Evaluating Enterprise Software-Business Process or Feature/Function-Based Approach? All the above, Perhaps?
Part Three: Knowledge Bases and User Recommendations
P.J. Jakovljevic, Olin Thompson & Joseph Strub - October 28, 2003

TEC Selection Uses Knowledge Bases

Thus, we beg to differ that certain selection service providers' (including TEC's) methods are archaic but they rather save time and cost, while taking care of the functions and features "inventory management." To that end, TEC released a number of knowledge bases (KBs), accessible through its evaluation centers (e.g., ERP Evaluation Center www.erpevaluation.com, CRM Evaluation Center www.crmevaluation.com, etc.), each of which includes several dozen vendors rated on thousands of functional and technical criteria. The criteria have been isolated as meaningful to best differentiate these enterprise packages, and are based on TEC’s past selection experiences. For example, as the discrete ERP functionality scope covers many modes of discrete manufacturing (make-to-order [MTO], engineer-to-order [ETO], make-to-stock [MTS], repetitive manufacturing, etc.) and it goes beyond core ERP functionality as well (e.g., sales force automation [SFA], PLM, etc.). Because the technological questions attempt to cover many technical aspects (e.g., general architecture, degree of integration among modules, interconnectivity, data protection and restoration, security features, tools, etc.), we believe that the number of criteria serves its purpose. A lesser number would likely fail to provide an accurate picture, while a greater number would involve mundane details (e.g., the maximum length of the item description field or the capability of the system to print on an 8" x 11" paper size)...