{"id":8906,"date":"2020-11-03T11:05:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T11:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eudonet.com\/9-questions-writing-crm-specification-document\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T08:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:49:25","slug":"9-questions-writing-crm-specification-document","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eudonet.com\/en\/resources\/blog\/9-questions-writing-crm-specification-document\/","title":{"rendered":"9 questions to ask when writing a CRM Specification Document"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-lord-blocks-highlight wp-block--highlight\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In summary<\/strong><br>With remote work now firmly established, <strong>Professional Associations<\/strong> must rely on tools that ensure continuity, collaboration, and visibility and a <strong>CRM solution<\/strong> is at the heart of that transformation. To choose the right one, crafting a clear and structured <strong>specifications document<\/strong> is crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Start by defining <strong>who you are<\/strong> and <strong>what your objectives are<\/strong>, then present your <strong>project team<\/strong> and describe your <strong>current processes<\/strong>. Detail your <strong>technical environment<\/strong>, <strong>data quality<\/strong>, and the <strong>key functionalities<\/strong> you expect from the CRM. Finally, include all <strong>practical information<\/strong> (timelines, methodology) and your <strong>future needs<\/strong> to help your provider anticipate your evolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Modern CRM solutions in <strong>SaaS mode<\/strong> ensure flexibility and accessibility, allowing teams to manage members, process contributions, send communications, and analyse performance securely from anywhere. Updates and maintenance are automated, so you can focus on strategy rather than IT constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In short:<\/strong> a well-prepared specifications document is the foundation of a successful CRM project. It ensures that your solution is perfectly aligned with your association\u2019s goals, today and tomorrow, supporting both efficiency and resilience, even in times of uncertainty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Due to Coronavirus, home working has established itself as the norm for many organisations. To support home working, suitable tools that are available remotely are essential. CRM is a good example. Access to a CRM solution has become essential for professional associations to be able to manage their processes, contacts, communications, and many other activities remotely. In this article we look at the 9 questions associations should ask when preparing a CRM specifications document. If your plan this year is to equip yourself with a new CRM solution (or to change your supplier), this article is for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-a-specification-document\">What is a specification document<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A specification is the documentation that you use to express your needs and the desired functional scope for the proposed project. It must be drawn up in such a way that the service provider can provide you with the solution perfectly suited to your association. With well-written specifications, you optimise the project preparation phase as well as simplify the deployment of the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-1-who-are-you\">Question 1 \u2013 Who are you?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order for the service provider to fully understand the context of the project, organisations should present their company structure. Key figures, sector of activity, and scale of establishment, as well as the organisations operations, actions, targets, and strategic goals, should all be detailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-2-what-are-your-goals\">Question 2 \u2013 What are your goals?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your specification should allow the service provider to easily understand the goal of your project and how it will improve your association\u2019s processes. You must therefore detail measurable and quantifiable results so that the situation you want to improve is clearly identified. It is also important to define precise performance indicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-3-who-is-in-the-project-team\">Question 3 \u2013 Who is in the project team?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We strongly recommend the association form a CRM project team who have a good knowledge of the business and internal processes of the organisation but also a technical sensitivity. The project team should be made up of team members from various departments to ensure that each department is fully represented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-4-what-are-your-current-processes\">Question 4 \u2013 What are your current processes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So that the supplier can offer you the appropriate solutions, it would be useful for them to understand your existing functionality: how do you currently meet your needs? What are your processes? An experienced service provider will certainly have already carried out projects similar to yours and will be able to guide you perfectly in choosing the best solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-5-what-is-your-technical-environment\">Question 5 \u2013 What is your technical environment?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Describing the existing technical (hardware and software infrastructure) of your association will allow your service provider to determine how to integrate your\u00a0new <a href=\"\/en\/solutions\/crm\/\">CRM solution<\/a>\u00a0into your technical environment. You must not forget anything: servers, operating systems, software, websites, portals, browsers, and hardware (PC\/Mac, smartphones, tablets, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-6-what-about-your-data\">Question 6 \u2013 What about your data?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Data is at the heart of a CRM project; therefore, data migration is an essential part of the project, the quality and quantity of the data will determine the complexity of its migrations. Data preparation is key: what format do you use? What is the priority data? What data must be processed manually? etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-7-what-functionality-do-you-want-from-your-new-crm\">Question 7 \u2013 what functionality do you want from your new CRM?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this part, you must describe which business processes and database elements you want to find in your organisation\u2019s new CRM solution. Sometimes it is more effective to represent your business processes diagrammatically!<br>This is also the moment to list the functionalities you need in order to manage all of your activity: make sure to include your desired automations, mailings, exports, reports, as well as rights management, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-8-key-information\">Question 8 \u2013 key information?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This section is for the practicalities of the project. You should detail useful information such as the start date of the project, the deadline by which the solution must be operational, and the desired methodology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-question-9-what-are-your-future-requirements\">Question 9 \u2013 What are your future requirements?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The success of your project doesn\u2019t stop after go-live. In the final stage of the specification document, you need to detail the medium- and long-term goals that you anticipate from the day-to-day management of your new CRM solution. This does not commit you to anything but allows the supplier to provide you with the appropriate plans for your future objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-need-for-a-new-crm\">The need for a new CRM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If CRM software works seamlessly, even during lockdown, it is because they are always connected. What we mean here is that they are integrated in SaaS (Software as a Service) mode. This means that the solutions are deployed on outsourced servers and that no software is integrated directly into your own servers. Thus, a simple internet connection is enough to access it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can find your work tool everywhere, even at home. You access all your contacts, all your exchanges, all your dashboards, all your performance indicators, etc. You can continue to work calmly and effectively thanks to your flagship features available on the cloud: processing memberships, editing receipts, monitoring sponsorship agreements, measuring performance using indicators, etc. Nothing changes except your work environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that\u2019s not all! As the CRM is hosted outside of your information system, you do not have to perform any maintenance, and the updates are done automatically. The flexibility of such a tool allows you to make it evolve according to your activity. We all understand that we do not know how the coming months will evolve, but this difficult period (re)highlights the fact that the accessibility of our work tools, but also and above all of our data, is essential for the maintenance of our activities.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Due to Coronavirus, home working has established itself as the norm for many organisations. To support home working, suitable tools that are available remotely are essential. CRM is a good example. Access to a CRM solution has become essential for professional associations to be able to manage their processes, contacts, communications, and many other activities [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"9 Questions to Prepare Your CRM Specifications | Eudonet","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"With Eudonet, learn how to plan a CRM solution that meets your needs by giving these 9 essential informations to your editor and supplier.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"sectors":[88],"solutions":[93],"class_list":["post-8906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"article_suptitle":"","article_short_desc":" If your plan in the coming year is to procure a new CRM solution for your association or indeed change supplier, this article is for you.","article_caption":"","article_related":"","author_name":"Thomas de CHEVIGNY","author_link":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/thomas-de-chevigny-4566829\/","author_photo":24295,"author_bio":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>9 Questions to Prepare Your CRM Specifications | Eudonet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With Eudonet, learn how to plan a CRM solution that meets your needs by giving these 9 essential informations to your editor and supplier.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eudonet.com\/en\/resources\/blog\/9-questions-writing-crm-specification-document\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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