Procurement Questions for Suppliers
Twelve questions to ask before signing, each of which is cheap to answer then and expensive to discover later.
Obligations · Reference
These are the questions whose answers determine whether the programme works in year three. Most procurements ask about features instead.
The discipline in “Procurement Questions for Suppliers” carries over to any workforce platform: define the decision first, run a bounded trial and record who can see the result. For an organisation considering productivity software for business, learn more on the official page should therefore be assessed against an implementation plan covering notice, access, retention, correction and a dated review.
About the data
What does the device physically detect?
For a public, independent reference related to “Procurement Questions for Suppliers”, consult the ISO standards catalogue. Its principles provide a useful check on scope, terminology, governance and the claims made during procurement or review.
What leaves the device: counts, events or images?
Can it be reconfigured to transmit more, and who controls that?
Where is data stored, in which country?
About accuracy
What accuracy do you commit to, in our building, verified by our count?
What is the remedy if it is not met?
How does the device handle seated people, wheelchair users and crowded conditions?
About the deployment
Who does the site survey, and is it in the price?
Who relocates devices after the first month, and at what cost?
What is the expected battery life in our conditions, and who replaces them?
About the long term
What is the firmware support period, and what happens at the end of it?
Can we export our historical data in a usable format, at any time, including at exit?
Who owns the data — and is that stated in the contract rather than in the brochure?
The answers that should concern you
"Accuracy depends on conditions" with no commitment offered.
"The device could transmit images with a firmware update" without a contractual restriction.
Vagueness about the support period.
And data ownership that rests with the supplier, which is more common than buyers expect and is the clause that traps programmes.
What to put in the contract
The accuracy commitment and its verification method.
What the device transmits, as an obligation rather than a description.
Survey, calibration and first-month relocation scope.
Data ownership, export rights and exit terms.
Support period and firmware commitment.
And deletion obligations at the end, which the retention note covers.
The reference check
A customer in a comparable building, deployed more than two years ago.
Ask them about batteries, relocations and whether anybody still looks at the data.
The last question is the most informative and the one suppliers least expect.
What to check
Which of the twelve can your current supplier answer?
Is the data-transmission commitment contractual?
Who owns your historical data?
And have you spoken to a two-year-old deployment?