Part of Wayferry's "secret sauce" is our proprietary Wayferry Navigator, our vehicle for capturing and reusing what we learn in every client engagement. As a result, we reduce business risks, complete projects faster, and transform major software purchases into investments that grow EBITDA.
Software gap analysis heatmap
Screenshot shows a heatmap of CRM requirements partly through an ERP evaluation.
After vendors have responded to the RFP, the gap analysis heatmap measures how well those potential software products meet the requirements.
Compare software products. Using the heatmap you can compare several potential software products against each other at once. You can also drill down to any level of detail and compare the products at that level of detail.
Verify project scope. If there is an area of the heatmap where none of the products score significantly, that indicates functionality that should be removed from the scope of the project and handled with other software.
Heatmap key
All numbers are product scores expressed as percentages, where 100% means fully meets. The color of the cell background visually indicates the product score for that requirement:
White background: fully meets, the score is 100%.
Pink background: partly meets, variable product score.
Red background: does not meet, the score is 0%.
Black background: product unrated for that requirement, the score is 0%
Software fit score & product ranking
This report tracks the overall progress of rating products against the requirements. It shows the fit scores for each product and ranks the products by that fit score.
We also use this report to verify the scope of your project to ensure the desired functionality can be satisfied by software products on the market.
Screenshot showing the fit score of the top level functional areas of an ERP system, and drilled down to see the compromises in the financials.
Drill down functional gap analysis
While the fit score is a single number that measures how well a software product meets your requirements, you can view the fit score for all the functional areas of the software.
You can drill down into any functional area and see how well the software performs in the sub-areas, and you can do this as deeply as you want.
Avoid buyer’s remorse. See precisely how well the new software will help you meet your business goals before signing the contracts.
Requirement weighting
We capture who wants a requirement, why they want it and how important it is to them. This information is used in the selection and later in the implementation.
Requirement gathering and weighting are usually about half the work in a software selection project. Our project management tracks the progress weighting requirements on an evaluation. Once all requirements have been weighted invitations to participate in the RFP can be sent to system integrators and software publishers.
Requirement library
Wayferry has built an impressive library of requirements. Every software selection project we undertake adds to and improves on this library.
Unlike the endless flat lists of requirements usually used, Wayferry's library is organized in a hierarchical tree structure where requirements contain children, grandchildren, etc., as deep as necessary. The highlighted requirements go seven levels deep in the screenshot on the right. This hierarchical approach provides many benefits, e.g.:
Drill down: Regarding requirements, “the devils are in the details,” and those devils are the assumptions made about the software that are later discovered to be false. The hierarchical arrangement allows you to drill down into the details as deeply as necessary.
Pre-weighted requirements. Where we would reasonably expect modern software to meet a requirement, we pre-weight that requirement as “Foundational”, which has the same numerical weight as “Showstopper”. About 80% of requirements in the library are pre-weighted, reducing the time users need to spend weighting “obvious” requirements.
Reduces work: If a higher-level requirement is weighted as “No interest”, all descendants of that requirement are automatically removed from the evaluation.
Requirement details
“A vendor can’t be held responsible when software doesn’t meet requirements a customer didn’t bother to write.”
In worst-case scenarios, poorly written or ambiguous requirements can land you and the vendor in court when a project fails.
Most requirement specifications are lists in a spreadsheet, occasionally with descriptions if you are lucky. Wayferry requirements go much further by including:
Requirement ID uniquely identifies requirements, e.g. in a WBS export.
Descriptions specify WHAT the new software must deliver to create value for the buyer.
Examples of where the requirement is used.
Examples frame the requirement in a context, reducing misunderstandings and ambiguity.
Examples may also describe HOW a requirement could be implemented.
Reasons for requirement describe the business value created by the new software meeting the requirement.
Notes, e.g. Instructions for evaluating the software against the requirement or other relevant notes.
Demo instructions that describe to the vendor what we want to see when the software is demonstrated.
We write requirements with the idea that winning or losing a court case could depend on how that requirement is written. Requirements are “simple,” and most can be answered with “Fully meets” or “Does not meet”. We avoid high-level compound requirements, breaking them down into simple details to avoid the “devils in the details” problem.
The Wayferry Navigator library shaves months off the work of creating requirements for RFPs. The software selection part of the project concludes sooner.
Software product demo script
Most enterprise software has thousands of features and it would take too long to see them all.
Many demos walk you through typical processes in your business. But there is little value in seeing a demo of features that are common to most software products. And you don’t have time to see the things that matter most to you.
The key to a successful software purchase is to use the gap analysis to shortlist alternatives and then have the vendor focus on demonstrating the software against your pain points.
When you prioritize your requirements you identify your company’s pain points, and that creates the initial draft of the demo script. And many requirements in the Navigator library have demo instructions, saving even more time.
Screenshot of an expense management software demo script.
Next steps
If your software purchase is business critical and you appreciate the rigor the Wayferry Navigator can bring to the selection process, click the [Contact Wayferry] button below. We can explore helping you make this software purchase an outstanding success for both your organization, and also for you personally.