Insider Tips on Buying a SCADA System

Summary

Of course, my colleagues and I have many other ideas for making the bidding process more effective. I invite you to visit our web site (ucos.com) to learn more about us.

To summarize:

• Develop a clear purchasing and evaluation plan. If you hire a consultant, make sure the consultant has such a plan.
• Put one person in charge. This project should have an impact on his or her career. Involve the company's major stakeholders in the research, bidding, and bidder evaluation process. These stakeholders can include field engineering, operations, IT, and management.
• Instead of writing a specification and sending it out for bid, consider researching the state-of-the-art in SCADA system technology first. That way, when it comes time to write a specification, you'll know what's possible and how you can take full advantage of the latest technology in achieving your company's goals.
• Instead of choosing a vendor by the numbers, consider choosing a partner whose technology, skills, and style match your own. Then work with that partner to develop the best possible system that the two of you can muster. This approach requires you to research potential partners quite thoroughly and then trust yourself to choose someone you think you can work with. You might just find that this approach not only costs you less but also results in a system that works better.
• Analyze your needs based on achieving company goals. You don't need new technology. You may, however, need to lower your cost of operations. New technology is one way to accomplish that goal. However, new technology is not the goal.
• When defining your system's requirements, do not use vague phrases to specify what you want. That only results in vague bids. On the other hand, do not specify what you want so narrowly and in so much detail that you cut off a tremendous source of free input: your vendors' best efforts at designing a system that achieves your business goals.
• Make sure the criteria you use to select a vendor provide you with relevant and useful information about prospective vendors. If you don't know why you are asking a vendor to do something, then don't ask. Ask them for information that you can use.
• Do not base your vendor selection primarily on written bids. Of equal or greater importance is what the vendors' customers think of them, as well as your gut feeling as to how you and the vendor can work together.

Remember, the way that your bid documents are written and organized has a significant impact on everything from the price to the system's ultimate viability. No matter how good the answers are, you must still ask the right questions in order to make the right decision.

Mike Walden
Control Systems International, Inc.
Lenexa, Kansas 66214 USA
Voice 913-599-5010 · Fax 913-599-5013

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