Essential software criteria

Software functionality and management information criteria

Software should provide the functionality and management information needed by your organisation. Click the links for the essential criterion for each software.

Accounting software criteria / CRM software criteria / HR software criteria / Payroll software criteria



Software efficiency criteria

Software should be reliable, operationally efficient and easy to use. Visit software efficiency criteria for more details.



Vendor criteria

Good vendors should provide the appropriate maintenance and support, implementation assistance, user training and have a good reputation and expertise. Visit vendor criteria for details.



Value for money

Good software should:

Represent good value for money

Have a reasonable annual cost for maintenance and support, with the annual increase %, no more than inflation

Be low cost or have a total cost less than budgeted

Request for Information RFI Template

As one of a suite of universal templates, this RFI Template will:

Save you time preparing your Request for Information. Just fill in the blanks and add your requirements. Preparing a high quality, professional RFI suitable for issue to suppliers and vendors is now a cinch. And as everything is in MS Word, you can quickly and easily configure to your precise needs.

Save you effort as you don’t have to start from scratch. The RFI components are already there for you to use as you need. They’re based on the purchase of new IT, software and services, but are equally suitable for many other business RFI needs, because the template is totally flexible and amendable.

Help you short list suppliers. The standardised template format also helps suppliers to more clearly understand your requirements and more easily respond. So you will receive clearer and improved responses. And consequently, spend less time and effort evaluating and comparing supplier responses, and more easily identify a short list of potential suppliers.

RFI Template Contents

RFI Template (Request Part)* to send to suppliers / vendors, containing:
Executive summary
Organization background
Project background
Instructions to the supplier or vendor, on how to reply to the RFI
RFI Template (Response Part)* for suppliers / vendors to complete, containing:
Summary statements
General requirements (for new software)
Mandatory requirements (for new software)
Additional information requested
RFI Cover Letter Template*
Instructions, Guide and Tips - for preparing your RFI (PDF)

CRM software RFI and RFP Template

Quickly and easily gather your CRM system requirements, prepare your RFI & RFP, and evaluate vendor responses. The CRM RFI/RFP Template will:

Save you time identifying and gathering your software / system requirements because thousands of carefully researched criteria are listed. Simply choose those you need and set priorities for each criteria. Then quickly prepare your RFI or RFP by just filling in the blanks. And as everything is in MS Excel, you can quickly and easily configure to your precise needs.

Save you effort as you don’t have to start from scratch. The template reduces the effort involved with specifying requirements and preparing RFI’s / RFP’s. The standardised format also helps software vendors to more clearly understand your requirements and more easily respond to each requirement, using the space available within the template. So you will receive clearer and improved responses. And consequently, spend less time and effort evaluating and comparing vendor responses.

Save you money as you can use the template yourself. There’s no need for extra staff or resources to help you specify your requirements or prepare your RFI and RFP.

Help you to select the right system by providing clarity and transparency. You can see your requirements, easily evaluate and compare vendor responses and so identify the best solution for your organisation.

The CRM RFI/RFP Template comprises:

An RFI Template, RFP Template, Requirements Specification, Business Analysis, Instructions and Software Selection Overview.

All system requirements are on one ‘RFP Requirement Specification’ worksheet, listed in a logical order, to make it quicker and easier to configure to your needs.

Separate, easy-to-amend RFI and RFP Templates (worksheets), to save time creating your own RFI and RFP.

A Business Analysis worksheet, to better understand your current situation and collect more information.

It’s easy to create a full RFP for issue to vendors – just combine ‘RFP Requirement Specification’ and ‘RFP Template’ worksheets (or copy and paste).

RFI RFP Accounting Software

The Accounting RFI/RFP Template will:

Save you time identifying and gathering your new software / system requirements because thousands of carefully researched criteria are listed. Simply choose those you need and set priorities for each criteria. Then quickly prepare your RFI and RFP by just filling in the blanks. And as the templates are available in MS Excel / Word, you can quickly and easily amend to your precise needs.

Save you effort as you don’t have to start from scratch. The templates reduce the effort involved with specifying requirements and preparing RFI’s / RFP’s.

The standardised format also helps software vendors to more clearly understand your requirements and more easily respond to each requirement, using the space available within the template. So you will receive clearer and improved responses. And consequently, spend less time and effort evaluating and comparing vendor responses.

Save you money as you can use the template yourself. There’s no need for extra staff or resources to help you specify your requirements or prepare your RFI and RFP.

Reduce the risk of selecting the wrong Accounting System by providing clarity and transparency. You can see your requirements, easily evaluate and compare vendor responses and so identify the best solution(s) for your organisation.