idea to provide some sort of an organizational framework in your RFP / RFQ with a little history to help fill in the pieces of the puzzle.

4. Supply a statement of work that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information they will need. Sometimes a company will cut and paste their training department’s goals and objectives into the statement of work. While this is helpful information to a point, too much information of this type may throw a potential vendor off course, which may result in you receiving proposals that do not meet your needs.

The problem is that people can have the tenden

When evaluating many types of products and services, companies or organizations sometimes use an RFP (Request For Proposal) / RFQ (Request For Quotation) process. There are challenges associated with the RFP / RFQ process, such as the length of time it can take, its complexity, and more. Many companies steer clear of using RFP / RFQ processes precisely for the reasons mentioned above, and a whole host of other issues that are not the subjects of this article.

Just writing an e-Learning / Learning Management Systems RFP / RFQ can be a pretty daunting job. The task of putting together a good e-Learning RFP / RFQ is exacerbated because Learning Management Systems software and e-Learning Solutions can possess many layers of complexity, especially when they are developed to integrate with and meet the needs of your organization’s information technology backbone.

Communicating your company’s needs is often difficult. The tips below are by no means exhaustive, as they are designed to give you some suggestions and information to help you with writing an e-Learning / Learning Management System software RFP / RFQ.

1. You and your company should perform a thorough internal and external needs assessment, research, and planning long before you sit down to write your e-Learning / Learning Management Systems RFP / RFQ. A whitepaper I wrote a few years back, called ‘e-Learning Best Practices’ has a section on ‘Scoping Out your e-Learning Needs’, and other information, which will provide you some information and guidelines for this part of the process.

2. If at all possible, try to write it within the context of a team or at the very least, get a colleague, your supervisor, or you assistant to be another set of eyeballs on the document. RFP / RFQs can have a tendency to be long, complicated, and involved documents, so having someone else to review your work, can be very beneficial. It’s even better when one or more of the principle stakeholders help with the writing of the e-Learning / Learning Management Systems RFP / RFQ.

3. Provide a company background statement that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information that is useful. It’s fine to pull your company background statement from your marketing material, but don’t stop there. If your e-Learning initiative will serve several departments, it might be a good idea to provide some sort of an organizational framework in your RFP / RFQ with a little history to help fill in the pieces of the puzzle.

4. Supply a statement of work that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information they will need. Sometimes a company will cut and paste their training department’s goals and objectives into the statement of work. While this is helpful information to a point, too much information of this type may throw a potential vendor off course, which may result in you receiving proposals that do not meet your needs.

The problem is that people can have the tendenc

/ RFQ is exacerbated because Learning Management Systems software and e-Learning Solutions can possess many layers of complexity, especially when they are developed to integrate with and meet the needs of your organization’s information technology backbone.

Communicating your company’s needs is often difficult. The tips below are by no means exhaustive, as they are designed to give you some suggestions and information to help you with writing an e-Learning / Learning Management System software RFP / RFQ.

1. You and your company should perform a thorough internal and external needs assessment, research, and planning long before you sit down to write your e-Learning / Learning Management Systems RFP / RFQ. A whitepaper I wrote a few years back, called ‘e-Learning Best Practices’ has a section on ‘Scoping Out your e-Learning Needs’, and other information, which will provide you some information and guidelines for this part of the process.

2. If at all possible, try to write it within the context of a team or at the very least, get a colleague, your supervisor, or you assistant to be another set of eyeballs on the document. RFP / RFQs can have a tendency to be long, complicated, and involved documents, so having someone else to review your work, can be very beneficial. It’s even better when one or more of the principle stakeholders help with the writing of the e-Learning / Learning Management Systems RFP / RFQ.

3. Provide a company background statement that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information that is useful. It’s fine to pull your company background statement from your marketing material, but don’t stop there. If your e-Learning initiative will serve several departments, it might be a good idea to provide some sort of an organizational framework in your RFP / RFQ with a little history to help fill in the pieces of the puzzle.

4. Supply a statement of work that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information they will need. Sometimes a company will cut and paste their training department’s goals and objectives into the statement of work. While this is helpful information to a point, too much information of this type may throw a potential vendor off course, which may result in you receiving proposals that do not meet your needs.

The problem is that people can have the tenden

and planning long before you sit down to write your e-Learning / Learning Management Systems RFP / RFQ. A whitepaper I wrote a few years back, called ‘e-Learning Best Practices’ has a section on ‘Scoping Out your e-Learning Needs’, and other information, which will provide you some information and guidelines for this part of the process.

2. If at all possible, try to write it within the context of a team or at the very least, get a colleague, your supervisor, or you assistant to be another set of eyeballs on the document. RFP / RFQs can have a tendency to be long, complicated, and involved documents, so having someone else to review your work, can be very beneficial. It’s even better when one or more of the principle stakeholders help with the writing of the e-Learning / Learning Management Systems RFP / RFQ.

3. Provide a company background statement that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information that is useful. It’s fine to pull your company background statement from your marketing material, but don’t stop there. If your e-Learning initiative will serve several departments, it might be a good idea to provide some sort of an organizational framework in your RFP / RFQ with a little history to help fill in the pieces of the puzzle.

4. Supply a statement of work that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information they will need. Sometimes a company will cut and paste their training department’s goals and objectives into the statement of work. While this is helpful information to a point, too much information of this type may throw a potential vendor off course, which may result in you receiving proposals that do not meet your needs.

The problem is that people can have the tenden

e document. RFP / RFQs can have a tendency to be long, complicated, and involved documents, so having someone else to review your work, can be very beneficial. It’s even better when one or more of the principle stakeholders help with the writing of the e-Learning / Learning Management Systems RFP / RFQ.

3. Provide a company background statement that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information that is useful. It’s fine to pull your company background statement from your marketing material, but don’t stop there. If your e-Learning initiative will serve several departments, it might be a good idea to provide some sort of an organizational framework in your RFP / RFQ with a little history to help fill in the pieces of the puzzle.

4. Supply a statement of work that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information they will need. Sometimes a company will cut and paste their training department’s goals and objectives into the statement of work. While this is helpful information to a point, too much information of this type may throw a potential vendor off course, which may result in you receiving proposals that do not meet your needs.

The problem is that people can have the tenden

idea to provide some sort of an organizational framework in your RFP / RFQ with a little history to help fill in the pieces of the puzzle.

4. Supply a statement of work that is specific and gives potential vendor companies information they will need. Sometimes a company will cut and paste their training department’s goals and objectives into the statement of work. While this is helpful information to a point, too much information of this type may throw a potential vendor off course, which may result in you receiving proposals that do not meet your needs.

The problem is that people can have the tendency to lump goals, objectives, and tactics in the same category, but ultimately, they are not the same. There is a difference between a set of tactics verses a set of objectives verses a set of goals. A group of tactics can be the mechanism by which an objective is achieved. Objectives can monetize, quantify, and delineate desired outcomes to achieve a stated goal or goals.

Its important to remember that an e-Learning solution / Learning Management System is a tool used to achieve and / or promote a various set tactics as part of an entire training strategy which ideally, should be in line with company or department goals. Since it is a tool that is executed and used as part of a tactic, be sure to provide enough detailed information that is specific to your desired uses of an e-Learning solution along with your department’s goals and objectives.

5. Develop a set of user personas so potential vendor companies will be given framework as to how their system will be used by every person that will touch it at your organization. Provide a breakdown of technical skill required for each user persona, including the technical requirements of any other IT systems they would use and need to be integrated into the e-Learning Solution / Learning Management System technology.

For example, a Human Resources Manager may work with an HRIS (Human Resources Information System) that would need to integrated with the Learning Management System. Be sure to provide the platform type, version, underlying database technology, the file structure, and any other information that is useful to the potential vendor company.

6. Prioritize features and functionality into a hierarchy based on the concepts of absolutely must have (priority 1), would like to have (priority 2), nice to have but not necessary (priority 3), or something along these lines to demonstrate level of importance to the vendor companies that will submit proposals for your RFP / RFQ.

Be sure to explain the features and functionality you require in concise and complete sentences. Features and functionality displayed in lists of three or four word bullet points often falls short of really explaining what your requirements are and can cost you more time further down the road.

7. Ask for and include sections for ‘RFP / RFQ boilerplate’ type of information. Some are listed below:

Vendor Information-Your RFP / RFQ should contain a vendor information section