There certainly is a best-fit solution for any maintenance department's information needs. If we think of the selection process only in terms of rating packages, perhaps we are better off employing a lower cost approach. It needs to invest the same energy into developing and refining these goals and objectives as it does to evaluating and rating software packages. This step should be an iterative endeavor where the needs and desired direction of the total operation are evaluated and analyzed. The software selection process is an ideal time for a maintenance organization to evaluate the way it does business.
Software is about automating processes and procedures.
Consequently, every aspect of an operation should be open for review in the quest to find a better way of doing things. This quest needs to start at the beginning of the selection process. It is very easy to get caught up in the quest for functionality during a selection. After all, functionality determines what a software package can and cannot do. Software selections must use functionality to rate the differences between competing packages.