PROJECT RATIONALE

Organizations today increasingly use IT to support their business and deliver products and services to customers. The percentage of annual turnover spent on IT continues to increase.

The techniques and methods used for procuring and purchasing IT systems and software are unique. Users must ensure that suppliers deliver what is expected and that delivered systems and software satisfy the needs of the business. The management of this process is critical to the cost of new systems and the value the systems provide to the organization; improving IT procurement processes therefore becomes a strategic management task.

Organizations face the following challenges when trying to improve their processes:

• There is a great wealth of advice available (tools, methods, and best practice guides). However, it is difficult to capture the core concepts and apply them without the expense of consultants and management time.
• Most of the formal methods available are targeted at larger organizations. If you are an SME, these often contain impractical advice (for example, not accounting for multi-functional personnel).
• SMEs can rarely afford the cost of consultancy required to conduct a thorough, formal analysis of their IT procurement activities.
• There is little sharing of common experiences and problems among SMEs.

The ASSIST project was set up to provide:

• A means of formulating IT procurement practices suitable for an SME
• A means of analyzing the existing procurement practices of an SME
• Specific advice and prioritized actions within a one/two-day timeframe
• A detailed set of tailored practical and proven improvement actions which can be implemented without experts and consultants

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