Advice for Purchasers:
Best Practices for Reviewing and Negotiating Agreements
Y 10
ou will be in a stronger position to negotiate software-related agreements if you start with a disciplined process for evaluating purchases. We recommend that you do the following:
• Develop and follow firm guidelines for evaluating and purchasing software.
• Know what product you’re in the market for, and define your preliminary expectations and requirements before seeing a demonstration.
Best Practices in Licensing Agreements ILTA Report
• If the product under consideration is high-impact or you are not fully familiar with the type of system, develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) to submit to prospective vendors.
• Determine the key business, technical, and operational factors you will consider in evaluating the product.
Prepare a chart listing those factors, features, and functions, and use it to evaluate and compare products. In addition, you may find that assigning a rating to each product’s implementation of each item
