Usage

Part of the Brightwork Research & Analysis enterprise software risk model, and a criterion of software measurement and part of the Software Selection Package.

Definition

This is how well the functionality of the application has the potential to match the business process as well as the functionality’s reliability. This is itself a composite score because it includes one score of functionality quality and one for functionality scope. The scores at the Brightwork Research & Analysis website explain detail on each application in terms of how well it scores on each subcategory of functionality. While many – unusually large software vendors would prefer if people believed that functionality scope trumped functionality quality, this is not true. One of the essential lessons from enterprise software is just because an application “has” functionality in the release notes or its marketing literature does not mean that the functionality is equal with other vendors. Many companies behave as if this functionality between applications is equal.

A perfect example of this is SAP. Of all the vendors evaluated by Brightwork Research & Analysis, SAP has the most functionality that either operates poorly, is broken, or never worked, to begin with. This “kitchen sink” development approach places the most functionality into the application. It will get by a software selection that is more a box-checking exercise than an in-depth evaluation of the software. Determination of the application functionality score takes a detailed analysis of the application in terms of the real ability to leverage functionality. It also means making value judgments as to how frequently the functionality can be put into action.