General Contractor - Texas

The Situation
The company had a small accounting system running on a Novell network that they needed to replace because support was being discontinued. They had been pressured by their parent corporation to adopt the Lawson software being implemented there. They had also done a preliminary search of available construction systems and were having difficulty deciphering the literature and narrowing the list down from eight potential vendors.

The Challenge
Many of the processes had been off line and poorly defined. It was necessary to define the processes as the requirements were being refining. It was also necessary to prove to the parent corporation that the company was adequately evaluating the software and that the solution found was a better fit than the Lawson system. Finally, the solution needed to be client/server and compatible with the overall Windows NT based corporate network.

Solution
BCG conducted planning sessions and interviews with each group from operations and accounting and developed a set of technical specifications. BCG also helped them narrow the list of eight vendors down to five, adding two that were not on their list and eliminating several others that could not have met the requirements. Through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, the five vendors were narrowed to two and demonstrations and vendor visits resulted in the selection of an Oracle based client/server solution that met their technical and functional requirements.

Result
With BCG’s help, the client narrowed their alternatives and clarified their needs. BCG helped develop consensus, prepared detailed specifications to compare and contrast the vendor features and functions, and facilitated detailed presentations of the software. The client then had a clear vision of the best solution for their business. They were also able to identify areas of procedure improvement that were needed and begin their implementation with a clear picture of their objectives.

Lessons Learned

• System selection in a large company is a complex process when all technical and functional requirements are viewed with the parent company in mind.
• Selecting the most technically state-of-the-art system can present surprises during implementation.