Wrap Up the POC

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Martin was pleased with how the POC was going. He prepared to send out his questionnaire. The questions were somewhat general in nature, but others were more pointed, based on his conversations with the stakeholders. The selection of the vendor was up to the POC participants and their responses to the questionnaire. As Martin had surmised, none of the vendors scored fully in every category, but all were in general pretty even. The difference to him and to his participants came down to problem response time. One company stood out from the others. This company was not the largest, but it was the most committed.

Jason was relieved the POC was finishing up. He needed to wrap it up quickly so he could get back to other issues, so he took the informal feedback from his colleagues and examined it. The feedback seemed for the most part undecided. None of the participants particularly hated the technology. With Jason's limited timeframes and resources, this was the best he could get.


The Methodology

The POC process is formal and structured, and the wrap of the POC needs to be treated the same way. To this end, the following suggestions may help:

  • Inform the users on how to proceed until the next phase is decided ” Since the biometric system is an integral part of the daily work of the end-users, they need to know what will happen to their use of the biometric system. Many users will want to continue using the biometric system. If this is not feasible , they need to be told why; if it is, an internal support structure needs to be put in place to support them. If the biometric system is to be decommissioned, then a plan needs to be communicated to the users and other concerned stakeholders about how this will occur.

  • Wrap up the pilot with a questionnaire ” The end-users of the project have spent the past 30 “45 days with the biometric system. They want a chance to provide feedback and continue to be part of the process. Having suffered through some potential issues and problems, they want to be heard . The questionnaire needs to provide subjective and objective opportunities for feedback. The questions should be structured so that they will provide additional data to be used to determine if the performance criteria were met.

  • Thank the users ” The users need to be identified as an integral part of the process and to be recognized at the end through an email or a personal visit. If the project moves to the next phases, users will still be required to further validate the project. As such, the user population will need to grow. It is easier to expand the user population if the users from earlier phases feel that the experience was positive and their feedback was appreciated.

  • Ask the users what they liked and didn't like ” It is always easy to ask what people liked. It is more difficult to request and receive negative feedback. The project can succeed and move forward only if the shortcomings are recognized and then addressed. The shortcomings cannot be addressed if they are not solicited.

  • The next step ” The goal of the POC is to prove the technology and advance the process to the next phase. Asking the users how to accomplish the latter provides an opportunity for the project to receive feedback or may elicit new success criteria to be addressed in the next phase.

  • Generate documentation ” The information gathered from the POC needs to be recorded. This information should include the charter, the success criteria and goals, what the user environment was for testing, and lastly, the end-user feedback from the survey and other correspondence. Finally, and most importantly, it must include the recommendation of the POC group regarding the success criteria and goals from the charter. This document, in conjunction with the other documents, will provide the basis for evaluating each vendor's solution and finally making a go/no go decision.

With the POC formally completed and documented, an informed decision can be made on the next steps.

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Biometrics for Network Security
Biometrics for Network Security (Prentice Hall Series in Computer Networking and Distributed)
ISBN: 0131015494
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 123
Authors: Paul Reid

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