Over the last few months, I've noticed a trend. Prospects are expecting to see a simplified or 'dumbed-down' approach to the scenarios that I play out during demos. In fact, I've heard the comment 'iMIS looks too complicated for my needs...'. Ouch!
Let me explain more fully.
I've been doing major demos to large prospects, you know the ones. Full day demo with 10 staff in the room, and I'm supposed to show everything under the sun, and respond to questions throughout the entire time. I call these "Due Diligence Demos", the 3 D's, or Due Dili Demos. So here's the dilemna. (Say that alliteration fast!)
I've prepared for the demo, configured to the prospects' needs, sometimes even scenarios given to me prior to the meeting. So now, I'm logged in as Manager, so that I can respond to ANY question that could come up right? But in doing so, I've opened up every iMIS Module, every Activity, every UDF tab that could be useful to the prospects' business needs. Now, I love these kinds of demos, because iMIS is deep and broad enough that I can show exactly what was asked for. To me, that is our major strength. The ability to understand a basic business need and demonstrate it as a solution already inherent in iMIS.
Then, a staff member will want to see iMIS just from their perspective. So, a membership coordinator at an association doesn't care that every UDF field ever needed can be put on a UDF window. Just show her what she'd see in the normal course of a workday. Well, now I have to log back in as a basic user, but invariably another person will ask a question that requires a Manager level security.
Lately, I've been creating a custom login using the Executive Director's name as the user. This allows me to role play to the senior manager, and let he/she visualize what they would see. Executive Dashboards, simple IQA queries, and basic Profile report on any member in the database. I pull everything off the main Customer Portfolio and shut down all but Membership module. AND, I only give 2 for the rights so they can see that they won't 'screw up' a record. This always gets a laugh from the crowd.
I'm trying to think about how we can create even more value for this basic user, by updating all left frames on every Module with html links to outside websites or Analytics, Informz, etc. Also, I'd like to create more valuable Pivot Tables on the Dashboards to correspond to reports or queries the prospect requests.
Just getting started on this idea of simplifying the demo, but I think this will help sell more iMIS and make all staff see what iMIS will look like at a basic level. There's lots more to do, but it's a good start. Any comments?
I think you've hit on something
I think you've hit on an important distinction. "Fully tailored" or "fully customized" means more than just turning on every feature. A truly finished installation will also be noteworthy for what it does *not* have.
It can be hard to find the balance on this. If your demo is supposed to cover a number of scenarios and possible uses, you might need to have it configured "both ways" at the same time.
For those demonstrate-the-RFP or follow-the-script type demos, maybe the approach is to organize logins according to the flow. Start off with an all-access user and give them the overview, then switch to a module-specific user to discuss each module. (All, or nearly all access to that module, limited access to other modules as may be appropriate.) E.G. Membership may have access to register for a meeting, but not setup. Meeting Planner user can setup meetings, but not see all Customizer tabs. Each can only see the Batch window with no AR/Cash setup.
Not only will it give them a flavor of how it will look in real life, but it may even keep your demo on track better. The act of logging in as that new user marks the shift to the next section of the script.
Another thing: the framework HTML. We've tweaked it in various ways for different clients. I think it would help a lot of people if the standard Framework included examples for shown/hidden groups of HTML tags driven by standard iMIS security keywords. This would make setup for these demos easier, but also have a direct payoff for installs everywhere. It sure beats having two full copies of iMIS with different frameworks.
-- Bruce
(Edit: standard iMIS keywords -> standard iMIS security keywords)