How does a DBA go about "pitching" for money for a software tool, or any other resource? And what factors affect the likelihood of success? We all think we know, but could we do this part of the job more effectively? We wouldn’t maintain a production server without adequate training or information, but in our professional life we are expected to do just that when negotiating budgets.

It seems strange that there should be so few training materials around for such an important skill for a DBA. He can look on the net, and find the most arcane details of the plumbing of SQL Server, but even the simplest instructions for putting forward a business case for a budget are difficult to find.

There are definitely 'Best Practices' for getting adequate resources for such things as database tools. In practical terms, DBAs need to clearly define and present the ROI that the tool offers. It's not enough to say that "it will save me time", the DBA needs to define exactly how it will save time, and exactly what that time is worth. The problem is that DBAs and managers have completely different mindsets and no natural way of communicating to each other. It's easy for the DBA to become completely wrapped up in what the tool means to them and aren't inclined to put in the effort needed to describe its value from the manager's viewpoint.

We have always wanted to do something about this, and provide advice in how to go about doing this in SQL Server Central or Simple-Talk. I suppose that it was because we all felt more confident with the technical subjects than 'management processes' that we held back. So it was that when it came to our own publishing plans, we called in an expert, Paul Kenny of Ocean Learning, to advise us on how one should present them to the relevant business managers.

Paul introduced us to a technique whereby you assume that the relevant managers have said "yes" to your resource/tool request, and then work back from there through all the questions that they would want to have had answered in order to get there. It really forced us to look at the issues from other peoples' perspective and made us realize that in certain cases, we weren't quite ready to "go to market" with a request.

Paul also covered many other factors that affect this process, such as the influence you wield within the company, and how much that is affected by the time and effort you've put into building and maintaining good relationships, and how many people would define their relationship with a person as good, when in reality they mean little more than "we say hi to each other at the water cooler".

It got us thinking that we should be publishing all sorts of materials to help with this sort of task, as it is surely all part of what goes to make up an ‘exceptional DBA or developer’. Different people need different levels of help, even down to providing sample documents for such chores as financial justifications. It would seem to be a service that our readers would appreciate. What do you think?

Cheers,

Tony.