Free Project Management Software

This week Free Project Management Software is dedicating its space to a discussion of what organizations should look for when evaluating agile tooling solutions. Today’s post examines the RFP’s sections on Enterprise Scalability, Data and Security, and Support.

Enterprise Scalability

• Is your tool an industry standard? How many users use your tool?
• Can users be managed via enterprise directory authentication such as Active Directory and LDAP?
• Are integrations with common bug-tracking applications available?
• Does the tool have the ability to support distributed teams?
• Has your tool been deployed for 500+ users on a single instance at a single customer site? 1,000+ users?
• Can you provide three large-customer references? Please list three multi-hundred user installations, approximate number of users, and primary contact.

Data and Security

• Do you support automated and manual backups?
• Are client-server communications encrypted with SSL?
• Do you support encrypted enterprise directory authentication such as LDAPS?
• Do you offer a technology escrow option in case adversity befalls your organization?
• How is programmatic access to the data provided in your tool?
• Does the tool have a web services API for data access and integration purposes? Please describe the scope of the API.
• If your tool is remotely hosted, please provide a detailed outage history.
• If your tool is remotely hosted, please provide uptime SLA.
• If your tool is remotely hosted, how often do you have scheduled maintenance downtimes?

Support

• Describe your technical support options.
• How many times per year do you release?
• Can customers choose when to upgrade?
• Does the tool offer an in-depth, online product manual?
• Is documentation built into the tool?
• Can technical support be accessed directly through the tool?
• What percentage of features released were originally requested by users?
• What is the process for requesting features?