Freeze one common baseline for each purchasing decision. Otherwise, an incumbent, an add-on and an internal build can receive scores that answer different questions.
| Decision | Recommended baseline | Options to compare |
|---|---|---|
| Add a subscription | Current authorised stack and current workflow | Add supplier; improve existing workflow; commission specialist work; buy nothing |
| Renew or replace a supplier | Retained stack excluding the contract under review | Renew incumbent; replace it; build the missing capability; remove it |
| Consolidate several contracts | Retained stack excluding all contracts under review | Alternative bundles and delivery plans, including the existing configuration |
| Build an internal integration | Current workflow without the proposed build | Internal build; external integrator; supplier-native workflow; no change |
For renewal and consolidation, also maintain a loss register against the full current stack: which essential footage, historical records, fields, reports or workflows would disappear under each option?
Do not award “new intelligence” points simply because evidence is new to an evaluator. First check whether the agreed baseline could already produce it within the same time allowance. Conversely, do not dismiss a service merely because it uses familiar data: a supported interpretation that resolves a previously unanswered question can be valuable.
What should the decision brief contain?
Complete this before inviting suppliers:
- Decision: retain, add, replace, consolidate, build or remove.
- Accountable sponsor: named budget owner and final approver.
- Operational owner: the person responsible for adoption after purchase.
- Recruitment question: specific playing role, evidence gap or workflow failure.
- Scope: clubs, users, competitions, seasons, player populations and required data types.
- Deadline: purchase decision, notice deadline and required operational date.
- Baseline: products, entitlements, workarounds and staff effort included.
- Acceptance conditions: must-pass requirements and permitted exceptions.
- Cost horizon: first year and full proposed contract term.
- Evidence permissions: who may inspect, export, process and retain trial material.
Give scouting ownership of football usefulness, analytics ownership of technical testing, finance ownership of cost reconciliation, and legal/IT ownership of their respective gates. These are recommended responsibilities, not assumptions about every club’s organisation.
A relevant public hiring signal supports this cross-functional approach: Nashville SC’s Data Analyst listing combines event, tracking-derived and physical data with recruitment work and reproducible workflows in the club’s existing Python environment. It does not establish the club’s supplier budget or buying intentions. (teamworkonline.com)
Sources cited on this page
- teamworkonline.comwww.teamworkonline.com