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People Experience Solutions

HRIS and payroll RFP support that tests fit before you sign.

PES prepares the requirements, RFP documents, demonstration scripts and evaluation model for HRIS, payroll, time and attendance and workforce management selections, so the vendor decision rests on evidence about your organisation.

Most vendor processes go wrong before vendors respond

Requirements are often written from the current system, workarounds included, or copied from a generic HR feature list. Every vendor can answer yes, the scores bunch together, and the decision falls back on the demonstration and the price. The gaps then appear after contract, when they are change requests.

Common signs

  • Requirements too generic to separate the vendors
  • Scope boundaries unresolved, including what the System Integrator will own
  • Evaluation criteria that do not reflect business or payroll risk
  • Vendors given too little current-state context to respond accurately
  • Vague integration and data assumptions
  • Scores based on stakeholder preference with no evidence behind them
  • Commercial, functional and delivery risk assessed separately

When organisations bring PES in

PES can start at any point from early market scan to contract.

  • A platform is end of life or no longer supports the awards, enterprise agreements or workforce model.
  • Procurement needs a defensible process and the business has not yet agreed what it needs.
  • A requirements pack exists, but it describes today's process instead of the outcome required.
  • Vendor demonstrations have started and the business cannot tell the products apart.
  • A preferred vendor has been chosen and the scope, assumptions and SOW need checking before contract.

Support across the selection

Each stage produces documents the evaluation panel, procurement and the vendors can work from.

  1. Sourcing approach

    Confirm the market approach, how scope is packaged across platform, System Integrator and support partner, which vendors to approach and how the decision will be governed.

  2. Requirements and briefing pack

    Write business, functional, technical, compliance and delivery requirements that vendors can respond to meaningfully, with enough current-state context to price and design against.

  3. Evaluation model

    Set the scoring, weightings and evidence each score needs, and agree who decides what before responses arrive.

  4. Scenario demonstrations

    Turn the requirements that could change the decision into scripted scenarios, such as a shift crossing midnight or a retrospective classification change, so vendors show how the product handles your rules.

  5. Clarifications and response analysis

    Manage vendor questions, compare responses on the same basis, and identify where a yes depends on configuration, customisation or a manual step.

  6. Recommendation and transition

    Prepare the recommendation with its risks and trade-offs visible, and carry the assumptions into the contract, SOW and implementation plan.

Typical outputs

  • Sourcing strategy
  • Requirements workbook
  • RFI, RFP or RFQ pack
  • Vendor briefing materials
  • Demonstration scenario scripts
  • Evaluation framework and scorecards
  • Clarification register
  • Evaluation and recommendation report
  • Transition-to-delivery assumptions and risks

Risks this work addresses

  • A product chosen on a demonstration that did not use your awards or work patterns
  • Scores that cannot separate the shortlist, leaving a decision that is hard to defend to the board or procurement
  • Gaps discovered after contract, when they become change requests
  • Vendor assumptions about data, integration or client effort left buried in the response
  • A System Integrator scope that leaves client responsibilities unclear

A good RFP makes the trade-offs visible

No vendor process removes the need for judgement. The structure exists to put the evidence in front of decision-makers: how well each option fits, what it will cost to run, where the delivery risk sits and what the organisation will still have to do itself. A recommendation built that way can be defended when the board asks why, and when an unsuccessful vendor asks for a debrief.

Project example

Client names, sectors, project values and specific outcomes are not disclosed.

Requirements and RFP support for HRIS selection

RFP supportRequirementsHRIS selection
Situation
An organisation needed to go to market for a modern HRIS but had incomplete requirements, limited evaluation structure and no clear process for comparing vendor responses.
PES role
Developed structured requirements, drafted RFP documentation, defined evaluation criteria, prepared vendor demo scripts and supported the shortlisting process.
Outputs
  • Requirements pack
  • RFP and RFQ documentation
  • Evaluation criteria and scoring matrix
  • Vendor demo scripts
  • Shortlist recommendation
Decision supported
Which vendors warranted detailed evaluation and what criteria should drive the final selection recommendation.
All project examples

Common questions

Do you have relationships with any HRIS or payroll vendors?

No. PES does not sell software, hold vendor partnerships or receive commissions or referral fees. The evaluation model and recommendation are prepared for the client organisation only.

Can you review an RFP we have already drafted?

Yes. A review concentrates on the requirements that could change the vendor decision, the evaluation model and the demonstration scenarios. It can be done before release, or between shortlisting and demonstrations.

Do you cover time and attendance and rostering selections?

Yes. Those selections need requirements built from real work patterns and award rules, which is where products differ most for shift-based and casual workforces.

Can you help select the System Integrator as well as the platform?

Yes, along with support partner selection. The scope, assumptions and client responsibilities in an integrator's response need the same scrutiny as the product.

Related services

Related insights

Preparing to go to market?

Send a short note about the selection, where it is up to and what is due next, and we'll arrange a discussion about the support that would help.

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