Welcome back. In this month's column, I'll share our vendor demonstration and site visit experiences. And they were many! We learned the importance of using a checklist, the pros and cons of Web-based vs. on-site demonstrations, how to immediately identify the vendor's key strengths, and how to narrow it down to one vendor finalist, in our case Smart Document Solutions (SDS) (formerly Nauvalis).

Dear diary, with our high-level vendor criteria and multi-departmental team in place, everyone is anxious to start looking at software. Perhaps a little too anxious! In our excitement, we proceeded with several vendor demonstrations.

Relying on our notes and our memories, we tried to sort out vendor strengths and weaknesses. From demonstration to demonstration, our team would forget specific capabilities and system attributes. With so many options, we began to get confused. It was an impossible task.

The first lesson we learned was to create a standard vendor checklist and use it for every demonstration. Once we had a standard scorecard in place, the process became more consistent and measurable. We also discovered the value of conducting vendor demonstrations within a specific timeframe instead of extending them over several months. You gain efficiencies when presentations are scheduled together, and this format makes for an easier evaluation process.

Web or On-Site: The Case for Both

When it came to vendor demonstrations, we experienced two types: Web-based or on-site. We found that the Web-based demos introduced us to the company and overall system functionality, but on-site presentations were more meaningful. When a vendor spent the time and money to visit our facility, it reflected a stronger commitment to winning our business and creating a successful partnership. The on-site demonstrations also gave us a better sense of the company, their people and their products. For example, our final vendor-of-choice, SDS, performed an on-site demonstration very early in the process (before our checklist was in place). They followed several months later with a Web demo and finally, another on-site presentation.

EDMS: Every Vendor Has a Strong Suite

The second important lesson we learned is that every vendor has a strong suite. Typically, the first module presented was the vendor's focus. For example, if the demonstration began with the business office module, the system was strongest in patient accounting. If HIM applications were presented first, the system was strongest in medical record applications. The simple sequence of modules presented became the primary indicator for our evaluation team.

Final Analysis

Although not a formal step, our information systems (IS) department was involved from the beginning. Their evaluation and feedback with regard to technology, integration, implementation timelines and support efforts were essential. As is more and more evident, the need for HIM and IS to work together is ever so important for a successful EDMS implementation. Thus, having IS agreement on a vendor is critical. They want and need to know how much they will be involved both during implementation and ongoing for support and maintenance.

The final step in our process was to narrow the vendor list from nine options down to three. We met as a team and reviewed all the completed scorecards then took the following steps:

Step One: As a team, we excluded the vendors that could not meet our needs.