cost of ownership.
Type of licensing offered.
Availability of information on the supplier’s website.
Nature and extent of the support provided.
Availability of local support.
Customer base of people using the product.
Reputation of the supplier and the extent of their experience in providing the product. / Licensing requirements.
Security.
Supplier options.
Purchasing procedures.
Contracting arrangements relating to IT purchasing. / Personal computers versus networks.
Commercial software applications versus custom-built applications.
Organisation specific software.
Operating systems.
Software installation instructions and manuals.
Security arrangements.
Range of suppliers purchasing procedures.

Using the information you find

Armed with your equipment requirements and system specifications obtained from analysis of the client requirements, you can now contact suppliers (by phone email or in person).

Have your requirements listed clearly, and get prices for more than one device that fits the requirements. Obtain lists of specifications for each device, or if you can’t, obtain photocopies from user manuals of these devices to confirm that they do indeed meet the required standards.

Make sure that your requirements for such things as speed and capacity are met. Beware of any jargon that makes it difficult to understand exactly what features the equipment has. Also, find out what application software may come ‘bundled’ with the equipment (for example, most scanners come with image editing and optical character recognition software).

When you have lists of specifications and prices for a range of equipment that meet your needs, you need to compare the features and price of each device and consider the warranty given. Does the warranty involves taking the device to the supplier, or them coming to you? You might use a hardware evaluation sheet (discussed later) to make objective comparisons.

Requests for proposals

One way in which to choose a supplier for the equipment you need is to obtain a quote, or create a request for proposal (RFP), also called requests for tender (RFT). A RFP will require vendors to show how they will meet your needs by detailing:

• product specifications
• product pricing
• support provisions
• how the product meets the specified performance criteria
• terms and conditions
• vendor history.

The content is determined by your organisation’s purchasing procedures. The RFP is only one part of the procedure. Procedures may also include:

• guidelines on selecting products
• purchasing mechanisms
• dealing with suppliers
• receiving goods
• payment methods.

You may need to provide any relevant organisational documents including product standards. For example, many organisations set minimum hardware configuration for computers. They may also have particular software packages that all employees use for functions such as word processing or electronic mail, to help reduce support costs and ensure compatibility.

Obtaining an RFP might by simply done, for instance, by ringing computer shops and ask for a price. It can also be very formal, particularly if the purchase is large. Organisations usually set an amount (say $100) as the limit for the informal purchases.

With a more formal procedure, you may need to prepare a tender request and advertise it in a national newspaper. For very large projects some companies sell the tender documents to prospective suppliers. For medium to large orders vendors submit documents and make presentations to senior management. Your organisation will have specific guidelines that ensure no unfair advantage is given to one particular supplier.

Selection criteria

It is important to be sure that equipment purchased does what is required of it and that training and documentation for it are such that users are aware of all the features of the equipment, to use it fully.

Equipment features that are needed must be encompassed by the criteria you set when you evaluate the alternatives. When selecting any item to purchase, the main categories of criteria include:

• product requirements
• support and maintenance
• training
• price
• issues of vendor continuity.

The criteria, based on client needs, are generally part of an RFP. The key to selecting the best product is ensuring that you fully understand the client’s requirements and the constraints that might apply to what can be used.

Product requirements

The product requirement will vary depending on the technology being assessed and the client’s needs are. What is the device suppose to do? How should do it?

A software product will need certain features depending on its type. Database software, for instance, needs some form of query language to support data manipulation and reporting.

At another level, the software must be able to support the work practices of the user and be compatible and interoperable with existing software and systems. So if the user needs to extract data from his personal database and send it to the corporate mainframe database, then this is a criterion that the software must support.

Although software products may have minimum configuration needs, the company may also have constraints on selection. If the client’s computers only have 32 Mbytes of memory and the software product requires a minimum of 128 Mbytes, then either the product will be rejected or will require that computers be upgraded.

The hardware platform also dictates the selection criteria, needing to ensure hardware compatibility and interoperability and to ensure maintenance and support is available for the device.

A number of factors can affect the performance of personal computers and selecting hardware and software for networks, mid-range computers and mainframes can be considerably more complex.

As with stand-alone computers, however, processor speed, memory and disk speed should be taken into account. However, the computer should be set up to test run the software that is actually required by the business. This will produce the most realistic results to be used as the basis of comparison for different computer systems.

All of these criteria would be established when you interview the client and determine their requirements.

Examples of hardware criteria are:

• processor speed
• memory size and speed
• disk size and speed
• monitor resolution
• type and number of ports
• expansion capabilities (number of slots, etc).

Support, maintenance and training

Support and maintenance

It would not be in an organisation’s best interest to invest time and resources in acquiring new technology if the supplier cannot provide assistance when things go wrong, or if there are not the opportunities of upgrading equipment at a later date.

Vendors can offer support and maintenance contracts for support of upgrades, usually at a fixed price. Sometimes emerging technology will not have this support structure in place. In this case, you would have to carefully assess the benefits against what could happen if the technology failed.

Training

If the equipment to be purchased may require staff training for its use, you need to know the cost of that training and if any contribution to training is offered by the vendor.

Vendors who develop emerging technology will know their product very well. To encourage you to adopt their technology, and assist you to use it, they may offer training courses in the product. This should be a criterion when evaluating the emerging technology as lack of training can lead to unsuccessful implementation of the technology.

Price

There is more to price than just the purchase price. This criterion also includes development and implementation costs, ongoing costs and benefits to the organisation.

Hardware is often purchased as part of a capital budget. These budgets are planned well in advance, often up to 12 months. Most organisations will expect some form of cost/benefit analysis to be performed. Software on the other hand, is mostly considered as an expense by accounting practices.

Placing a dollar value on costs and benefits of emerging technology can be difficult, as the full benefits of implementing the technology have not been revealed. Often though the vendor will have a particular niche that they feel their technology will greatly improve and provide cost/benefit analysis that can assist you in evaluating the price.

Issues of vendor continuity

There may be nothing more embarrassing than having recommended the purchase of a product from a supplier to then see that supplier go out of business, rendering support contracts with that vendor invalid.

Many people have been caught out by a vendor ceasing to trade, which has led to their integrated office automation software no longer being enhanced and supported.

You need to assess the vendor’s business plan, where they have come from, and where they see their technology proceeding. This is sometimes difficult to assess, but should be considered if you intend to invest time and resources in specialist technology.

Evaluating vendor responses

Once vendors have responded to your queries or a request for proposal, you need is an unbiased method for evaluating the different offerings (which will come in different formats). If the suppliers are all offering the same product with the same service then you can just use price as a comparison. This is unlikely, different suppliers stock or order equipment from different manufacturers and the suppliers have different levels of service.

You need to isolate the identifying features for each piece of equipment, decide if it is a mandatory feature (absolutely essential) or one that can vary from device to device.

To return to the idea of purchasing a TV: what might be mandatory features, and what other features would influence your decisions and satisfaction with the set? We can use this example to show a systematic way of rating features of devices and arriving at relative value by weighted averages.

Table 2: Example of a TV purchase—mandatory versus optional features

Mandatory / Other features
Colour / Screen size
Mains powered / Stereo
AV inputs
Flat screen
Remote control
Cost

You’ll notice when this method is used for equipment that there are usually only a few mandatory features whereas the list of other features can be quite extensive. The idea is to balance these features in such a way that the decision process is transparent and repeatable, from one device or brand to the next.

The features are recorded with levels of relative importance rated from 1 to 10 in Table 3. Mandatory items have importance of 10; something that is trivial but may influence your decision gets a 1. To do this you would need a rating guide so that you can be consistent in your comparisons. Note well that in Table 3 on the next page negative values are used for price, to show that as they rise in value the feature is less desirable.

Table 3 is created using the following procedure:

1Identify features

2Assign relative importance (a)

3Create rating guide for each feature

4Assess each device using the rating guide (b)

5For each device and each feature, multiply the relative importance by the rating you gave (a x b)

6Total all of these for each device

7The highest number is the ‘unbiased’ preference.

8Revise your values to fine-tune the evaluation.

Table 3: Comparative evaluation table

Supplier 1 / Supplier 2
Feature / Rating guide / Relative importance
(a) / Score (b) / Weighted score
(a x b) / Score (b) / Weighted score
(a x b)
Colour / Mandatory / 10 / Yes 10 / 100 / Yes 10 / 100
Mains powered / Mandatory / 10 / Yes 10 / 100 / Yes 10 / 100
Screen size / 34cm / 5 / 10 / 8 / 80 / 8 / 80
54cm / 9
74cm / 10
Stereo / Stereo / 10 / 8 / 10 / 80 / 8 / 64
Mono / 8
AV inputs / Front only / 7 / 5 / 10 / 50 / 5 / 25
Back only / 5
Both / 10
Flat screen / Very flat / 10 / 8 / 10 / 80 / 10 / 80
Slight curve / 9
Curved / 6
Remote control / Simple / 10 / 5 / 6 / 30 / 10 / 50
Complex / 6
Cost / Price quoted / -1 / $400 / -400 / $350 / -350
Total / Supplier 1 / 120 / Supplier 2 / 149

The set that seems best value is the TV with mono sound. If you really did want a stereo TV then this should be a mandatory feature. This is where you possibly go back and rethink your relative importance values and ratings. With practice and experience you will get better at determining the importance of each rating. Remember that you can always add some reasoning to this evaluation to include other considerations when preparing your recommendation.

To save time your can create a spreadsheet to help you through this. A spreadsheet also helps you easily fine tune your relative importance values and rating guides. The link to a fully worked example can be found in Resources and Task 2 has a template that you can use.

Documenting recommendations

The hardware evaluation sheet is part of the documentation you would use to justify your recommendation. A project may require a number of devices to be purchased. A manager, client or customer doesn’t usually want the level of detail a hardware evaluation sheet provides. Instead you would produce a summary of the benefits and features of the recommended equipment and attach the evaluation sheet as an appendix.

In your recommendation you need to identify the project, the author of the report, the client and other interested parties. You may need to further summarise your actions and findings in an ‘executive summary’ which is usually at the start of the recommendation.

Your completed report may have the structure outlined in Table 4.

Table 4: Outline of structure for a report of recommendations

Section / Example contents
Cover sheet / Project identification details, your contact details, and name of the report.
Executive Summary / Recommendations only, should be very short, usually only a single paragraph.
Background / Purpose of the project.
Vendors’ responses / List of products offered.
Evaluation (including evaluation sheets) / Reasoning behind the formulation of relative importance and rating guides.
Details of the selection decisions / Descriptions of the reasoning that went into forming a final decision.
Attachments or appendixes / Product brochures, pages printed from manufacturer web sites.

You will need to be clear about the expectations of the organisation—small firms may not need this level of detail. If you work in a smaller organisation you may have to produce the report yourself and keep it available for future reference and use. A large organisation may have a specified house style or templates available that you can use to do the report.

Purchasing procedures

Purchasing procedures vary among organisations. Most, however, will have set procedures for purchasing major items.

The following scenarios might apply: It may be that the client is responsible for purchasing the hardware, according to purchasing and budgetary rules, and the support person installs it; or the support person arranges the supply of hardware from a supplier and installs it; or someone other than the support person orders the item and the support person installs it.

Before ordering hardware you must make sure you have confirmed that the model you’re ordering meets the needs of the client. The evaluation process should have confirmed this but re-check to make certain. This is the last chance to make modifications before purchase.

You also need to make sure that it can be delivered within a reasonable time (that the project won’t be delayed, for instance, while waiting for an overseas delivery!)