BPM Proof-of-Concept Do's and Don'ts

Would you run a marathon without training first? Then why would you invest so many dollars and resources for enterprise software without going through a proof-of-concept (POC)?

The proof-of-concept is your one and only opportunity to see the capabilities of the BPM software in a controlled manner and to verify that the solution is actually capable of solving your enterprise’s business pain.

POCs are the best way for you to really see what it takes to get a process up and running, from start to finish. How long it takes, how much effort, and what kind of skills are needed. Here are a few best practices for conducting a BPM POC.

1. Begin with the end in mind -The process you select either gives a good first impression or a poor one that creates a misunderstanding of the value of BPM. Some of our favorite processes for POCs are client onboarding and order management. Both of these provide strategic value and will have the strong executive sponsor you need to help bring in BPM. The process needs to be interesting (e.g. parallel activities, external notifications) and it needs to integrate with representative services and databases. Be careful to scope the process correctly.

2. The Goldilocks Phenomenon- In a short POC, the vendor has to drive the entire way. POCs that are too long ties up your staff and will needlessly cost you more money (you will typically have to pay the vendor to conduct the POC if it is over 2 weeks). As Goldilocks would say, a POC of about one week is just right. You won't be an expert, but at the end you'll have quality time with the vendor, have some hands-on experience with the tool, and have time to learn quite a bit about the product. If time is managed well, you can see everything you need to see to make a fair evaluation in one week.

3. Create the Evaluation Team - Keep your evaluation team to approximately 5 people. The mix should include a leader, someone from IT, someone from the business and an architect. We encourage companies to involve end users in the evaluation process. When we see an end user in the mix, we know that this company is doing their best to get their buy-in from the very beginning. When carefully selected, this end user will become a consistent and much needed advocate during the first project.

4. Keep an Eye on the Vendor - You can go to every BPM conference this year, but you will still not gain the practical hands-on experience you would have gathered during an on-site, one week POC. Your staff needs to stay engaged and in the room with the vendor during the entire POC. Have the vendor create a schedule before the POC starts. This will help you determine the times when the business representative absolutely needs to be present (e.g. process modeling, business rules). Similarly, you'll know when the technical people on your team needs to be present (e.g. integration, logic, BAM, UI).

5. Make the Installation part of the POC - Run the software from hardware inside your firewall. This will make it much easier to ensure the software is a fit for your hardware environment. Integration needs to be a key element of your evaluation. Unless the software is installed inside your firewall, integration to your components is not going to be possible.

6. Follow the Leader - A strong POC leader needs to be present during the entire POC. You want people on the evaluation team who are not afraid to express their opinions or ask questions. This means that sometimes a leader needs to step in to help the vendor manage her team's questions and make sure things stay on track. The leader absolutely has to be someone the team respects and someone who management will listen to once the POC is complete.

7. Why Can't Everything Just Work the Way It's Supposed To? - There are going to be things that go wrong during every POC. What's key is to note how the vendor responds during the POC. It's a pleasure when you're working with the best. When something goes wrong, they know where to look and take pleasure in showing you how they debugged the problem. This also lets you see how well the tool helps you to diagnose problems. Problems during a POC also let you learn more about the team you're working with. How did the team get along? Did they help each other? Problems during a POC are great opportunities.

8. Final Presentation - I like it when the evaluation team delivers the final POC presentation on the last day of the POC. Here's why I like the team delivering the presentation instead of the vendor. First, your team will be infinitely more engaged during the POC if they know they will be presenting to their management on Friday. Your team will focus on how this tool solves specific pains your company currently has and how it will help achieve your company's strategic objectives.

9. Do it! - I'll always encourage a company to conduct a POC during a BPM evaluation. I've seen BPM software brought in that turns into shelfware because the company did not understand its capabilities or ease of use. While RFPs and vendor demonstrations are a necessary part of enterprise software procurement, I recommend including a POC as part of the final evaluation.

Avio specializes BPM as well as many other BPM related services! For more information about Avio’s services please contact us at info@avioconsulting.com or call 972-608-4777

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About Avio Consulting
Founded in 2007, Avio Consulting is an innovative technology professional services firm focused on enabling enterprise agility and business process transformation through the adoption of emerging technologies such as Business Process Management (BPM) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Avio Consulting bridges the gap between business and IT by using proven methodologies combined with industry expertise and best practices to solve complex business processes. Avio Consulting helps companies evaluate and select BPM and SOA software, manage the implementation of the software, and facilitate all related organizational changes to assure that each of its clients realize the full business benefits of their implementation. Avio Consulting is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. For more information please visit www.avioconsulting.com.