1
Vendor Requirements
1.1 Financial
stability
1.2 Referenceable customer
base
1.3 Geographical presence: sales
and post-sales support
1.4 Business model. ASP/licensed?
1.5 Technical vision
1.6 Business vision
1.7 Customer focus
2
Technical Requirements
2.1 Technical
platform
2.1.1 Compatible hardware
2.1.2. Compatible OS
2.1.3 Compatible database
2.1.4 Compatible web server
2.1.5 Thin or thick client
2.2. Scalability
2.2.1 User load and distribution
2.2.2 3-tier architecture
2.3 Availability
2.3.1 High-availability features
2.3.2 Backup and recovery requirements
2.4 Integration
2.4.1 Required integrations
2.4.2 Standard API
2.4.3 Fully exposed data model
2.5 Development environment
2.5.1 Customization depth required/power of customization
tool
2.5.2 Standard script/programming language
2.5.3 Support for migrating customizations to
production
3
Functional Requirements
3.1 Cross-functional
requirements
3.1.1 Phone integration
3.1.1.1 Screen pops
3.1.1.2 Entitlement checking
3.1.1.3 Outbound dialing
3.1.1.4 Support of specific phone switch
3.1.2 Email support
3.1.2.1 Email integration
Link
to corporate email system
Tag
outbound emails
Bulk
outbound emails
Automatic
load of incoming email
Automatic
processing of incoming emails
Firewall
compatibility requirements
3.1.2.2 Email processing
Automatic
acknowledgements on emails
Routing
of incoming emails
Canned
response templates
Automatic
response suggestions
Automatic
responses
3.1.2.3 Email utilities
Spell
checking
Supported
formats
Email
templates
Attachments
(inbound/outbound)
3.1.3 Customer Portal
3.1.3.1 Knowledge base
KB
access from portal
Search
capabilities from portal
3.1.3.2 Authentication and security
Authentication
required?
Link
to existing scheme?
Signup
control (self/manual)
Authentication
scheme
Flexible
permission scheme e.g. for partners
3.1.3.3 Personalization
Required?
Types
of personalization
3.1.3.4 E-commerce
Online
shopping
Online
order taking
Integrations
required
3.1.3.5 Order tracking
Online
order tracking
Integrations
required
Online
order modification
3.1.3.6 Service/support case entry
3.1.3.7 Online case management
Online
viewing of existing cases
Management
of confidential information
Adding
comments
Closing
cases
Reopening
cases
3.1.3.8 Customer forums.
Required?
Monitoring
requirements
User
moderators?
3.1.4 Wireless support
3.1.4.1 Supported devices and protocols
3.1.4.2 Wireless messaging
Outbound
alerts
Inbound
messages
3.1.4.3 Wireless real-time access
Required?
Essential
subset for function
Customization
required
3.1.4.4 Data synchronization
Downloads
to device
Upload
changes?
3.1.5 Chat support
3.1.5.1 Integrated chat support or link?
3.1.5.2 Chat environment
Response
templates
Control
of window size
Restrict
chat access to certain pages
Chat
works on all types of pages
Firewall
compatibility and requirements
Records
of chat communications
3.1.5.3 Advanced features
Push
pages to customers
Browser
control
3.1.6 VoIP
3.1.6.1 Inbound/outbound?
3.1.6.2 Compatibility with standards
3.1.7 Multichannel support
3.1.7.1 Consistent experience
3.1.7.2 Universal queuing and logic.
3.1.8 Customer Database
3.1.8.1 Comprehensive records
Consumers/corporate
customers?
Multiple
corporate contacts
Special
customer relationships e.g. reseller/end-user
3.1.8.2 Custom fields
Fields
required
Restrictions
on creation, deletion
Ease
of creation/changes
3.1.8.3 Link between databases
Customer
master
Synchronization
requirements
Data
cleansing.
3.1.8.4 Customer history
Records
needed
Synchronization
requirements
3.1.9 Employee database
3.1.9.1 Records needed
3.1.9.2 Concept of organizational hierarchy
3.1.9.3 Synchronization requirements
3.1.9.4 Permissions
3.1.10 Knowledge management
3.1.10.1
Document creation.
Required
in tool?
Easy
process
Migrate
CRM objects to documents?
Spell
checking
Document
templates
Custom
document attributes
Document
formats
New
documents available on the spot
3.1.10.2
Heterogeneous knowledge bases.
Migrating
documents to the kb
Searching
on external documents
Supported
formats
Attachments
support
3.1.10.3
Knowledge creation workflow
Custom
document statuses
Permission-based
reviews
Support
for review queues
Review
alerts
Adding
review steps
3.1.10.4
Document maintenance
Expiration
date
Document
categories – how many levels?
3.1.10.5
History trail
3.1.10.6
Self-learning features
Popularity
rankings
User
ratings
Report
failed searches
Flagging
errors
3.1.10.7
Search capabilities
FAQ
Tree-based
search
Full
text search
Searching
on document attributes
Natural
language queries
Case-based
reasoning
Refining
existing searches
3.1.10.8
Leveraged searches
Automatic
suggestions
Linking
documents with other objects
3.1.10.9
Permissions and authorizations
Group
profiles
Combine
group profiles
Individual
profiles
Permissions
on documents or categories?
Permissions
for internal/external users
3.1.10.10
Subscriptions and alerts
Send
alerts to uses
Alerts
to subgroups of users
Users
subscriptions to documents
Users
subscriptions to categories
3.1.11 Metrics
3.1.11.1
Data availability
Required
fields
Reporting
against custom fields
3.1.11.2
Customizable templates
Key
reports
Graph
templates
Time-based
report templates
3.1.11.3
Report creation tools
Easy
to use tools
Integration
to external report writers
3.1.11.4
Report distribution system
Self-service
subscriptions
Output
formats
Dump
to spreadsheets
Link
to data warehousing system
Impact
of reporting on system
3.1.12 Internationalization
3.1.12.1
Language support
For
data entry
Sort
order
3.1.12.2
Foreign currency support
3.1.12.3
Interface localization
3.1.12.4
Time zones
3.2 Marketing Automation
Requirements
3.2.1 Campaign design
3.2.1.1 Easy to use for a business user?
3.2.1.2 Support promotion codes
3.2.1.3 Dynamic campaigns
3.2.2 Customer targeting
3.2.2.1 Query universe
3.2.2.2 Permission-based marketing
3.2.2.3 Automatic opt-in/opt-out
3.2.3 Campaign delivery
3.2.3.1 Recurring campaigns
3.2.3.2 Multi-step campaigns
3.2.3.3 Event-triggered campaigns
3.2.3.4 Email and phone-based campaigns
3.2.4 Campaign analysis.
3.2.5 Lead distribution
3.3 Sales-Tracking
3.3.1 Opportunity management
3.3.1.1 End-to-end tracking
3.3.1.2 Track products
3.3.1.3 Track milestones
3.3.1.4 Track competitors
3.3.1.5 Deal routing
3.3.2 Contact management
3.3.2.1 Track all interactions
3.3.2.2 Schedule appointments
3.3.2.3 Manage to-do items
3.3.2.4 Supports sales methodology
3.3.2.5 Collaboration
3.3.2.6 Presentation creation
3.3.2.7 Proposal generation
3.3.2.8 Proposal template
3.3.2.9 Expense reports
3.3.2 Marketing encyclopedia
3.3.4 Quoting
3.3.4.1 Quote creation
3.3.4.2 Approval workflow
3.3.4.3 Pricing tool
3.3.4.4 Configurator
3.3.5 Account management
3.3.6. Forecasting tools
3.3.7 Disconnected usage
3.3.7.1 Synchronization
3.3.7.2 Ability to download/upload selected data
3.3.7.3 Functionality in disconnected mode
3.4 Support-Tracking
Requirements
3.4.1 Flexible case attributes
3.4.1.1 Custom values
3.4.1.2 Custom fields
3.4.2 Case creation
and entitlement
3.4.2.1 Easy/quick case creation
3.4.2.2 Case packs
3.4.2.3 Annual contracts
3.4.2.4 Support multiple entitlement strategies
3.4.3 Routing, rules,
and alerts
3.4.3.1 Single-criteria routing
3.4.3.2 Multi-criteria routing
3.4.3.3 Automatic (forced) assignments
3.4.3.4 Alert on screen / e-mail / pager
3.4.3.5 Escalations
3.4.3.6 Easy-to-use rule engine
3.4.4 Workflow support
3.4.4.1 Special case statuses
3.4.4.2 Full workflow support
3.4.4.3 Powerful and flexible workflow
engine
3.4.4.4 Business users can modify workflow
3.4.5 Defect and enhancement
tracking
3.4.5.1 Functionality in the tool
3.4.5.2 Integration with other systems
3.4.6 History trail
3.4.7 Collaboration
and escalation
3.4.7.1 Automatic and user-controlled escalations
3.4.7.2 Asking for collaborators
3.4.7.3 Record collaboration
3.4.7.4 Make collaboration visible to customers
3.4.8 Field service
3.4.8.1 Disconnected usage
3.4.8.2 Wireless usage
3.4.9 Customer satisfaction surveys
3.4.9.1 Transaction-based
3.4.9.2 Sampling mechanism
3.4.9.3 Opt-out
4
Implementation and Maintenance Requirements
4.1 Time
4.1.1 Maximum allowable
4.1.2 Phased implementation
4.2 Implementation assistance
4.2.1 Vendor
4.2.2 Third-parties
4.2.3 Certified partners
4.2.4 Waiting period
4.2.5 Training for administrators
4.2.6 Training for programmers
4.2.7 Training for end-users
4.3 Maintenance policies
4.3.1 Length of support for old releases
4.3.2 Certifications on new O/S
4.3.3 Certifications on new DB versions
4.3.4 Warranty period
4.4 Support programs
4.4.1 Support hours
4.4.2 SLA
4.4.3 Availability of patches
4.4.4 Technical knowledge base
4.4.5 Ceilings on fee increases
4.5 Long-term tool maintenance
4.5.1 Tasks that can be handled by business users
4.5.2 Friendly user interfaces
4.5.3 Customization tools
4.5.4 Easy upgrades
5
Budget
5.1
Initial costs
5.1.1 License
5.1.2 Hardware
5.1.3 Add-on products
5.2 Implementation costs
5.2.1. Integrator
5.2.2 Internal resources
5.2.3 Training
5.3 Maintenance costs
5.3.1 Support fees for associated hardware or
software
5.3.2 Internal costs
5.3.3 Costs for add-on purchases
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