Licensing (Buying) a Meta Data Repository

When selecting a meta data repository product (or any type of product), you should never start with the question, "What is the best product of this type on the market?" Instead, always start with the following questions:

• What are our requirements?

• Which requirements are:

  - Mandatory (must have)

  - Important (beneficial to have)

  - Optional (nice to have)

• Which products address our mandatory requirements?

• Which products address our important requirements?

Compare each vendor's logical meta model (if one exists) or their physical meta model (product design) with your logical meta model, and determine whether the vendor's model covers all the meta data requirements reflected in your "requirements meta model." At a minimum, the vendor's model must support all your mandatory meta data requirements. If it does, find out if the vendor's meta model and software can be expanded so that you can add your own features to support your important meta data requirements. Expansion capabilities of meta data repository products should include the following:

• Adding meta data objects

• Adding relationships

• Changing inappropriate relationships

• Adding meta-meta data attributes to the meta data objects

• Changing the size and length of meta-meta data components

• Customizing vendor-provided reports

• Creating and storing code for additional reports

• Importing meta data from other tools

• Exporting meta data to other tools

Product Evaluation

Use standard evaluation techniques to select a meta data repository product. For example, prepare a list of product evaluation criteria for your meta data requirements and assign a weighting factor from 1 to 10 to each criterion (1 being least important and 10 being most important), like the sample criteria list shown in Table 10.7.

Notice that "Product can satisfy our mandatory meta data requirements" is not a weighted criterion. If the product cannot support the mandatory requirements, do not even consider it.

Rate each product on all product evaluation criteria by assigning a rating on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 means the product does not have that feature, 10 means that the product feature is outstanding), as illustrated in the example in Table 10.8.

Multiply the product ratings by the criteria weighting factors to obtain final scores for each product. Add up all the scores and list the products in the order of highest total score down to lowest total score, as shown in Table 10.9.

Table 10.7. Example of Product Evaluation Criteria with Weights

Criterion #	Product Evaluation Criteria	Weight
1	Product closely matches our logical meta model	10
2	Product can satisfy our important meta data requirements	6
3	Product can satisfy our optional meta data requirements	1
4	Product can be expanded	8
5	Product has interfaces	9
6	Product has a Web front end	4
7	Product has APIs	9

Table 10.8. Example of Product Ratings

	Criterion #
Product [*]	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Autumn Dictionary	3	7	6		9	9	10
Helixor	9		2	8	6		5
Leeches Repository	6	6	1	6	4		7
Springrep	8	2		10	10	2	10
Tamroller MDR	7	5	5		6	2	7

^[*] The product names presented in this table are fictitious.

Table 10.9. Example of Weighted Product Ratings

	Criterion #
Product [*]	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total Score
Springrep	80	12		80	90	8	90	360
Autumn Dictionary	30	42	6		81	36	90	285
Helixor	90		2	64	54		45	255
Leeches Repository	60	36	1	48	36		63	244
Tamroller MDR	70	30	5		54	8	63	230

^[*] The product names presented in this table are fictitious.

Vendor Evaluation

Most organizations do not spend enough time, if any, evaluating the vendors in addition to evaluating the products. It is important to understand each vendor's company stability, its commitment to the product, and its level of support. Create a list of vendor evaluation criteria and assign a weighting factor to each criterion on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being least important and 10 being most important), similar to the sample criteria shown in Table 10.10. Other criteria to consider are reputation for support, vendor integrity, and prior experience with the vendor.

Table 10.10. Example of Vendor Evaluation Criteria with Weights

Criterion #	Vendor Evaluation Criteria	Weight
1	Vendor has been in business for at least five years	8
2	Vendor has at least five Fortune 1000 clients	6
3	Vendor company is publicly traded and stock is healthy	8
4	Vendor has 24/7 telephone support	10
5	Vendor has an 800 hotline telephone number	9
6	Vendor has at least 50 employees	4
7	Vendor includes at least two weeks of free training	1

Rate each vendor on all vendor evaluation criteria by assigning a rating on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 means the vendor cannot meet that criterion, 10 means the vendor excels in that criterion), as illustrated in Table 10.11.

Multiply the vendor ratings by the criteria weighting factors to get final scores for each vendor. Add up all the scores and list the vendors in the order of highest total score down to lowest total score, as shown in Table 10.12.

Finally, compare the lists for product and vendor ratings and select the top two products. Check the vendors' references, schedule product demos, and arrange for a 30-day trial installation before making your final product selection.

Table 10.11. Example of Vendor Ratings

	Criterion #
Vendor [*]	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Autumn, Ltd.	9	7	4	9	10	9	5
Helix Corporation	5	3		8		1
Leeches, LLC	2	2		5		5	10
Springer, Inc.	10	9	7	10	10	10	10
Tamroller AG	10	10	8	5		10	1

^[*] The vendor names presented in this table are fictitious.

Table 10.12. Example of Weighted Vendor Ratings

	Criterion #
Vendor [*]	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total Score
Springer, Inc.	80	54	56	100	90	40	10	430
Autumn, Ltd.	72	42	32	90	90	36	5	367
Tamroller AG	80	60	64	50		40	1	295
Helix Corporation	40	18		80		4		142
Leeches, LLC	16	12		50		20	10	108

^[*] The vendor names presented in this table are fictitious.