Project Preparation
We work with you to develop the project plan, review materials, and schedule requirements interviews to prepare you for the selection project and monitor progress for the life of the project.
Software/Systems Assessment
SoftResources provides an assessment of the current systems to determine if you should move to a new system. We analyze how the software is being used and whether it can support your organization's long term goals. We consider organizational fit, the impact of change, potential vendor options, and the cost of a new system in this analysis.
Requirements Workshops/Interviews
We conduct requirements interviews to gather the information necessary to define the key requirements for your software evaluation project. Because we have completed hundreds of requirements interviews, we know the questions to ask to get the information we need, while being low-impact on your organization.
Key Requirements Definition
We take the information gathered from the interviews and create the Key Requirements document. This document focuses on the most important requirements that differentiate the software vendors and typically contains 100 to 350 key requirements. This approach has proven effective for even the most complex organizations to help you focus on the highest priority criteria in your software evaluation process.
Focused Request for Proposal
We will work with your Purchasing department to develop a Focused Request for Proposal. The Focused RFP streamlines the selection process so vendors will be encouraged to respond and enables you to gather the information you need to make an informed decision.
RFP Analysis
When you receive the vendor submissions, we contact the respondents to schedule calls for clarification. These vendor discussions enable us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each solution for your organization. This information helps you determine the right short list of vendors that will move to the next steps in the evaluation process.
Software Demonstrations
A custom Demonstration Script serves two purposes: first, it focuses the software vendor to show how they will meet your business needs; second, it allows you to evaluate vendors on a equal basis. We facilitate the demo to ensure software vendors adhere to the script to stay on-task and on-time.
Decision
After the software demonstrations, we advise you through the final decision process which includes follow up demos, reference checks, project scoping, cost analysis and other activities. We facilitate a final decision meeting with your project team to discuss the pros and cons of your options, so you can make an informed decision.
Contract Review
We review the Software License, Service Level Agreement, Implementation and Maintenance contracts. We also recommend that you negotiate the Statement of Work before you sign any contracts. We seek a win-win contract between you and the software vendor for a successful long-term relationship. We review the business issues in the contracts and your legal counsel will address the legal issues.
Implementation Oversight
Working with your project manager, we provide implementation oversight for the duration of the project. We work with you to monitor progress, resolve any roadblocks, change orders, budget concerns and other issues that may come up during the implementation.