figurations need to be made. 35 For example, the ERP producer SAP provides more than 25 industry solution portfolios for large enterprises that embed best practice (for example, SAP for oil and gas).

Seven Guiding Principles for
Selecting Software Packages

Here, we present the guiding principles for making a better informed choice when selecting software packages. The first principle we label the founding principle because it is fundamental to the other six. For each principle we provide examples that illustrate its importance.

IllustratIon by JaMes Gary

The seven principles were derived
empirically from a field study and
from our understanding of software
acquisition. The field study approach
provided us with in-depth knowledge
of a number of standards decisions
made by actual organizations. The fo-
cal company had more than 50,000
employees, and we followed its soft-
ware acquisition processes and stan-
dard choices over three years. The
field study was conducted using semi-
structured interviews. The persons
interviewed were five senior directors
with knowledge of—and some power
to influence—software acquisition. To
broaden our knowledge base, we also
carried out 34 interviews in 13 other
organizations. The interviewees were
CIOs, CFOs, and general managers,
and were deliberately chosen because
of their high experience with software
package selection processes. All inter-
views were recorded and transcribed
and thematically coded. The longitu-
dinal approach meant that a theme
identified in one interview could be
further investigated and validated in
subsequent interviews.

 

The fundamental first Principle: When you buy packaged software you join its network. Prior to the emergence of packaged software, any organization that was using software in effect committed itself not only to a software product but also to a particular software producer’s continued ability to deliver new functionalities, as organizational requirements evolved and new technology became available. In the present day, most of