Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for managed service providers.
A checklist built from how managed service providers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Client agreements and plans
- Service desk with response clocks
- Device and user register
- Patch and backup checks
- Licence resale ledger
- Monthly billing from covered counts
- Projects and time
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For service desk analysts
- For field and project engineers
- For account managers
- For billing and finance
- For client contacts
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Tickets by client, category and plan, with response and resolution targets met or missed
- Repeat faults by device model and client site
- Seat and device counts against the invoiced counts, by client
- Patch window and backup job results by client and week
- Resold licences by vendor, cost, resale price and renewal date
- Project hours quoted against hours logged
- Agreements due for renewal, with usage over the term
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Monitoring and backup alerts
- Remote management tool
- Accounting export
- Payment gateway
- WhatsApp or other messaging
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can one client have different response targets for different services?
- Can it show what we spend on a client against the monthly fee?
- How does it deal with starters and leavers?
- Can clients see their own tickets?
- Does it deploy patches or control remote sessions?
- What happens when a vendor raises the price of a subscription we resell?
- Can our existing tickets and devices come across?
- Who holds the rights to the client records?
- What does it cost?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Seat counts drift from the invoice
- Response targets are not on the ticket
- Alerts and tickets are separate worlds
- Licence resale margins are unclear
- Hours on projects leak
Prefer to talk it through? See the managed service providers page.