A university is evaluating options for an enterprise information system to replace their antiquated systems. The CIO has developed the following criteria:

At a minimum, the system (or system provider) must be capable of:
Technical support available 24/7
Have successfully installed and maintained systems in universities of similar size.
Beyond this, systems will be evaluated according to initial cost, annual maintenance and support costs, and ease of use.
The three companies that are vying for the university's business supplied the following information about their performance on these criteria.

Criterion A B C
Tech support 24/7 24/7 24/7 8-5 M-F
Installed base 3 installations 7 installations 1 installation
Initial cost $2.3 million $1.9 million $1.25 million
Annual cost $100K $125K $75K
Ease of use 20 hours training 20 hours training 40 hours training

Create and analyze a graph showing each competitor's performance with regards to order winners and order qualifiers. Which firm should get the business and why? If you were consulting with the three potential system providers, what advice would you give each one?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: Graph structure may vary, although all should indicate that provider C fails on the order qualifier regarding technical support. Students may defend company A and Company B as being reasonable choices. While A has a higher initial cost, it takes $25,000 less each year to maintain, a breakeven of 16 years. Company B has a greater installed base of systems, seven to three. Depending on the locations (and possibly identities) of the other installed systems, how funding is secured for the initial investment versus for annual maintenance, one option may be more attractive than another. Company C needs solid advice from a consultant regarding availability of support people; perhaps additional installations can justify increasing the availability of technical support. The amount or effectiveness of user training should also be addressed. Perhaps improved instructional design could reduce the amount of training time needed.