Tough Choices in Difficult Times:
Questions to consider when making application purchases

EDmin.com has been selling school districts district-wide technology applications since 1989, and our experience has shown that if districts know the right questions to ask and have established key decision criteria, they can maximize the return on their investment. The right questions address how the proposed technology purchase facilitates the district’s vision, supports the strategic instructional technology plan, impacts staffing, and meets timeline requirements. Furthermore, criteria for selecting technology applications need to take into consideration the district’s implementation planning process and the impact district-wide implementations have on routine operations, staff, and budget.

Identifying decision criteria for major technology purchases, such as student information systems, learning, instructional, or curriculum management systems, and professional development, is not as simple as it used to be. Shrinking resources, decreased funding, and rising expenses have mandated that school districts make very prudent technology decisions at a time when technology is so readily available and the marketplace is inundated with vendors all making similar claims. If these challenges aren’t daunting enough, school districts are now facing the reporting requirements from No Child Left Behind and are rightly concerned with how well their current information systems will support compliance.

About the Author Sage Ann Scheer, Ph.D., is Vice President of Strategic Sales for EDmin.com. Scheer has worked with clients for more than 20 years to help identify educational technology requirements, evaluation criteria, implementation plans, and ways to maximize return on investment while minimizing total cost of ownership. Learn More For answers to more questions about technology planning -- the process and the product -- contact planning@edmin.com or visit the Performance Planning section of the EDmin Web site.

The reporting mandates for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) add even more complexity to information management system purchases because of the data-disaggregation component. This new requirement requires districts to report data for both the entire student population as well as for six required subgroups, and districts with legacy systems are discovering they cannot readily access performance data for easy subgroup analysis and longitudinal performance comparisons. Thus, many districts are beginning to review, and possibly augment, their current technology applications to determine whether the applications will support the legislative reporting requirements for ongoing student achievement. What are the questions that districts are using to identify system features and benefits? What are the criteria used to evaluate the various technology applications? Based on EDmin’s experience, the following identifies four key areas successful districts have used in the decision-making process regarding technology application purchases:

What outcomes does the school district hope to achieve through the purchase of the system?
Frequently, the problems for which school districts seek solutions are so urgent in nature that decisions are based on immediacy and do not necessarily take into consideration the long-term implications the proposed solution may have on other applications currently in use. If a school district is considering purchasing a student data system to help centralize assessment and performance data, for example, will this outcome truly be served by a student information system? Should the district consider a standards-based learning management system that is capable of integrating student demographic, achievement, online assessment, digital portfolio, and in-class performance data for more in-depth data analysis? Relevant questions that districts may find helpful in this area of the decision process include:

• What outcomes should be obtained as a result of implementing the proposed solution?
• To what extent can those outcomes be measured?
• To what extent do the outcomes provide short-term benefit? Long-term benefit?
• What are the key features and benefits of the product that support achievement of the desired district outcomes?
• To what extent can the existing technology infrastructure support the proposed solution and how compatible is the proposed solution with existing systems?
• Will one system really solve the problem, or does consideration need to be given to compatible systems that can interface within a data warehouse environment?
• If budget dictates the selection of a system, what are the priorities that need to be addressed by the system and how scalable will the system be to meet future needs?

How will the proposed solution support the district’s vision and help achieve the strategic plan?
The school district’s vision and strategic plan should also be taken into consideration when determining desired outcomes. For example, if the school district has adopted a Web-based technology standard, a client server-based solution may require additional maintenance and staffing. Regardless of how good the solution is, if it requires long-term human and financial resource commitment to support the solution, is that really the outcome the school desires? Questions to consider may include:

• To what extent will the solution help achieve the district’s vision and how will this be accomplished?
• How will the proposed solution support the district’s strategic plan, and in what way(s) will the solution facilitate achievement of the goals and objectives?
• What is the extent of district leadership commitment to the proposed solution and who will be accountable for the solution’s implementation?
• Will the proposed solution address issues facing more than one department or functional area? If so, what departments or functional area(s) are affected and what is the impact on productivity?
• What is the return on investment (ROI) from the proposed solution?

What will be the impact on staffing from the proposed solution?
Solutions that require additions to staff are difficult to justify in times of scarce resources. Solutions that are labor-intensive also impact productivity. That is why technology solutions need to be reviewed for the ways in which the solutions facilitate performance and productivity, and do not adversely impact Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Questions to address may include:

• What type of professional development will be required, both at the onset of installation and in the future, to maintain competency and increase usage?
• Will release time be required to train staff? If so, what are the budget implications and how will this be funded?
• Will the proposed solution require an internal project manager to be identified and staffed by the district? If so, will this be a full-time position and will it require additions to staff?
• If the proposed solution involves software, what type of training and support is required for subsequent version releases?
• To what extent does having a Web-based versus client-server solution impact TCO?

What type of timeline requirements does the proposed solution address?
Unrealistic timelines can create havoc in managing expectations, staff morale, and teamwork. All too frequently, districts believe that making the purchase decision is the difficult element; however, the true heavy lifting begins with the system installation. Questions to consider when reviewing competitive systems may include:

• Is the proposed solution deliverable and installed in other districts at the current time? If so, what do the districts say about the product, vendor, and support services?
• To what extent does the proposed solution need to be customized for installation in our district? If customization is required, what is the impact on support services and how will new version releases be accommodated through the customization?
• What type of data import must occur in order for the system to be operational?
• Who is responsible for the initial data import?
• What do other districts with the same system have to say about the vendor’s implementation and timeline process?
• To what extent can the system be installed incrementally?
• To what extent is the vendor-determined timeline realistic?
• How complete is the vendor’s project plan and to what extent does it take into consideration knowledge and understanding of the district’s routine operations?

EDmin has learned that the most important value-add a vendor can provide its clients is the ability to understand what the client expects, the rationale behind the purchase decision, and how to successfully implement the product installation without disrupting district operations. Districts that have made successful technology purchase decisions increase the odds of success by requiring the vendor to provide a thorough implementation plan, a project plan, and a dedicated service representative. Finally, those districts have also identified what the key roles and responsibilities are for internal district staff involved with the implementation. While all this may appear to be labor intensive up front, the careful planning, monitoring, and evaluation of the ongoing technology purchase has enabled successful partnerships to be established between the districts and the vendors.

Previous Performance Planning Center Articles Better Students Through Technology! 11/06/2002 Technology Planning: Closing the Communications Gap 12/04/2002 Adult Literacy Service Providers: Who They Are and What They Do 1/15/03

The information contained in this article is not to be distributed without written permission from EDmin.com. The article was written at the request of School Planning and Administration, a Peter Li Group publication, and appeared in the December 2002 edition. For more information, or for an electronic pdf copy, please contact Dixie Conner via email at dconner@edmin.com.

Article by Sage Ann Scheer
Education World®
Copyright © 2003 Education World