Retail Planning

Click to Enlarge	"APPLES-to-APPLES" COMPARISON of vendor RFP responses (proposals) is assured by extensive use of quantitative RFP questions and full vendor response validation. Compare proposed retail planning system software features side-by-side faster and more accurately with the fully automated Color Comparison Chart™ matrix included with this retail planning RFP at no extra charge. View a typical comparison here.
Click to Enlarge	"Fleet Response Evaluation Ratios (scores) help you save time. View a typical evaluation ratios here.
Click to Enlarge	AUTOMATED WEIGHTED GRADE POINT SCORING is a quantitative measure of how well a proposed retail planning software system matches up to your business priorities. This graph compares the overall total scores for each proposed system. This Score is based on all vendor responses except Pricing and Vendor Background. View sample 3-D Bar Chart comparison here.
Click to Enlarge	Feature Delivery Methods This graph compares HOW each retail planning vendor is planning to deliver the proposed retail planning system. The bars show how much of each competing system is going to be delivered Fully Supported "out-of-the-box", how much will be delivered using the Report Writer, a Configuration option or 3rd Party product, and how much is dependant on Custom Programming & Scripting. The scores used in this retail planning comparison are based on responses to retail planning system questions only, i.e., no vendor, pricing, or support responses are utilized. View sample 3-D Bar Chart comparison here.
Click to Enlarge	Supportability Index A proposed retail planning system could look very good on paper, but once implementation begins the reality could be very different. The ease with which a retail planning system can be implemented and maintained over it's expected life is controlled in large part by the amount of custom programming and scripting required to build & maintain the system. The Supportability Index is based on responses to retail planning Software System Features only. This graph compares the potential support effort inherent in each proposed retail planning system. View sample 3-D Bar Chart comparison here.
D>Click to Enlarge	Overall Comparison This graph compares the total Weighted Score of each proposed retail planning system along with its Supportability Index and associated Vendor Profile. Use this when assessing the RISK of a proposed retail planning system and whether or not the retail planning system can indeed be implemented by the proposing retail planning vendor successfully. View sample 3-D Bar Chart comparison here.
Click to Enlarge	Vendor Profile Scores This graph compares a score measuring the background, expertise, capabilities, and other data collected in the Vendor Global Issues section of the retail planning RFP. The Vendor Profile Score provides a way of assessing the Capabilities PROFILE of a proposing retail planning vendor. View sample 3-D Bar Chart comparison here.

      A Detailed & Comprehensive List of:

      Identify BOTH retail planning Features Availability and Deliverability

      Unlike other RFPs that try (and fail) to gather useful solutions data about complex system features, retail planning RFP Masters are not constrained to the use of summary-level "Yes" or "No" answers. This RFP Master^™ uses a Feature Support Matrix^™ (FSM) that identify BOTH feature AVAILABILITY and DELIVERY Method. This retail planning RFP Master function is useful during both the retail planning selection AND the system implementation phases of large projects because it enables effective Earned Value Management through detailed cross-referencing of usable software functionality and vendor invoicing.

      Determine the Risk & Supportability of Proposed

      Workflow Topics Included.

      The ability of the proposed retail planning software to successfully integrate with existng business process workflows, or implement new workflows, is critical to a achieving the high productivity increases and ROI expected of the new retail planning system which includes medical equipment management. This RFP Master examines all pertinent Workflow features in detail.

      Vendor Response Input Validation.

      Vendors must answer each RFP question by choosing from a pre-defined list of possible responses. See below for an example of this drop-down list. This forces all vendors to respond to each enterprise/business question in a consistent, standard manner. Eliminates the days of time typically wasted trying to compare the inconsistent or incomplete vendor responses obtained by using traditional, non-quantitative RFP questions! Ensures vendor retail planning proposals are easy to compare and evaluate!

      Color-Coded, "Apples-to-Apples" Comparison of Proposed Systems

      Evaluation Ratios

      Use an extensive set of ratio calculations to compare retail planning vendor proposals quickly and efficiently.

      Weighted Grade Score Graph

      Compares the Weighted Grade Point Score calculated for each proposed retail planning management system. This is calculated as follows: The retail planning vendor response to each RFP question is assigned an unweighted "raw" score. This raw score is then multiplied by the weight factor you entered previously (default = 1) for that retail planning management RFP question to calculate the weighted score for each response. All of these individual scores are then totaled for use in this comparison. This score is essentially a measure of how well a retail planning software system fits your business and software needs, prioritized by the weight (importance level) you assigned to each question in the RFP. In essence, this score measures the SUITABILITY of each proposed retail planning software system to your overall requirements. . NOTE this score measures just software functionality, and does not include any measure of vendor background, expertise, support, or programming ability.

      Feature Delivery Method Comparison:

      An analysis of how each retail planning vendor is proposing to deliver the system feature/function contained in their retail planning proposal. The graph below shows the percentage that is Fully Supported "out-of-the-box", the percentage to be done via Report Writer, a Configuration Parameter, or Third-Party add-in, versus the percentage to be done via Custom Coding (Scripting / Programming). This information is very useful in terms of identifying RISK, since a Fully Supported (and tested) retail planning feature presents far less risk than that same retail planning feature done as a "custom programming" task. Also, see the Supportability Index, which sums up these detail risk factors.

      Fleet Supportability Index Graph:

      The Supportability Index is a forecast of how much retail planning software support and maintenance may be required to keep each proposed software system running at full potential over it's lifetime. This score is determined by how much custom coding is required to implement the proposed retail planning software, and which business processes depend on the customized software.

      Overall Comparison Graph:

      This graph compares both the Weighted Grade (Suitability) Score, Supportability Index, and the Vendor Capabilities Profile side-by-side for easy reference. It is important to see how much custom coding is in a proposed retail planning system that also has a high Weighted Score, along with the Vendor Profile. The more custom code, the higher the risk posed by that retail planning system. Therefore, the more custom coding, the more expertise and capabilities a vendor should have.

      Vendor Profile Score Graph:

      The backgrounds, expertise, capabilities, and certifications of each vendor is obtained in the Vendor Global Issues section of the retail planning RFP. The retail planning vendor responses to this section are totaled separately from the software functionality topics, and this data is used to calculate the "Vendor Profile Score". The higher the score, the more CAPABILITIES a vendor is probably going to be.

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