Vendor Relations-I am having a difficult relationship with a vendor.
Laura BloomProject Manager| Harborstone Credit UnionOlympia, Wa, United States
This vendor has created a program using Visual Basic in Excel for my project. They only work on a time and materials basis. The problem is that the program is not reliable and there are bugs constantly in need of fixing. Because they only work time and materials we have to pay them to fix their own bugs. This has been going on since last August and is getting old. We are too far in the project to pull the plug. Do you have any advice for me? Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The first thing to do is to determine it is a bug or not. If it is a bug then your vendor can not bill the work to you except some agreement you have made allow it. Saving Changes...
I agree with Maria, you need first to consult with contract documents. If the issue of bug is unsolved, the materials the vendor used and/or the skill of the manpower they provided for the project might not meet the relevant clauses of the contract. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
That is awful. I see two obvious problems - Visual Basic in Excel, pay them to fix their own bugs
If it is indeed true, the bugs are pre-condition - as in existing prior to your engagement - then it is how the contract is written out. But ideally, its a no brainer. Hopefully, the contract is not tricky, or too ambiguous.
If I paid a landscaper to cut the grass, on an hourly basis, and their machine was breaking down, I certainly would not pay the hours of them fixing it and not cutting the grass!
Good Luck. Saving Changes...
Dominic LawProduct Manager| PCCW GlobalHappy Valley, Hong Kong
For any project delivery it is essential to have a clear acceptance criteria, in which you will go through various tests before accepting the service or product or the Visual Basic in your case. It is better to have a warranty period, so if you find out bugs during the period, then the vendor should fix it. It is better to have a fix cost for all the above services. That means the vendor should have budget for it. And this will encourage quality control from the vendor.
In your case I suggest you talk to your vendor to sign a new contract based on above requirement, if you haven't had such contract before. Hopefully the vendor wishes to have continuous business with you and agree on the new contract. Otherwise it could be more effective and cost efficient to ask a new vendor to start all over again. Saving Changes...
Darren McCreaDirector, Enterprise Information Services| Central Oregon Community CollegeBend, Or, United States
Hi Laura,
Is the Visual Basic program used entirely for tracking the progress of your project (i.e., is it a project management program?) or is the Visual Basic program part of the overall project?
If the customer is asking you to use a defective/faulty project management program, I would agree with Andrew that you shouldn't pay for additional time required to work within a faulty/defective system. If it were me, I would track the number of hours you spend each month to debug their system and back charge them and/or move to a reliable system.
I know it's probably not that easy, but if it's a large project with a ways to go, you are going to end up losing a lot of money and would probably be better off experiencing a little pain now to avoid ongoing pain/loss over an extended period of time. Saving Changes...
