Enterprise DMS RFP Template: Requirements, Vendor Questions and a Scoring Matrix

An enterprise document management system RFP should help you answer a practical question: can this vendor give your organization reliable document control that people will actually use?

That means testing how employees find a contract, how a manager approves it, how access is restricted, and how procurement retrieves the evidence later. It also means knowing which subscription, integrations, and services are included in the proposal.

This enterprise DMS RFP template gives procurement a starting point: 24 document management requirements, questions to send vendors, a weighted scoring matrix, and a repeatable demonstration agenda. The requirements focus on capabilities available in Folderit, making the template useful for evaluating Folderit alongside other shortlisted systems. Confirm the proposed plan and configuration against your own document types and processes.

Download the procurement pack:

• Editable enterprise DMS RFP template — Word
• Vendor scoring matrix and three-year cost comparison — Excel

Already have an RFP? Send your requirements to Folderit and request a tailored demonstration.

What is an enterprise DMS RFP?

An enterprise DMS RFP is a request for proposal used to compare document management software against an organization’s requirements. It describes the intended use, asks vendors to explain and price their solutions, and establishes how procurement will assess the responses.

A useful RFP connects each requirement to evidence. “Approval workflows supported” is a starting point. Asking a vendor to route a policy through two reviewers, capture the decision, and retrieve the workflow summary gives your evaluators something they can score.

For enterprise procurement, the RFP should cover both software capabilities and delivery: access control, document retrieval, workflows, auditability, integrations, deployment, implementation, support, and total cost.

Start with a clear project brief

Before sending the RFP, agree on the scope with IT, information security, document owners, and the people who will use the system every day. Complete these fields:

You can adapt this project description:

We seek a document management system for [departments and users] to centralize [document types], control access, manage versions, automate [named processes], and provide searchable records and audit evidence. The proposal should cover [initial volume], [three-year growth], [required integrations], and [deployment preference], with itemized implementation and operating costs.

Name the first three processes you intend to deploy. Vendors can then show a relevant configuration, and your team can compare the work required to maintain it.

Enterprise document management requirements checklist

The following six categories form the 24-row checklist in the downloadable pack. Every row includes a vendor question and an evidence request. Use the default weights as a starting point, then finalize them before reviewing proposals.

1. Security and access control

Specify who can see documents and what each person can do with them. Include these requirements:

• Permissions for individuals and groups, including preview-only and configurable permissions.
• Mandatory two-factor authentication for applicable account logins.
• Single sign-on with your selected supported identity provider.
• Encrypted storage and encrypted connections.

Ask the vendor: Can you configure an employee, a department administrator, and a reviewer with different rights, then demonstrate those rights using their accounts?

Folderit provides permission levels including Previewer, Viewer, Editor, Upload-only, and Custom. Custom permissions are available on Tailor. Its security documentation describes mandatory 2FA, encrypted storage and connections, and SSO options. These controls make it a relevant candidate when access restrictions need to be part of everyday document work. Folderit permissions, security and privacy.

2. Search and document control

Define how a user should locate the correct document and distinguish it from earlier versions:

• OCR content search for supported scanned documents and images.
• Custom metadata fields and reusable folder templates.
• Version history with access to earlier versions and restoration.
• Configurable automatic document numbering.

Ask the vendor: Can a user find a scanned document by a phrase inside it, filter by a business field, and open the current version?

Folderit supports multilingual OCR search and custom metadata, helping teams organize documents around fields such as supplier, department, and renewal date. Its version history lets users restore earlier files, while document numbering supports consistent identifiers. OCR search, metadata, version history, document numbering.

Include representative scans in the demonstration. A search result from your own sample documents is more useful to the selection team than an accuracy claim without a defined test.

3. Approvals and workflow automation

Describe the decisions your documents need and the people responsible for them:

• Serial, parallel, and staged approval workflows.
• Document acknowledgement with recorded responses.
• Electronic signing within a document workflow.
• Reusable workflows and automatic initiation when a file enters a configured folder.

Ask the vendor: Can an administrator configure our approval sequence, handle a rejection, and retrieve the completed process history?

Folderit supports approval workflows in serial, parallel, or custom order, and can combine approval with acknowledgement and signing. Templates and folder-level automation support repeatable processes. Folderit eSign provides a signing option within the platform. Ask vendors to identify the proposed signing method and any separate licensing. Approval workflows, acknowledgement workflows, Folderit eSign.

4. Audit evidence and document lifecycle

Specify how your team will review activity and manage documents over time:

• Document activity logs and an exportable organization-wide audit trail.
• Configurable retention periods with archiving or deletion actions.
• Date-based reminders for reviews and renewals.
• Dashboards and reports for document activity and outstanding work.

Ask the vendor: Can we trace an access change, export the relevant audit entries, and show how a retention rule applies to a sample document?

Folderit records document events and provides a global audit log with export options. Its retention settings support a chosen start-date field, actions at expiry, and exceptions for individual files or folders. This makes the demonstration a useful place to test a policy review or contract lifecycle. Document audit trails, global audit trail, retention automation.

5. Integrations and structured intake

Focus on the connections and inputs your organization will use:

• Microsoft 365 integration for supported Office documents.
• A documented API for building integrations.
• Email attachment import into designated folders.
• Custom forms that create structured records.

Ask the vendor: Which connections are supplied integrations, which require configuration, and which require development? Who will maintain each connection?

Folderit supports Office document creation and editing through Microsoft 365, API access, email-to-folder import, and eForms. API availability gives developers an integration route; the proposal should separately describe any connector or development work needed for your ERP or CRM. Microsoft 365, API, email import, eForms.

6. Everyday use and data portability

Include practical requirements that affect adoption and ongoing ownership:

• Browser-based access to upload, preview, and work with supported documents.
• Controlled sharing with access expiration.
• Import of existing files and folder structures.
• Bulk download of stored files and folders.

Ask the vendor: Can a department user complete a typical task, and can an administrator import and export a representative folder?

Folderit offers browser-based document management, sharing controls, and data import. It also provides bulk file and folder downloads. Test a representative export and separately confirm the treatment of metadata, historical versions, and audit records in your exit plan. Folderit overview, data import, file and folder export.

Vendor questions to include in the RFP

Ask vendors to answer against each requirement ID. A complete response should name the feature, delivery method, proposed plan, configuration steps, evidence, limitations, and any additional cost.

Use these questions to make proposals comparable:

1. Which product edition and deployment model are you proposing?
2. Which requirements are included today, and which need an add-on, integration, development, or future release?
3. Can you demonstrate the requirements using our sample documents and user roles?
4. What administrator effort is needed to set up and change our workflows?
5. What will migrate, including folder structures, metadata, and versions, and how will we reconcile the results?
6. What hosting location, backup arrangements, recovery objectives, and support commitments apply to this proposal?
7. Which security assurance documents and contractual terms can you provide for review?
8. What does the three-year price include, and what changes if users, storage, or transaction volumes grow?
9. How can we retrieve our data at the end of the agreement, and what format, assistance, and costs apply?
10. Who owns implementation, training, integration maintenance, and acceptance testing?

These commercial and operational answers belong alongside the feature score. Record any condition that must be resolved before selection.

DMS vendor scoring matrix

The downloadable workbook includes three vendor columns, editable weights, evidence fields, and automatic weighted points. Folderit is included as the first candidate, with scores left blank for your evaluators.

Score each of the 24 requirements from zero to five:

Calculate each row as score ÷ 5 × row weight. With weights entered as percentage points totaling 100, the sum is a score out of 100. A requirement weighted at 7 points and scored 4 contributes 5.6 points.

Mark essential requirements as mandatory before issuing the RFP. In the workbook, a mandatory row needs at least 4. A failed mandatory row prevents a vendor from becoming eligible for selection review, regardless of its total. Unfinished scoring and unresolved due diligence remain visible.

Run a demonstration that follows a real document

Give every vendor the same agenda and sample files. A focused demonstration can cover:

1. Capture and retrieval: Upload a scanned agreement, apply metadata, and find it by its contents.
2. Access: Give a reviewer preview access and verify the available actions from that account.
3. Document control: Add a new version, find the previous one, and restore it.
4. Workflow: Route the document through approval, then demonstrate acknowledgement or signing using the relevant sample.
5. Evidence and lifecycle: Inspect activity, export audit evidence, and configure a retention rule on disposable test content.
6. User task: Have one of your evaluators repeat the agreed task after initial instruction. Record whether help was needed.

Save the evidence beside the requirement ID. This makes disagreements about scoring easier to resolve and gives implementation teams a useful record of what was demonstrated.

Compare the proposed configuration and three-year cost

An enterprise buyer does not automatically need a dedicated installation. Folderit offers standard cloud plans as well as enterprise single-tenant and on-premises options. Its single-tenant option supports an AWS region choice and custom branding. Enterprise plans carry a deployment fee and ongoing licensing, with infrastructure costs depending on the option. Enterprise deployment options, single-tenant cloud.

For this checklist, Tailor is the relevant starting point for a standard cloud evaluation: Folderit lists granular permissions, SSO, API access, Workflow Designer, eForms, and Folderit eSign in that plan. Ask Folderit to confirm the complete configuration and capacity in its proposal. Current plans and features.

Use the workbook to compare subscription or licensing, implementation, migration, training, integrations, third-party services, infrastructure, support, internal administration, and exit costs. Enter zero only when a cost has been confirmed as included or inapplicable. Keep unknown costs blank until clarified.

The workbook keeps three-year cost beside the capability score. Procurement can then explain the relationship between price, document control, administrator effort, and the work needed to deliver the proposed solution.

Enterprise DMS RFP FAQs

What should a document management system RFP include?

Include a project brief, document volumes, user roles, functional requirements, security and deployment questions, integrations, migration scope, support expectations, pricing instructions, demo scenarios, and a scoring method.

How do you score DMS vendors?

Agree on weighted requirements before receiving proposals, use the same zero-to-five scale for each vendor, and record evidence against each score. Evaluate mandatory requirements and commercial due diligence alongside the weighted total.

Can this RFP template be used to evaluate Folderit?

Yes. The 24 functional requirements were selected around documented Folderit capabilities. The workbook maps each requirement to a Folderit source and leaves the assessment to your team’s review of the proposed plan and demonstration.

Should the lowest-priced DMS win?

Consider the full proposal. A lower subscription price may come with additional migration, integration, or administration work. Compare the same scope over the same period and assess it alongside the verified capability score.

Evaluate Folderit against your own requirements

Use this enterprise DMS RFP template to turn your shortlist into a structured evaluation. Start with the document processes that matter most, agree on the evidence you need, and ask each vendor to demonstrate the proposed solution.

Request a tailored Folderit demo and share your completed project brief. Ask the team to walk through the checklist with your document types, explain the appropriate plan, and provide a proposal your procurement team can compare.