technology evaluation
A technology evaluation is standard practice in the business world. It is a simple methodology to perform a structured assessment of multiple tools in order to select one or decide against them. There are many published processes and templates for doing TE’s but there are commonalities among them including:
A structured process
User defined criteria
Rankings
For this exercise, you are provided a process and template for you to use. You are free to use an existing process or template that you find in your own research or develop one on your own.
Background:
Your community just survived the Mid Term tornado with only minor bumps and bruises. The County Executive calls you into her office to review the after action on the tornado.
She states you and your team did an admirable job. He states that he noticed that your team was recording requests for assistance and resources on a spreadsheet and using a free mapping tool to plot things on the map. She is wondering if it is time for the county to get software to manage the EOC. She saw some EOC software management tools at a recent ICMA conference. She wants you to put together a list of requirements for the software and identify the best product based off the list. She asks that you take a reasonable approach. She states, “We do not need a Cadillac – when everyone in this county is driving Fords and Chevrolets.”
She would like your recommendations in a week.
Technology Requirements:
This is one of those rare instances where you determine what the features and functions need to be for your desired product. You are writing the specifications.
Process:
Identify Features / Functions / Select Criteria. You must select the criteria (features and functions) for your requirements. You must select a minimum of 5 criteria (you may want to use more than that). You must include at least 3 from the list below and come up with at least 2 of your own (again more if you want):
Price – The sticker price of the product
Function – Real time mapping
Function – Requests for assistance management
Function – Resource management
Function – Command and Control system – Supporting ESF’s
Function – Incident Management System (IMS) capabilities
Function – Damage assessment capabilities
Function – Security / Encryption
Function – Access from the field for first responders
Function – 24/7/365 Live Support
Determine the Weights for Your Criteria: You must determine how important each criterion is to you and for the given task. For example, if real time mapping is the most important it should get the highest weight. Each weight is represented as a percentage (50% = .50). ALL WEIGHTS MUST ADD UP TO 100% or (1 on the sheet).
Identify Vendors / Products / Features / Functions
Rank the Products. Now rank each product by assigning a score of 1-10 for each criteria. There are no Zeroes. One is the lowest rank you can assign and ten is the highest. Therefore, as an example, a very impressive product / function would get a 10 and an unreliable or absent function would get a 1.
Sum. Now for each product multiply the weight * rank for each criteria and add that to the following criteria. Continue until complete and you should get a score in the TOTAL SCORE cell. Do this for each product.
Analyze. Determine which product is ranked the highest. If they are tied or very close do some further analysis. Play with the weights and see if this changes anything.
Deliverable. On 5 or more pages show your final evaluation table and justify your recommendations. Start by answering the following questions:
What product did you select? Provide a very short description.
What are your top 2 weighted criteria? Explain why did you select them?
What product do you recommend be selected for meeting the requirements and why?
How much will it cost for your County.
