Technically Speaking!

Panorama’s Perfect Fit software selection methodology has four main components:

1. Organizational Fit
2. Functional Fit
3. Technical Fit
4. Financial Fit

Not wanting to have the tail wag the dog so to speak, Technical Fit is not usually viewed as the most critical of these but nonetheless it is very important. Some client’s have invested heavily in specific technical architectures and do not want to abandon them, i.e., IBM iSeries. Others have a bias towards a particular RDBMS or server OS such as Linux. And of course, some IT personnel have a “favorite” technology and are closed minded about other options.

To assess the technical fit of an ERP solution we conduct a Technical Fit Assessment, catchy name, No!, as a part of our Perfect Fit software selection methodology.

Our Technical Fit Assessment consists of a weighted scorecard that evaluates 29 technical areas. We create a portfolio of our clients technical environment and combine that with best practices for ERP implementations. Clients then weight each area. ERP solution providers then, usually during a conference call, respond to questions about each area. During the call we and our clients rate each area based on the following:

• Client Compatible/Best Practice Match = 3
• Within Standards/Not Preferred = 2
• Results in Disparate Technology = 1
• Cannot Meet Requirements = 0

Here are some of the technical areas we evaluate:

• Network Protocols Support
• Databases Supported
• Data Migration Tools
• Reporting Capabilities
• Security
• Customization Protection

The end result is a weighted average score for each ERP solution that measures the technical fit of the solution.