Hi Bunny,
Just wanted to make you aware that I do work for a quality management software manufacturer The Harrington Group, if you didnt already know... not going to try to pitch our software, unless you are interested in taking a look. Just thought i could help.
There are some things you definitely want to do through your evaluation process.
1) Schedule a web demo/walkthrough, where their sales staff takes you through the product.
2) obtain access to a demo site that you can try out, so you can determine if this is going to fit your needs.
3) Of course PRICING. I know some of these packages can be a bit pricey. But aside from the cost of licensing, also find out costs for training, support, installation, hardware needed, etc.. Also how the system is licensed and that you have adequate licensing to support your implementation.
4) References, the biggest thing IMO is not how the customer is using the software (each company differs), but their experience with the software vendor. Were they prompt on handling support issues? if there was a problem did they bring in the necessary resources to handle it? how long did it take from placing the order to having the system fully implemented?
5) I would also ask to see the terms of the their support agreement. This is mainly to see what their upgrade policy is. Ive heard some horror stories of vendors not support a previous version because they switched platforms.
6) Customization/improvement costs - usually no COTS system will fit exactly into a companies qms, so they will need to make some changes, so what are the costs and turn around time if you want to make changes.
7) Are there any "hidden" costs. Not so much from the vendor, but you may need to purchase something like a SQL server license as infrastructure for the software.
Of course some of these are common sense, but thought i could help.
Thanks,
Larry