Harley Davidson Motor Company - Enterprise Software Selection

Harley Davidson Motor Company

Enterprise Software Selection

Harley-Davidson's growth over the years, it's geographically spread and close to independent production sites lead to having separate procurement processes and purchasing systems. The company, through its management, realized the need to enhance efficiency in its supply management through an integrated and centralized system. “There was a high level of dissatisfaction with the existing system…” (p.6). The Return on Investment was in the millions along with other soft intangible benefits.

The project team, Supplier Information Link (SiL'K), was formed; the team mapped the current and future process, defined the system requirements and then extended requests for proposals (RFPs). The team received eight responses and only three of the eight vendors were shortlisted.

The three providers had their pluses and minuses, but the decision was to choose the most appropriate provider among them to provide and implement the required system.

The Decision Criteria

The evaluation process used both quantitative and qualitative approaches; criteria such as how the product fit Harley-Davidson's requirements to ease of use were considered as well as long term relationship potential, Research and Development, financial viability and Change Management methodology.

Although other criteria were considered I think the top three criteria were:

• Functionality

• Culture Fit and potential Long-term relationship

• Change Management

These three factors played an influential role in the decision making process; functionality was the key from the beginning of the process; it was even the main factor in determining the top three finalists “The team consciously chose to focus on functionality and to avoid consideration of economic (cost) factors at this stage.” (p. 10). Having the right functionality that fulfills Harley-Davidson’s requirements not only allows the achievement of their goal, it will also ensure the ultimate buy-in from the users. “Because that’s what people are going to see that’s what they’re going to use day to day. And that’s what’s going to cause them pain or discomfort.”

Harley-Davidson was not only looking for a system provider, they were also looking for