October 1, 2003 Ventana Research Product Assessment Guide for Performance ManagementMore than 60 products scored for their ability to meet business requirementsby Mark Smith [ continued from page 4 ] DisclaimerVentana Research completed "The Ventana Research Product Assessment Guide for Performance Management" independently of vendors. The review process did not include any advertising or vendor influence. We invited a wide array of vendors of all sizes to participate. However, we have not provided any vendor published in this guide with preferential treatment. This guide is independent of subject- or vertical-area applications (such as CRM, supply chain, or telecommunications). The intent is not to give any weight to or detract from the value of a buy approach for packaged analytic applications, but to give you insight into the build-or-deploy approach to meet your business needs. This approach lets any vendor demonstrate its support for the breadth and depth of functionality required for optimizing decision-making throughout the organization. The scoring of the functional capabilities is based on vendors' answers to specific functionality questions with validation by Ventana Research. Ventana Research calculated scores based on the number of positive acknowledgments of the functional capability questions divided by the total number of questions in the subcategory. It is important to understand that vendors' products are designed for certain capabilities or types of users, and a low rating may not indicate that the product is lacking sufficient capabilities to be used in your project. This review is intended to demonstrate how the methodology is applied to vendors' products but is based on the capability questions we have provided as examples. About Ventana ResearchVentana Research is a leading research and advisory services firm committed to providing credible and objective insight and education on the best practices, methodologies and technologies that enable organizations to utilize information assets and resources to achieve business performance management. Unlike other firms, which are often challenged by their abilities to sustain breadth and depth of research, Ventana Research provides one research framework for complete business and technology coverage in a particular market — performance management. This gives Ventana Research the unique ability to put research and market trends into context for the specific needs of business and IT end- users and vendor communities. Ventana Research performs quantitative and qualitative research and offers a wide range of services including annual subscription services, primary and custom research, strategic consulting, research studies, and speaking and writing services. |
Mark Smith (mark.smith@ventanaresearch.com) is the CEO and senior vice president of research at Ventana Research, an advisory services and research firm providing insight and education on best practices and technology in performance management.
  
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