Harley-Davidson Motor Company
: Enterprise Software Selection
Jeen Song
Minh Phung
Brandon Kinney

1. Was linking the software selection process to the overall supplier management strategy appropriate?
That was appropriate to do that because the process will bring in the requirement and capabilities necessary so that the company could recognize the strategic vision. Also, linking the software process may take more time than usual but " when your strategy is deep and far reaching, what you gain by your calculations is much. So you can win before you fight."
Besides that, software selection process was necessary to build the necessary trust, enthusiasm and engagement in SMS. That process seemed to be a good chance that to get the organization to "think out of the box" and considered as a good foundation to start getting everyone think about procurement differently.
Overall, the process played a key role in the company's strategy. They had more time to think and interact with the problem which may incur. Other than that, they can recognize their need and be able to make some changes or improvement. As working on the process, they understand the criteria of the software provider they need for their strategy. The software selection seems to be efficient and appropriate the the overall supplier management.

2. Did all the steps the team took during the selection process add value to their decision?
Every step which the team had done during the selection did add a certain value to their decision. As the first step, they formed a project team by handpick influential players from across the PPG so that they can have the best person which is thought of as an opinion leader in their organization. Also, they tried to define the criteria and capabilities so that they can clearly recognize the strategy vision.
Coming next is that the Mapping "as is" process which is sequentially incorporating the procedures of the P&A, MRO, and OE purchasing units so that the team could identify many commonalities across the sites. As Chuck Braunshweig mentioned "We really started gaining momentum as a team when we started trying to talk about the process flow."
Also, they thought that stakeholder survey was important to them to clearly understand and easily identify the requirements for the purchasing organization. Through what they got from the result they knew what needed adjusting so that the team would be back on the right track. Also the "to be" process that represented a future vision for purchasing at the company.
In conclusion, all the steps that the team had done added a tremendous value to their decision which are understanding the criteria which they were looking and the ability to adjust the changes so that the team would be able back on the right track.

3. How should the team balance the various strengths and weaknesses of each supplier candidate in making a final selection? After reading through some of the comments towards the very end of the case, it is obvious that functionality is a major concern in implementing th new system. However, Harley-Davidson should also make sure that they aren't overlooking any implementation and change factors that might affect employees who would actually be using the system. As one of the SiL'K team members said, "Functionality, I think, is the key thing that we were looking for. Even if there are personality conflicts we can work with those. All three of the providers have the architecture. Cost is going to be added in there. I certainly hope that functionality is going to be #1 in terms of what we get out of it." After putting so much time into analyzing their systems and choosing a supplier that fits well, they should make sure that functionality is still at the top of the list. A factor that they should not try to worry about too much is personality conflicts with their suppliers, as long as they are still manageable. If a supplier has a similar attitude to a company, but doesn't fulfill their needs, then they don't really act as a sufficient supplier. This would put supplier 2 very far ahead of the competition because their initial self-analysis showed a 98.7% compatibility, where the software has almost everything that Harley-Davidson is looking for. However, this also gives supplier 3 an advantage because their main downfall originally was personality conflicts, even though their software was very compatible. This also puts supplier 1 at a disadvantage because their personality melded very well with Harley-Davidson, but their product was not as compatible, and this should be the first concern because this is what will ultimately determine the effectiveness of the new product. 4. Which supplier would you choose and why?
As Cotteleer mentioned in the case, Harley-Davidson has its unique culture in the company and what they are looking for is the partner, not just some software provider. In the case of Harley-Davidson, like other initial providers stated, it has its style of process that is different from others. With that, the first provider seems to be outstanding to two other providers, provider 2 and 3. Even though the Provider 1 has lower self-evaluation of 93.4%, and not the leader in functionality-not that other two providers are leaders in functionality. The Provider 1 is up for adapting the culture of its customer, Harley-Davidson. Also, the presentation of Provider 1 appealed to the people in the Harley-Davidson experiencing the natural affinity, and sharing the similar company culture. Provider 1 is aware of change management issues, change management, and training process, not like other two finalists. As we studied in the class, the most difficult one to change is People. In conclusion, choosing the Provider 1 seems to be the best fit for Harley-Davison with the reasons stated above.