Statement of Work Project Management Templates

Statement of Work Project Management Templates

Its well recognized that partnering with high performing Suppliers is critical to delivering successful projects. Whether you're hiring a Supplier to; deliver equipment, provide consultancy or simply make the coffee—the key is to document your requirements on project management templates for their delivery upfront, within a "Statement of Work". Without a detailed Statement of Work (SOW), it will be difficult to manage your Suppliers performance, as you will not have a clearly laid out set of requirements upon which to base their performance.

Although you may have a formal Supplier Contract in place, the contract will most likely specify the major deliverables and timescales to be achieved, but it probably won't list the specific procurement requirements as it does in project management templates of your project in detail.

We suggest that you create a detailed SOW as the first step in a Tender Process. It should be created before a short-list of potential Suppliers is identified and long before a Supplier Contract is agreed. The SOW is used to:

	Define the procurement requirements of the project in detail.
	Act as the basis upon which to short-list Suppliers and select a Preferred Supplier to the project
	Identify the Suppliers deliverables in the contract
	Measure the actual performance of the Supplier against the contract

It may sound like a lot of work for the project manager, but creating a detailed Statement of Work in your project management templates is not too difficult a task. Complete the following steps to create a comprehensive SOW for your project:

	Describe the Company profile that the Supplier must fit. For instance, you may wish only to work with Suppliers over a certain Company size, with experience providing certain types of products and a detailed knowledge of your industry and local market. You may also require that the Supplier has a certain number of years experience and clients who can to act as referees.
	Provide a detailed description of the Products (goods and services) to be provided by the Supplier. For each product, describe in detail its components (if a 'good') as well as any skill-sets required (if a 'service').
	Identify the Training required by your project team, to ensure that maximum benefits are gained from the goods and services provided by the Supplier.
	List any Documentation to be supplied, such as an Operating Manual, User Guide, Business Processes or Technical Support Procedures.
	Describe the level of Support required of the Supplier by specifying the support hours needed and the level of support to be given.
	Include any Materials and Equipment to be provided by the Supplier to the project team.
	Clearly state the Deliverables to be produced by the Supplier and the dates within which deliverables must be complete.
	Describe the process for Acceptance of each deliverable, to ensure that deliverables are formally reviewed and accepted by the project team before they are deemed 'complete'.
	Identify the conditions for making Payment to a Supplier for goods and services rendered.
	And last but not least, make sure you protect the intellectual property included within the SOW document by providing a suitable Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure clause.

And that's it. If you complete each of the steps listed above in your Project Management Templates, you will create a comprehensive Statement of Work which can be used to get the most out of your supplier relationship.

If you would like to download a Statement of Work project management templates to help you create a SOW quickly and efficiently, then please do so above.