{"id":1331,"date":"2025-10-13T19:46:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T17:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/how-to-properly-define-and-formalize-a-set-of-specifications\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:14:10","slug":"how-to-properly-define-and-formalize-a-set-of-specifications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/how-to-properly-define-and-formalize-a-set-of-specifications\/","title":{"rendered":"How to properly define and formalize a set of specifications?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The needs assessment phase allows for the qualitative and quantitative determination of the nature of the need. The purpose of this assessment is to establish a set of specifications that will be submitted to the suppliers consulted. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The specifications will vary in complexity depending on the following parameters:
\u2022 Short lead time (generally a consultation) or long lead time (possibility of developing a full tender);
\u2022 Stakes (high or low);
\u2022 Available resources (sufficient, limited, or even nonexistent);
\u2022 Objectives (ambitious or in line with past performance);
\u2022 Risks (novelty, quality issues, etc.)<\/p>\n

Stakeholders in expressing needs<\/h2>\n

The expression of needs is based on an inseparable \"quartet\":<\/p>\n

1. The user<\/strong>, based on their field experience,<\/p>\n

2. The prescriber, for their technical knowledge,<\/p>\n

3. The supplier <\/strong>for their offer,<\/p>\n

4. The buyer <\/strong>being the lead project manager.<\/p>\n

The buyer, always at the heart of this group, ensures a delicate balance between stakeholders:
\u2022 internally, they define the company's needs with their contacts,
\u2022 externally, they select suppliers and deal with those who best meet these needs.<\/p>\n

Ideally, we should define the need as precisely as possible, which in reality is complicated because we never have all the necessary information. The balance between over-quality and under-quality is delicate. <\/p>\n

The 2 types of specifications<\/h2>\n

The <\/strong>specifications document used for consulting the supplier market can be:
\u2022 fixed (generally a precise reference);<\/p>\n

Of course, the choice between these two types of specifications is defined based on the strategy put in place.<\/p>\n

The specifications are fixed<\/h3>\n

It is expressed in terms of \"the fact of\", meaning that a solution is imposed without necessarily explaining what it will be used for or the level of useful performance.<\/p>\n

This is therefore a document that brings together all the characteristics that are imposed on suppliers.<\/p>\n

Depending on the stakes, the technical specifications <\/strong>can take a simplified form based on a definition plan and a number of commercial criteria, or a more elaborate form including:
\u2022 an introduction containing general information,
\u2022 the subject of the contract, specific to the consultation and defining the context, the contract duration, the associated contract, the environment and its regulations\u2026
\u2022 the description of the need, including the characteristics of the equipment or service expected, the desired level of quality, the standards to be met\u2026
\u2022 the contract price, which specifies to suppliers the procedures for responding to the price,
\u2022 the organization of the procedure, which includes a description of the obligations to be met, such as the date of receipt of bids, the person in charge of the file\u2026
\u2022 the award criteria, which present the procedure for selecting suppliers.<\/p>\n

The functional specifications<\/h3>\n

This type of specification is expressed in terms of \"made for,\" meaning the search for a result derived from a supplier's solution<\/strong>. The constituent elements of a functional specification are: <\/p>\n

1. The general presentation of the need<\/strong>, which describes the main needs that the product or service must satisfy, information on volumes and their distribution over time and the general context of the project (the situation, the parties involved in the project and the objectives, the nature of the service requested, the confidentiality and the desired environment),<\/p>\n

2. The functional expression of the need<\/strong>, which is the result of a functional analysis of the product or service, which reveals the different levels of detail in the expression of the demand.<\/p>\n

Service functions and constraints: A constraint is defined as a limitation on the designer's creativity and innovation. These constraints can be:
\u2022 Regulatory: safety, environment.
\u2022 Qualitative: standards, labels.
\u2022 Environmental: available energy, surrounding facilities, handling equipment. <\/p>\n

3. Evaluation criteria:<\/strong> For each function, evaluation criteria must be defined to determine whether the function is fulfilled or the constraint is met. For example: capacity, temperature, troubleshooting time, flame length, etc. <\/p>\n

The essential clauses of a specifications document<\/h2>\n

Regardless of the format of the specifications document, the following elements constitute the standard basis for the clauses that must be included in the tender:
\u2022 Purpose of the specifications
\u2022 Scope of the tender
\u2022 Duration and associated schedule of the project
\u2022 Technical or functional description of the requirement
\u2022 Possibility or not of technical alternatives
\u2022 Mandatory procedures to be followed (non-negotiable clauses)
\u2022 Structure and monitoring of the contract with the supplier
\u2022 Confidentiality
\u2022 Contact persons
\u2022 Main evaluation criteria
\u2022 Technical appendices<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evaluate-the-performance-of-your-companys-purchasing-processes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1332,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/1332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reducio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}