Weight Matters: Star Rating Methodology

Next, the Partner Programs survey results were tabulated. We then weighted the scores to reflect the relative importance of each criterion; the average importance weight was equal to 1. Here's the breakdown:

Sales leads: prequalified
1.22

Postsales support
1.17

Technical training and advice
1.15

Price protection plans
1.12

Online training available
1.10

Online certification available
1.10

Dedicated account rep
1.08

Tiered program elements
1.08

MDFs/Co-op
1.05

Help identifingy new market opportunities
1.03

Help match VAR for partnering
0.93

Link to VAR home page
0.88

Restricted Web site
0.86

Rebates that are passed through to VARs
0.81

Financial assistance for VARs selling wares
0.79

Sales leads: unqualified
0.62

A vendor's final rating score was computed as the sum of up to 16 weighted element scores, based on the vendor's specified partner-program offerings. All the vendors competed with each other for the best rating. Ten percent of the partner programs received a five-star rating, 21 percent a four-star rating, 34 percent a three-star rating, 24 percent a two-star rating, and the bottom 11 percent a one-star rating. One vendor received no stars, our lowest rating.

Cisco, HP, Microsoft and SGI are among the five-star vendors in this year's Partner Programs Guide.