IT Portfolio Management Step-by-Step: Unlocking the Business Value of Technology

6.6. APPENDIX 6A Advanced IT Portfolio Software Provider Evaluation Criteria

The following section poses questions to ask vendors and is more detailed and advanced than the material covered in Chapter 6. If you are not familiar with some of the terms, you may want to seek the advice of an IT specialist or a market research analyst.

ARCHITECTURE

• What hardware platforms are supported (e.g., Windows NT/2000/XP, Sun Solaris, HP-UX)?

• What client operating systems are supported?

• Is the logic maintained on the server or is client software necessary?

• What language is the application written in?

• Is the software two-tier, three-tier, or n-tier?

• Is 24/7 online help available? Is 24/7 human help available?

• Is the online help context sensitive?

• Are patches electronically distributed?

• Are patches pushed or on demand?

• How often are patches sent?

• What types of APIs are fully embedded (i.e., how would other applications call into the application): Java (API), Java (EJB), XML, COM, C++, HTTP, other?

• What languages are used in the IT portfolio management software product regarding Internet functionality (i.e., Java, etc.)?

• Are all data accessible via corporate intranets?

• Are all data accessible via the Internet?

• Is it possible to enter data offline and synchronize at a later time?

• Do all users receive a personalized view of their projects/portfolios?

• Which databases are native and which are ODBC?

• Does the system support the entire portfolio from a single database?

• Is the application web service enabled?

• Does the application ...