AnalysisPlus™ Solutions Analysis Services
To best provide the solutions that satisfy the business requirements, Inish provides these primary services:
1. Identify Candidate Products & Technology
Determining products and technology that satisfy the identified business needs is the focus of this phase of the analysis. This is done via simple research. Inish talks with your managers and engineers, scours recent trade publication, the Internet, and calls on other experts to obtain a list of viable products.
2. Rate Utility of Products & Technology
In order to determine the suitability of products to satisfy retail requirements, Inish typically asks people familiar with particular products to rate the products' ability to satisfy the business requirements. Product features are rated on a 1 to 10 scale, 1 being a feature whose respective product does not satisfy in any manner whatsoever, and 10 for those features that are satisfied in every regard.
3. Identify Requirement Gaps
Identify the features that no COTS products satisfy (the "gaps").
4. Identify Requirement Overlaps
Identify where the COTS product features have common charactristics.
AnalysisPlus Solution Analysis Deliverables
As a result of the Solution Analysis, two artifacts are created:
Third-party Tool & Technology Analysis
Who are the suppliers of products and/or technology that can provide the needed feature? For those that can, how are their capabilities different? In order to determine the suitability of products to satisfy retail requirements, technical people familiar with particular products are asked to rate the product's ability to satisfy marketing requirements. Product features were rated on a 1 to 10 scale, 1 being a feature whose respective product does not satisfy in any manner whatsoever, and 10 for those features that are satisfied in every regard. this figure illustrates a COTS product analysis. The capabilities of each product to support the desired features are easily evaluated by looking at the colored areas associated with each product.
Gap & Overlap Analysis
Once the needs of the market segments are verified and the ability of off-the-shelf products to support those needs is determined, what mix of products support the needs of the market segment? To answer that question, a gap and overlap analysis is performed. By taking the difference between the quantitative needs of the market segment and the quantitative abilities of products to support those needs, a matrix describing the relative support is provided. Once relative support for each feature is known an overall score is evaluated that is simply the sum of the values of the features.
In the Gap & Overlap chart below, The data segments suggest that the Product 3 best supports the needs of all segments, followed closely by the Product 2. The Product 1 does not appear to be a fit at all. The figure graphically illustrates how the needs of Segment A overlap with the capabilities of the COTS products. Segment A needs are shown in the blue area, and overlaps the feature scores of the three products.
By examining the gap and overlaps we can assess how well each of the products supports the needs of the market Segment A. To provide added context, a statistical analysis is performed on the market needs and feature support. By considering a statistical view, we can detect situations where products may have an overall low suitability score due to high variability of individual feature scores.
