Yahoo web space - Chapter 12: Procuring Goods and Services 255 All
Chapter 12: Procuring Goods and Services 255 All of these costs come out of someone s budget, and if you don t specify that they are coming out of the vendor s budget, they re coming out of yours. Make sure there s something in writing that gives you an out if something doesn t work as specified. You must be able to control the quality of the product you are producing, and therefore you must also be able to rely on the quality of the software application you are buying. Be sure that it works as advertised; call the vendor s user references and be sure you receive a working demonstration of the system before you buy. Verify that the software package you see demonstrated is the one you will be buying. Don t get caught buying a new version of the application software that hasn t been tested and debugged. Unless you are really adventurous, you don t want to be fixing the vendor s software at the same time you re attempting to fix your own. Avoid beta versions of an application or bleeding edge releases of software. Let somebody with a higher risk tolerance be a guinea pig. You don t need the headaches, the poor press in your employer s office, and the possibility of slowing down or ruining your project. Administering Contracts If your company has a legal department, be sure to have one of its representatives review the contract first and alert you of any potential problems and help you negotiate the terms if necessary. Now you re ready to administer the contract. But first you must consider which type of contract is best for you. The type of contract you negotiate determines whether you bear most of the risk or whether the vendor bears most of the risk. Ideally, you want the vendor to shoulder most of the risk; of course, the vendor wants you to bear the bulk of the risk in any agreement. The truth is, you ll meet somewhere in the middle. In unusual circumstances, for instance, when an application you purchase is a new version or is otherwise untested (and we told you not to buy that), the risk in a transaction is shared between the parties. Extenuating circumstances can shift a larger portion of the risk to one of the parties of the contract, but in general, because both parties have a vested interest in the success of the product and its use, risk is usually split on a more or less equal basis. Of course, part of negotiating the contract is an effort to shift some of that risk away from yourself and your sponsor, and with a little luck and a lot of skill, you can accomplish that task.
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