Frameworks · Scope
Sophisticated technology buyers don't rely on instinct. They run repeatable, evidence-based methods drawn from standards bodies, academic research, and decades of procurement practice. This library catalogs the frameworks behind disciplined buying, each tied to a credible source you can read for yourself. The cost of a bad enterprise technology decision is measured in years, not dollars.
Define exactly what you're buying before vendors do it for you.
Scope · workflow
Procurement RFx process
A structured sequence (RFI, RFP, RFQ) that gathers market information, solicits proposals, and collects priced quotes in a comparable format.
Use an RFI to map the market early, an RFP to invite vendors to propose how they'd solve the problem, and an RFQ to get firm pricing on defined requirements. Running them in sequence kills the risk of selecting on incomplete or non-comparable information.
Example. Before buying a CRM, issue an RFI to ten vendors to understand integration options, then an RFP to the shortlisted four asking how they'd migrate three years of sales history.
Writing the SOW so every deliverable, acceptance criterion, and responsibility is explicit and budgeted before work begins.
Define what's expected for each work package, with a budget and measurable completion criteria, rather than relying on vague intent. A precise SOW kills the most common source of disputes: genuine ambiguity about what was actually purchased.
Example. For a data migration, the SOW lists each table, the row-count reconciliation tolerance, who provides test data, and the exact sign-off that constitutes done.
Short, version-controlled documents that capture a single significant architecture decision with its context and consequences.
Record why a vendor, platform, or integration approach was chosen, what alternatives were weighed, and what trade-offs were accepted. This kills the institutional amnesia that leads teams to relitigate or accidentally undo a deliberate decision months later.
Example. When choosing a managed Kafka service over self-hosting, write an ADR noting the operational-burden trade-off and the lock-in accepted.
A model that classifies purchases by profit impact and supply risk to set the right sourcing strategy for each.
Map each spend into strategic, leverage, bottleneck, or routine quadrants, then apply a tailored approach: partnership for strategic items, competitive tendering for leverage items. This kills treating a single-source critical platform like commodity laptops.
Example. Classify your core billing platform as strategic (deep partnership) but office collaboration licenses as leverage (aggressive multi-vendor tendering).
Sorting requirements into Must, Should, Could, and Won't-have so scope reflects agreed priorities, not whoever shouts loudest.
Force every requirement into one of four buckets before vendors propose, so the non-negotiables are explicit and the nice-to-haves can't quietly inflate cost. This kills the ambiguity that lets a vendor pad scope with low-value work.
Example. For a new HRIS, mark SSO and payroll-export as Must, mobile approvals as Should, gamified onboarding as Won't-have this phase.
Frameworks, applied for you
Every scope package, interrogation kit, and gap analysis traces back to frameworks like these - generated on your specific deal. Your first project is free.