The health of an application can often be gauged through the health of its User Group.  The main interface between the user group and the vendor should be the product manager, whi should have a close working relationship with those key users.  However, while many RFIs and Tenders ask the vendor whether there is an active user group, they often rely on the vendor’s assurance about the group’s existence and its activities.  Although site visits to users are usually undertaken, most often there is no contact with the user group at this stage.  That is an oversight and we recommend that some interaction with the user group from part of the due diligence of software purchasers.