EVALUATING HARDWARETools and Advice for Making the Right Choice

Ryan DugganUniversity of Chicago

Adapted from: http://ucflow.blogspot.com/2013/07/10-tips-for-purchasing-your-next.html

10-step process

1. Define Needs

2. Query the Userbase

3. Refine Needs

4. Survey the Market

5. Navigate Marketing

6. Create the Matrix

7. Hands-on

8. Social Networks

9. Negotiate

10. Year-end deals

11. Now What?

Define Needs

• Create a generic specification of the needed equipment based on YOUR perception.

• What applications do you see being run immediately, near future?

Query the Userbase

• Survey the users to find out what they need from THEIR perspective.

• Analyze recent historical data

• Talk to key Investigators• Research current

industry trends• Ignore much of what the

users say they need.

Refine the Needs

• Find the middle ground• Realistic specification with “room to grow”

Survey the Market

• Research what’s available

• Base entry for consideration on min. spec.

• Use organizational tools like Evernote™ or ELN to track contenders.

Navigate the Marketing• Learn to read marketing materials• Differentiate between Technical spec (what the instrument

has) and Performance Spec (what the hardware can do).• Marketing materials are fine for listing Tech. Spec. but

NOT Performance Specification.• Samsung found itself accused of artificially (and secretly) boosting

benchmark scores on its flagship phone to ensure it would outperform the competition.” - The Verge (http://goo.gl/5vuCs9)

Create the Matrix• List of specifications vs. available hardware• Use marketing material tech. spec.• Include budget as a spec.

  # of Lasers (Total Avail.)

Total Detectors

Field Upgradable

Multi-well Sampler Event Rate Total

Events/FileOptical

Upgrades Avail.

Instrument A 1-3 (3) 3-8 No Yes 2,000 100,000 No

Instrument B 2-4 (7) 4-12 Yes Yes 10,000 5,000,000 Yes

Instrument C 2-6 (12) 4-18 Yes Yes 20,000 10,000,000 Yes

Instrument D 2-4 (4) 4-10 No No 20,000 2,000,000 No

Instrument E 2-5 (8) 4-14 Yes Yes 20,000 10,000,000 Yes

Instrument F 1-3 (4) 3-6 No No 2,000 100,000 No

Hands-on• NO CANNED DEMOS• NO EXAMPLE DATA SETS• Real data, collected by you, analyzed by you.• Create your own performance metric if none exists.• Make THIS, a high level priority that will greatly influence

your decision

4-peak ABC beads

Unstained lymphocytes

Dimly stained capture beads

Resolution limit theoretical peak

10th %-ile ABC

Med

ian

AB

C

Median ABC values

10th %-ile ABC values

90th %-ile of AutoFluorescence = 10th %-ile of resolution limit

# of Antibodies BoundF

requ

ency

qNORM

Figure 3. Cartoon displaying how the qNORM is calculated.

Get Social

• Read reviews• Ask peers• Request OEM response for any negative feedback

• Avoid Gen. 0 evangelists.

Negotiate Purchase• Negotiate with multiple OEM’s regardless of intent to

purchase• Make sure OEMs are aware of their competition• Competitive bid may be required anyway• Get everything in writing• Include Training, extended warranty, shipping, installation,

free upgrades, etc…

Be Mindful of Year-end deals• If you can time it right, year-end numbers can be a

powerful bargaining chip.

Summary• Do your homework• Test the hardware in real-world situations• (Re)negotiate

NOW WHAT?

You got the instrument• Time to implement it’s usage• This isn’t the first time you’re thinking about this, is it???

Alert your Users • Once you’ve narrowed down the choice and made the

decision, alert your users.• Send them materials describing the capabilities of the

instrument• Ask the OEM sales rep to reach out to users.

Solidify the SOP• Re-work usage SOP’s specific to this instrument.• Distribute to the users• Ask for comments from oversight committee/ safety

committee/ Faculty Director, etc…

Getting everyone up-to-speed.

• Training of the facility staff by OEM

• Training of staff + key users by OEM.

• Seminar style intro to the technology

• Spend some time with the instrument in the first week or so to get comfortable.

Spread the word

• Continually update users with representative data from the instrument.

• User-derived or facility-derived.

• Boost confidence in its capabilities

• Squash problems immediately.

#supercoolflowplot

Summary• Implementation plan begins once you’ve decided on the

specific instrument• Provide adequate information to users ahead of time• Formulate training plan needs (replicate instrument or

brand new technology)• Share data and experiences with users often• Stay ahead of problems and misconceptions/rumors.

Thank you