Questions to ask a Maximo partner in an RFP

A Maximo RFP is a filter. The point of the questions is not to gather data; it is to surface signal about who can really do the work. This guide gives you the questions that, in our experience, separate serious partners from the rest.

You can lift these directly into your RFP. We have been on the receiving end of enough of them to know which ones produce honest answers.

IBM relationship

1. What is your IBM partnership tier and how long have you held it?
2. Are you an authorised IBM Maximo Application Suite reseller? For which geographies?
3. Which MAS specialisations and validated solutions do you hold?
4. How are you visible in the IBM Partner Plus directory and IBM Partner Finder for Maximo?
5. Provide three named IBM contacts (sales or technical) who would speak to your delivery quality.

Delivery model

6. Name the senior consultants and architects who will work on this engagement. Provide CVs.
7. What proportion of the team will be senior versus junior? Define your terms.
8. Will the team named in the proposal be the team on the project? How is that protected?
9. Where will the team be based, and what is your on-site / remote / hybrid policy?
10. What is your subcontractor policy, and how much of this engagement is likely to be subcontracted?

Implementation methodology

11. Walk us through how you sequence MAS Manage, Mobile, Monitor, Predict and Health on a new estate.
12. How do you sequence asset hierarchy, classification and master data design with respect to configuration?
13. What is your default position on customisation versus configuration? Where is the line?
14. How do you align failure-class taxonomy and equipment hierarchy to ISO 14224 (or equivalent for our sector)?
15. How do you approach data migration, and how do you handle reconciliation and rollback?
16. What does your hypercare model look like in week one and in month three?

Integration

17. List the integrations you have delivered between Maximo and SAP / Oracle ERP / GIS / SCADA / OT / mobile / scheduling / document management.
18. How do you handle integration retest through MAS upgrades?
19. What is your default integration architecture: middleware, message broker, point-to-point, MAS-native?

Hosting and support

20. Do you operate managed hosting for IBM Maximo Application Suite? At what scale (number of estates, geographies)?
21. Provide an SLA template and describe a recent incident, including timeline and resolution path.
22. Can application support be bundled with hosting under one accountability?
23. What is your approach to change management on hosted estates?
24. How do you handle DR testing, and how often?

Upgrade and lifecycle

25. How many Maximo to MAS upgrades have you delivered? Provide a sample list.
26. What is your fastest-quoted Maximo to MAS upgrade timeline, and what was the scope?
27. What happens to our customisations through a future MAS upgrade?
28. How do you stay current with IBM’s MAS roadmap, and how is that reflected in your delivery patterns?

Commercials

29. What is your fixed-price model and what falls outside it?
30. Provide rate cards for senior architect, lead consultant, senior consultant, consultant, developer.
31. How do you commit to A-team retention through the life of the engagement?
32. Provide hosting and support pricing alongside implementation, on a five-year horizon.

References

33. Provide three reference clients in adjacent sectors. We will call them.
34. Provide one reference client where the engagement was difficult, and explain how it was handled.
35. Provide one reference client where you took over from another supplier, and one where another supplier took over from you.

Quality of answers

The differentiator is rarely a single answer. It is the pattern across the answers. Strong partners give specific, named, dated, traceable answers. Weak partners give general, hedging, marketing-grade answers. You will know the difference within the first ten responses.

Where MaxIron fits

We answer all of the above. Often we will tell you something in our answer that we wish we did not have to tell you, because we would rather lose a deal honestly than win one we cannot deliver. If you are running an RFP, we are happy to participate, and we are equally happy to tell you when we are not the right fit.