Lect 11 - Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Technical Support Fundamentals (ITP 4107)
Lecture 11
Product Evaluation and Support Standards

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.1
Lesson Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, students are expected to
•identify typical management issues and good practices in
managing user support projects

Overview
• How product and support standards emerged
• Common tools and methods support specialists use to
evaluate and select computer products
• How organizations develop and implement support
standards

User Support Role

in Product Standards
Support workers are involved in product evaluations
and standards because:
• Support workers often have the expertise to evaluate
competing products that many end users do not have
• Can eliminate duplication of effort and lack of standards
if many end users individually evaluate products
• Support workers can act as liaison between end users
and IT staff to ensure all viewpoints are represented
when computer products are evaluated

How Product Standards Emerged
• Product standards are lists of hardware, operating

systems, network and application software products
selected to meet the needs of end users
• During 1980s
• Significant incompatibility among computer products
• Significant differences between competing products
were viewed as a marketing advantage by the
manufacturers

Problems Caused by
Product Incompatibility
• Limited ability to transfer and share data between systems
• Excessive inventory of parts required to support multiple
vendors’ systems
• Difficulty to train and equip hardware service technicians
• User skills not transferable to from one system to another
• Increased cost to support incompatible systems
• Support staff couldn’t be experts on all systems
• Training had to be targeted to specific platforms

Early Development of
Product Standards
• During 1980s, to reduce acquisition and support costs,
companies began to
• standardize on a few selected hardware platforms and
configurations designed to meet users’ needs
• adopt standard operating systems
• limit the choice of application software to a few standard
application packages in each software category

Methods for Evaluating and

Selecting Computer Products
• Product evaluation is a process of researching and
analyzing computer product features, capabilities, and
suitability to meet specific user needs
• In the product evaluation process
1. Collect product information
2. Test, compare, and evaluate advantages and
disadvantages of competing products
3. Make decisions or recommendations

Resources Available to Help

Evaluate Computer Products
• Vendor literature, marketing information, Web sites, and user
manuals
• Demonstration and evaluation versions of products
• Product reviews and comparison articles in computer periodicals
and in e-zines on the Web
• An e-zine is an electronic magazine organized like a print publication,
but distributed via the Internet
• Opinions from industry experts in trade publications and Internet
newsgroups
• Opinions of employees who have experience with various products

Computer Industry (Trade) Periodicals

that Publish Product Comparisons
• Computing Review • PCWorld
• InfoWorld • Smart Computing
• MacWorld • Tom’s Hardware Guide
• MaximumPC • ZDNet
• Network Computing
• PC Magazine

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.10
Software Evaluations
• A software evaluation copy permits support staff to

• try out a product’s features
• assess a product’s ability to meet user needs
• Software evaluation copies
• Distributed via
• CD-ROM
• Internet download (from vendor Web sites)
• May have limited features
• May operate for a limited trial period

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.11
Product Decision-making Tools
• Industry standard or best-selling products

• Products used by competitors
• Benchmarks
• Weighted point evaluation method
• Request for proposal (RFP)
• Acknowledged subjective criteria

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.12
Get User Input First
• Get user input before making product selection decision

• Find out which products end users have experience with
• Identify advantages and disadvantages of competing products
for specific tasks
• Learn whether users have preferences among products,
e.g. in terms of ease to learn and use

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.13
Industry Standard or
Best-selling Products
• Industry standard products are computer products that are
market leaders in sales and market share
Not really a “standard” defined by an independent
organization, such as the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI)
• Advantages
• Can reduce support costs
• Likely to be targeted by trade book publishers, training materials
developers, and support service vendors
• Disadvantages
• May not meet specialized needs of users
• Standards based on market share change over time

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.14
Products Used by Competitors

• Competitors may have thoroughly researched the market
and identified strategic reasons for adopting products,
especially in niche markets
• A niche or vertical market is a market that is highly
specialized to a specific industry
• Example: software for beauty salons
• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of products that
competitors use
• Organizations in the same industry often have very similar
technology needs

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.15
Benchmarks
• Benchmark is an objective test used to compare the
capabilities of competing products
• Benchmarks are unbiased because they are based on objective
evaluation criteria that are not influenced by personal
opinions. E.g. factors used in product selection procedure that
are relatively unbiased, like system speed
• Benchmarks try to eliminate extraneous variables that could
bias the results of a product comparison. E.g. environment
variables that do not relate to the product being evaluated, like
running competing software products on identical hardware

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.16
Benchmarks (continued)
• Benchmarks can be used to evaluate
• Hardware
• Speed
• Capacity
• Software
• User productivity
• Companies that provide hardware and software benchmarks
• Business Applications Performance Corp. (BAPCO)
• PassMark Software
• Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation
• VeriTest
• Benchmark comparisons are popular because they are designed to
use objective criteria, eliminating vendor or user bias
©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.17
Weighted Point
Evaluation Method
• Weighted Point Evaluation Method uses several
evaluation criteria of predefined importance to arrive at
a numerical score for each competing product
• also called Kepner-Tregoe method
• Goal: to make the evaluation and selection process as
objective as possible
• Treat competing products equally
• Eliminate favoritism or bias among evaluators
• Force evaluators to specify in advance the
important factors in evaluation
©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.18
Steps in Weighted Point Evaluation

Method
1. Decide on evaluation criteria
2. Determine importance of each criterion (relative to other criteria)
3. Rate each product against all evaluation criteria
4. Compute average rating for each product for each criterion
5. Weight the product rating by the importance of the criterion
6. Compute the total rating for each product
7. Compare product ratings
An advantage is that it forces evaluators to address the first
two important questions early in the evaluation process so that
measurable criteria are used in place of subjective beliefs.
©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.19
Examples of Criteria Used in

Weighted Point Evaluation Method

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.20
Example of Weighted Point

Evaluation Results
The weighted point method can be used to evaluate more than

two products, and it can accommodate as many criteria as
evaluators think are important.

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.21
The Request for Proposal (RFP)
• Request for Proposal (RFP) is a product selection or

competitive bidding procedure that uses objective
criteria to select among products proposed by vendors
• Often used as the basis for awarding a contract to provide
computer products
• May be a legal requirement for computer selection in public
agencies
• An objective product and vendor selection tool
• Involve lengthy steps and considerable staff time, so is used
primarily for purchases of significant dollar value

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.22
Primary Steps in the RFP Process

1. Conduct a user needs analysis (discussed in Chapter 9)
2. Develop a purchase specification (technical) for product
3. Define
• decision criteria (e.g. product features, costs, support services)
• importance of each criterion
4. Write the RFP document
5. Send the RFP to prospective vendors
6. Receive vendor proposals
• describe how vendor’s products address user requirements
• bid price
7. Analyze and evaluate vendor responses to the RFP
• often uses weighted point evaluation methods
8. Select a vendor and award the purchase contract
©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.23
Subjective Evaluation Criteria

• Subjective evaluation criteria are factors that are not directly
related to the fit between product features and user needs
• Include:
• relationships with vendors
• convenience
• personal preferences
• traditional practices (e.g. historical purchasing channels)
• Are neither measurable nor repeatable from one evaluator to
another

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.24
Product Support Standards
• Help control user support costs by limiting the number

of hardware and software options users can choose
• May offer options to balance two extremes
• One-size fits all
• Buy whatever you want
• Often adopted by larger organizations with a substantial
investment in computer technology because the
potential for waste is so large
• Examples: Office Automation Software, Printers

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.25
How Organizations Develop Computer

Product and Support Standards
• Company computer culture and traditions
• Product standards committee is a group which defines
computer product support standards and coordinates
their use
• Composed of
• end users
• support specialists
• technical support staff
• management
©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.26
Changes in
Computer Product Standards
• Changes in computer product standards may be met
with user resistance
• Users are comfortable with existing standards
• It has worked fine for many years, why change it now?
• Changes in standards should
• be discussed with users
• involve users in decision process

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.27
Computer Use Standards
• Acceptable use guidelines are policies adopted by an

organization about how end users are permitted and not
permitted to use their computer systems
• Activities that are prohibited by organizational policy
• Activities that are illegal
• Consequences or penalties for unauthorized or illegal use

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.28
How Organizations Implement

Computer Product Standards
• Adoption and implementation of product and support
standards are influenced by:
–Investment in existing hardware and software
–Continual arrival of new products, services, and
product upgrades
• Conversion to new standards
• can be phased in over time
• can result in loss of employee productivity during transition
period

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.29
Criteria Used to
Update Product Standards
• New products offer technical improvements
• New product features may improve user productivity
• Employee preferences have changed over time
• New products offer cost savings
• New products may be compatible with changes in
industry standards
• New products have become more popular

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.30
Adopting or Modifying Technology

Standards
• Requires analysis and evaluation of products and
services
• Triggers potential support cost increases for installation,
upgrades, training, documentation, trouble-shooting, and
help desk services
• During the transition period, support of existing products
continue for some users, while other users convert to and are
trained in the use of new products

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.31
Chapter Summary
• In order to reduce computer product and support costs

and increase compatibility, many organizations began to
develop product standards during the 1980s
• User support staff often evaluate computer products and
services to be able to make recommendations to users
that will meet their needs
• Support staff use a variety of information resources to
evaluate computer products

©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.32
Chapter Summary (continued)

• Aids to product evaluation and selection decisions
• Industry standards
• Best-selling products
• Products used by competitors
• Benchmarks
• Weighted Point Evaluation Method
• Request for Proposals (RFP)
• Product standards are based on
• company culture or tradition
• decisions by a product standards committee
• Organizations also adopt acceptable use policies to communicate
what uses are and are not permitted
©VTC 2012 Topic 13,p.33

Lect 11 - Product Evaluation and Support Standards

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Technical Support Fundamentals (ITP 4107)

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Lesson Intended Learning Outcomes

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

User Support Role

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

How Product Standards Emerged

• Product standards are lists of hardware, operating

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Methods for Evaluating and

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Resources Available to Help

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Computer Industry (Trade) Periodicals

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

• A software evaluation copy permits support staff to

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Decision-making Tools

• Industry standard or best-selling products

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Get User Input First

• Get user input before making product selection decision

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Products Used by Competitors

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Steps in Weighted Point Evaluation

Examples of Criteria Used in

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Example of Weighted Point

The weighted point method can be used to evaluate more than

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

The Request for Proposal (RFP)

• Request for Proposal (RFP) is a product selection or

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Primary Steps in the RFP Process

Subjective Evaluation Criteria

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Support Standards

• Help control user support costs by limiting the number

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

How Organizations Develop Computer

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Computer Use Standards

• Acceptable use guidelines are policies adopted by an

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

How Organizations Implement

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Adopting or Modifying Technology

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

• In order to reduce computer product and support costs

Product Evaluation and Support Standards

Chapter Summary (continued)

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