Template Requirements Checklist

The following pages contain a template requirements checklist for you to customize to your exact needs. All the items in the template are described above in the text, so please refer to the appropriate section if any item is unclear. The template checklist is very long because it covers all aspects of CRM tools. Only consider those sections that apply to you and disregard the rest. Do not use the checklist "as is." Just because a particular item is on the list does not mean that it is required in your case, even if it's in a section that you are interested in. Think of the template as one of those preprinted shopping lists you find in supermarkets: you don't buy each item on each shopping trip, do you? The checklist is built to accommodate weights for each item that represent the priority levels for each requirement and can be adjusted as needed to weigh the various requirements categories against each other. All weights are set at "1" in the template but you need to adjust them to your specific needs. It's very handy to use the list in a spreadsheet format. You can find a spreadsheet version of the checklist on my web site at www.ftworks.com/JustEnoughCRM.htm. It will be updated from time to time to reflect new technology and contributions from you, the readers.

#

Item

Weight

Vendor 1

Vendor 2

Vendor 3

     

Score

Rating

Comments

Score

Rating

Comments

Score

Rating

Comments

   

256

                 

1

Vendor Requirements

7

0

   

0

   

0

   

1.1

Financial stability

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

1.2

Customer references

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

1.3

Geographical presence: sales and post-sales support

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

1.4

Business model. ASP/licensed?

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

1.5

Technical vision

1

1

               

1.6

Business vision

1

 

1

             

1.7

Customer focus

1

                 
                       

2

Technical Requirements

15

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.1

Technical platform

5

                 

2.1.1

Compatible hardware

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.1.2.

Compatible OS

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.1.3

Compatible database

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.1.4

Compatible web server

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.1.5

Thin or thick client

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.2.

Scalability

2

                 

2.2.1

User load and distribution

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.2.2

3-tier architecture

1

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.3

Availability

2

0

   

0

   

0

   

2.3.1

High-availability features

1

                 

2.3.2

Backup and recovery requirements

1

                 

2.4

Integration

3

                 

2.4.1

Required integrations

1

                 

2.4.2

Standard API

1

                 

2.4.3

Fully exposed data model

1

                 

2.5

Development environment

3

                 

2.5.1

Customization depth required/power of customization tool

1

                 

2.5.2

Standard script/programming language

1

                 

2.5.3

Support for migrating customizations to production

1

                 
                       

3

Functional Requirements

203

0

   

0

   

0

   

3.1

Cross-functional requirements

139

0

   

0

   

0

   

3.1.1

Phone integration

4

0

   

0

   

0

   

3.1.1.1

Screen pops

1

                 

3.1.1.2

Entitlement checking

1

                 

3.1.1.3

Outbound dialing

1

                 

3.1.1.4

Support of specific phone switch

1

                 

3.1.2

E-mail support

16

                 

3.1.2.1

E-mail integration

7

                 
 

Logging of outbound e-mails

1

                 
 

Link to corporate e-mail system

1

                 
 

Tag outbound e-mails

1

                 
 

Bulk outbound e-mails

1

                 
 

Automatic load of incoming e-mail

1

                 
 

Automatic processing of incoming e-mails

1

                 
 

Firewall compatibility requirements

1

                 

3.1.2.2

E-mail processing

5

                 
 

Automatic acknowledgements on e-mails

1

                 
 

Routing of incoming e-mails

1

                 
 

Canned response templates

1

                 
 

Automatic response suggestions

1

                 
 

Automatic responses

1

                 

3.1.2.3

E-mail utilities

4

                 
 

Spell checking

1

                 
 

Supported formats

1

                 
 

E-mail templates

1

                 
 

Attachments (inbound/outbound)

1

                 

3.1.3

Customer portal

24

                 

3.1.3.1

Knowledge base

2

                 
 

KB access from portal

1

                 
 

Search capabilities from portal

1

                 

3.1.3.2

Authentication and security

5

                 
 

Authentication required?

1

                 
 

Link to existing scheme?

1

                 
 

Signup control (self/manual)

1

                 
 

Authentication scheme

1

                 
 

Flexible permission scheme, e.g., for partners

1

                 

3.1.3.3

Personalization

2

                 
 

Required?

1

                 
 

Types of personalization

1

                 

3.1.3.4

E-commerce

3

                 
 

Online shopping

1

                 
 

Online order taking

1

                 
 

Integrations required

1

                 

3.1.3.5

Order tracking

3

                 
 

Online order tracking

1

                 
 

Integrations required

1

                 
 

Online order modification

1

                 

3.1.3.6

Service/support case entry

1

                 

3.1.3.7

Online case management

5

                 
 

Online viewing of existing cases

1

                 
 

Management of confidential information

1

                 
 

Adding comments

1

                 
 

Closing cases

1

                 
 

Reopening cases

1

                 

3.1.3.8

Customer forums

3

                 
 

Required?

1

                 
 

Monitoring requirements

1

                 
 

User moderators?

1

                 

3.1.4

Wireless support

8

                 

3.1.4.1

Supported devices and protocols

1

                 

3.1.4.2

Wireless messaging

2

                 
 

Outbound alerts

1

                 
 

Inbound messages

1

                 

3.1.4.3

Wireless real-time access

3

                 
 

Required?

1

                 
 

Essential subset for function

1

                 
 

Customization required

1

                 

3.1.4.4

Data synchronization

2

                 
 

Downloads to device

1

                 
 

Upload changes?

1

                 

3.1.5

Chat support

9

                 

3.1.5.1

Integrated chat support or link?

1

                 

3.1.5.2

Chat environment

6

                 
 

Response templates

1

                 
 

Control of window size

1

                 
 

Restrict chat access to certain pages

1

                 
 

Chat works on all types of pages

1

                 
 

Firewall compatibility and requirements

1

                 
 

Records of chat communications

1

                 

3.1.5.3

Advanced features

2

                 
 

Push pages to customers

1

                 
 

Browser control

1

                 

3.1.6

VoIP

2

                 

3.1.6.1

Inbound/outbound?

1

                 

3.1.6.2

Compatibility with standards

1

                 

3.1.7

Multichannel support

2

                 

3.1.7.1

Consistent experience

1

                 

3.1.7.2

Universal queuing and logic

1

                 

3.1.8

Customer database

11

                 

3.1.8.1

Comprehensive records

3

                 
 

Consumers/corporate customers?

1

                 
 

Multiple corporate contacts

1

                 
 

Special customer relationships, e.g., reseller/end-user

1

                 

3.1.8.2

Custom fields

3

                 
 

Fields required

1

                 
 

Restrictions on creation, deletion

1

                 
 

Ease of creation/changes

1

                 

3.1.8.3

Link between databases

3

                 
 

Customer master

1

                 
 

Synchronization requirements

1

                 
 

Data cleansing

1

                 

3.1.8.4

Customer history

2

                 
 

Records needed

1

                 
 

Synchronization requirements

1

                 

3.1.9

Employee database

4

                 

3.1.9.1

Records needed

1

                 

3.1.9.2

Concept of organizational hierarchy

1

                 

3.1.9.3

Synchronization requirements

1

                 

3.1.9.4

Permissions

1

                 

3.1.10

Knowledge management

42

                 

3.1.10.1

Document creation

8

                 
 

Required in tool?

1

                 
 

Easy process

1

                 
 

Migrate CRM objects to documents?

1

                 
 

Spell checking

1

                 
 

Document templates

1

                 
 

Custom document attributes

1

                 
 

Document formats

1

                 
 

New documents available on the spot

1

                 

3.1.10.2

Heterogeneous knowledge bases

4

                 
 

Migrating documents to the knowledge base

1

                 
 

Searching on external documents

1

                 
 

Supported formats

1

                 
 

Attachments support

1

                 

3.1.10.3

Knowledge creation workflow

5

                 
 

Custom document statuses

1

                 
 

Permission-based reviews

1

                 
 

Support for review queues

1

                 
 

Review alerts

1

                 
 

Adding review steps

1

                 

3.1.10.4

Document maintenance

2

                 
 

Expiration date

1

                 
 

Document categories—how many levels?

1

                 

3.1.10.5

History trail

1

                 

3.1.10.6

Self-learning features

4

                 
 

Popularity rankings

1

                 
 

User ratings

1

                 
 

Report failed searches

1

                 
 

Flagging errors

1

                 

3.1.10.7

Search capabilities

7

                 
 

FAQ

1

                 
 

Tree-based search

1

                 
 

Full text search

1

                 
 

Searching on document attributes

1

                 
 

Natural language queries

1

                 
 

Case-based reasoning

1

                 
 

Refining existing searches

1

                 

3.1.10.8

Leveraged searches

2

                 
 

Automatic suggestions

1

                 
 

Linking documents with other objects

1

                 

3.1.10.9

Permissions and authorizations

5

                 
 

Group profiles

1

                 
 

Combine group profiles

1

                 
 

Individual profiles

1

                 
 

Permissions on documents or categories?

1

                 
 

Permissions for internal/external users

1

                 

3.1.10.10

Subscriptions and alerts

4

                 
 

Send alerts to uses

1

                 
 

Alerts to subgroups of users

1

                 
 

Users subscriptions to documents

1

                 
 

Users subscriptions to categories

1

                 

3.1.11

Metrics

12

                 

3.1.11.1

Data availability

2

                 
 

Required fields

1

                 
 

Reporting against custom fields

1

                 

3.1.11.2

Customizable templates

3

                 
 

Key reports

1

                 
 

Graph templates

1

                 
 

Time-based report templates

1

                 

3.1.11.3

Report creation tools

2

                 
 

Easy to use tools

1

                 
 

Integration to external report writers

1

                 

3.1.11.4

Report distribution system

5

                 
 

Self-service subscriptions

1

                 
 

Output formats

1

                 
 

Dump to spreadsheets

1

                 
 

Link to data warehousing system

1

                 
 

Impact of reporting on system

1

                 

3.1.12

Internationalization

5

                 

3.1.12.1

Language support

2

                 
 

For data entry

1

                 
 

Sort order

1

                 

3.1.12.2

Foreign currency support

1

                 

3.1.12.3

Interface localization

1

                 

3.1.12.4

Time zones

1

                 

3.2

Marketing automation

12

                 

3.2.1

Campaign design

3

                 

3.2.1.1

Easy to use for a business user?

1

                 

3.2.1.1

Support promotion codes

1

                 

3.2.1.3

Dynamic campaigns

1

                 

3.2.2

Customer targeting

3

                 

3.2.2.1

Query universe

1

                 

3.2.2.2

Permission-based marketing

1

                 

3.2.2.3

Automatic opt-in/opt-out

1

                 

3.2.3

Campaign delivery

4

                 

3.2.3.1

Recurring campaigns

1

                 

3.2.3.2

Multi-step campaigns

1

                 

3.2.3.3

Event-triggered campaigns

1

                 

3.2.3.4

E-mail and phone-based campaigns

1

                 

3.2.4

Campaign analysis

1

                 

3.2.5

Lead distribution

1

                 

3.3

Sales Tracking

24

                 

3.3.1

Opportunity management

5

                 

3.3.1.1

End-to-end tracking

1

                 

3.3.1.2

Track products

1

                 

3.3.1.3

Track milestones

1

                 

3.3.1.4

Track competitors

1

                 

3.3.1.5

Deal routing

1

                 

3.3.2

Contact management

9

                 

3.3.2.1

Track all interactions

1

                 

3.3.2.2

Schedule appointments

1

                 

3.3.2.3

Manage to-do items

1

                 

3.3.2.4

Supports sales methodology

1

                 

3.3.2.5

Collaboration

1

                 

3.3.2.6

Presentation creation

1

                 

3.3.2.7

Proposal generation

1

                 

3.3.2.8

Proposal template

1

                 

3.3.2.9

Expense reports

1

                 

3.3.3

Marketing encyclopedia

1

                 

3.3.4

Quoting

4

                 

3.3.4.1

Quote creation

1

                 

3.3.4.2

Approval workflow

1

                 

3.3.4.3

Pricing tool

1

                 

3.3.4.4

Configurator

1

                 

3.3.5

Account management

1

                 

3.3.6.

Forecasting tools

1

                 

3.3.7

Disconnected usage

3

                 

3.3.7.1

Synchronization

1

                 

3.3.7.2

Ability to download/upload selected data

1

                 

3.3.7.3

Functionality in disconnected mode

1

                 

3.4

Support Tracking

28

                 

3.4.1

Flexible case attributes

2

                 

3.4.1.1

Custom values

1

                 

3.4.1.2

Custom fields

1

                 

3.4.2

Case creation and entitlement

4

                 

3.4.2.1

Easy/quick case creation

1

                 

3.4.2.2

Case packs

1

                 

3.4.2.3

Annual contracts

1

                 

3.4.2.4

Support multiple entitlement strategies

1

                 

3.4.3

Routing, rules, and alerts

6

                 

3.4.3.1

Single-criteria routing

1

                 

3.4.3.2

Multi-criteria routing

1

                 

3.4.3.3

Automatic (forced) assignments

1

                 

3.4.3.4

Alert on screen/e-mail/pager

1

                 

3.4.3.5

Escalations

1

                 

3.4.3.6

Easy-to-use rule engine

1

                 

3.4.4

Workflow support

4

                 

3.4.4.1

Special case statuses

1

                 

3.4.4.2

Full workflow support

1

                 

3.4.4.3

Powerful and flexible workflow engine

1

                 

3.4.4.4

Business users can modify workflow

1

                 

3.4.5

Defect and enhancement tracking

2

                 

3.4.5.1

Functionality in the tool

1

                 

3.4.5.2

Integration with other systems

1

                 

3.4.6

History trail

1

                 

3.4.7

Collaboration and escalation

4

                 

3.4.7.1

Automatic and user-controlled escalations

1

                 

3.4.7.2

Asking for collaborators

1

                 

3.4.7.3

Record collaboration

1

                 

3.4.7.4

Make collaboration visible to customers

1

                 

3.4.8

Field service

2

                 

3.4.8.1

Disconnected usage

1

                 

3.4.8.2

Wireless usage

1

                 

3.4.9

Customer satisfaction surveys

3

                 

3.4.9.1

Transaction-based

1

                 

3.4.9.2

Sampling mechanism

1

                 

3.4.9.3

Opt-out

1

                 
                       

4

Implementation and Maintenance Requirements

22

                 

4.1

Time

2

                 

4.1.1

Maximum allowable

1

                 

4.1.2

Phased implementation

1

                 

4.2

Implementation assistance

7

                 

4.2.1

Vendor

1

                 

4.2.2

Third-parties

1

                 

4.2.3

Certified partners

1

                 

4.2.4

Waiting period

1

                 

4.2.5

Training for administrators

1

                 

4.2.6

Training for programmers

1

                 

4.2.7

Training for end-users

1

                 

4.3

Maintenance policies

4

                 

4.3.1

Length of support for old releases

1

                 

4.3.2

Certifications on new O/S

1

                 

4.3.3

Certifications on new DB versions

1

                 

4.3.4

Warranty period

1

                 

4.4

Support programs

5

                 

4.4.1

Support hours

1

                 

4.4.2

SLA

1

                 

4.4.3

Availability of patches

1

                 

4.4.4

Technical knowledge base

1

                 

4.4.5

Ceilings on fee increases

1

                 

4.5

Long-term tool maintenance

4

                 

4.5.1

Tasks that can be handled by business users

1

                 

4.5.2

Friendly user interfaces

1

                 

4.5.3

Customization tools

1

                 

4.5.4

Easy upgrades

1

                 
                       

5

Budget

9

                 

5.1

Initial costs

3

                 

5.1.1

License

1

                 

5.1.2

Hardware

1

                 

5.1.3

Add-on products

1

                 

5.2

Implementation costs

3

                 

5.2.1.

Integrator

1

                 

5.2.2

Internal resources

1

                 

5.2.3

Training

1

                 

5.3

Maintenance costs

3

                 

5.3.1

Support fees for associated hardware or software

1

                 

5.3.2

Internal costs

1

                 

5.3.3

Costs for add-on purchases

1

                 
Screenshot


   
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