If you have ever gone through a large-scale (or even small-scale) request for proposal, you know that evaluating COTS packages and vendor RFP response is challenging! It is rare that a vendor will reply back that they can’t support your desired features, and the sheer amount of data they return can be overwhelming.
We recommend using a template for COTS research and RFPs to help organize and sort your solution feature priority, responses and valuations. Check out our blog post RFPs: Ripe For Prioritization for more details on using this template and an example walking through its usage.
Take the time to make THE list. Use our RFP Response Template to help identify your solution requirements and how your vendors stack up against them. This is an MS Excel spreadsheet with usage suggestions to ensure you identify whether your options are truly solution options and if so, how they compare.