How Can We Prioritize Our ITSM Requirements and Run RFPs?

Phase 3: How can we prioritize our ITSM requirements and run RFPs?

Now that you’ve explored the vendor landscape in Phase 2: Which ITSM vendors are out there?, it’s time to get specific.

Here’s what to focus on in this third phase:

Set the context for your ITSM investment—what’s in, what’s out
Build a strong ITSM request for proposal (RFP)
Compare vendor responses
Analyze vendor presentations
Consider ITSM proof-of-concepts (POCs)

We’ll walk you through how to create your ITSM vendor shortlist.

Once there’s agreement on the scope, it’s time to pull together the request for proposal (RFP). This gives vendors the info they need to understand your goals and respond in a structured way. A typical RFP includes:

Objectives: A short overview of where things stand today and where you want to go
Scope: What the tool should cover, based on your group’s agreement
Quantities: Things like how many users, devices, or roles are involved
RFP process: A simple timeline with key milestones
Requested answers: Details about what kind of response you’re expecting and how vendors should format it
Requirements list: Usually an Excel sheet with must-haves and nice-to-haves, where vendors can show how well their tool fits. Responses often fall into these+ categories:
- covered by standard
- covered with customizing
- covered with a partner solution
- not covered

These lists can grow quickly—it’s not unusual to see a few hundred items. A sample list is available if you need help getting started.

Once the responses are in, it’s time to dig into the details. Some things—like feature coverage—are easy to measure. The Excel template above includes formulas that automatically check each vendor’s compliance.

Others, like company background, technical fit or UI design, are more subjective and often lead to deeper discussions. That’s normal. But you also need to compare the these qualitative critera somehow. You can end up with a table like the following one (Source: Whitepaper Selecting an ITSM tool):

Sometimes a demo isn’t enough. If there are still question marks or trust gaps, a proof-of-concept (POC) can help. These usually take one to three days and require time and focus from both sides. They’re most useful when they follow a clear plan and test real use cases that matter to your team.Make sure to:

Define clear objectives
Identify test cases
Create a structured test plan with a timeline

Congrats - you now have identified the top vendors you want to enter the negotiation phase with and come to a decision. So let's move on to the next phase.