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You've got approval to invest in a new system, and the budget to deliver it. It matters to the organisation, and people are expecting you to get it right.

Knowing where to start is harder. Choosing a new CRM, membership system or finance system isn't something most teams do often, so the route from "we need something new" to a system that works for everyone is rarely obvious.

In our experience of 550+ projects with membership bodies and charities, much of what decides how a project goes happens early, while you're still working out what you need. It starts with requirements gathering.

What is requirements gathering?

Requirements gathering is the process of agreeing what your new system needs to enable your organisation to do, and why. It usually involves a series of workshops with teams across the organisation, which produce a single, prioritised list of requirements.

That list becomes the basis of your Invitation to Tender (ITT), the document that invites suppliers to propose how they'd meet your needs. It's also what you'll judge every demo, proposal and price against.

We're covering how to do this well, with a buyer and a supplier alongside our consultants, in our webinar on Thursday, 22 October.

Why does requirements gathering matter?

Your requirements carry through everything that follows. Suppliers propose against them, you score their responses against them and the implementation is built around them. A need that's missed at this stage is usually much harder and more expensive to deal with later, once a contract is signed and the work is under way.

Requirements gathering is also where the change begins. The workshops are often the first time teams sit down together to talk honestly about how work really gets done: where processes break down, where workarounds have become normal and what people actually need. For some staff, it might be the first time they've had the chance to share the challenges they experience with the systems they use every day.

That shared understanding is valuable in its own right. When people have helped shape what's being bought, and understand why, it's much easier to bring them with you when the new system arrives.

Where requirements gathering tends to go wrong

A few problems come up often. They're rarely obvious at the time, which is why they're worth knowing about in advance.

The loudest voices shape the list

Input often comes mainly from the people closest to the project, or the most confident in workshops. Teams who use the system every day, or rely on what it produces, can be under-represented, and the operational detail they hold gets missed.

Early gaps go unnoticed

Once requirements start to take shape, they influence every decision after them. A missing or unclear need is hard to spot at this point, and tends to surface during implementation, when it's more complex and costly to change.

The focus stays on today

Requirements are usually based on how the organisation works now. Selection and implementation take time, and your priorities may have moved on by go-live (the point the new system is switched on). It helps to ask what you'll need technology to enable as your strategy develops, and to test your requirements against that as well as against current processes.

What does good requirements gathering look like?

Done well, requirements gathering means:

  • Every team that'll use the system, or relies on what it produces, has a say
  • Workshops focus on what each team needs to achieve, rather than how a particular system might do it
  • Requirements reflect where the organisation is heading as well as how it works today
  • Everything is brought together into one list, with priorities agreed against your objectives
  • Everyone knows what's been left out, and why

Who runs the workshops matters too. When they're facilitated by someone from outside the organisation, people tend to speak more openly, and issues that have been worked around for years are more likely to come to the surface.

Restarting with fresh requirements: Epilepsy Action

Epilepsy Action's CRM project had stalled, and the charity was running two CRMs side by side. They asked us to review the situation. We supported fresh requirements gathering, an Invitation to Tender and supplier selection, then managed the project alongside the implementation partner. Epilepsy Action's communications lead worked with us on regular staff updates, and the new CRM went live within ten months of the reset.

"Hart Square helped us to recognise that what we were trying to do was achievable. We just needed a reset. The initial phases of planning and supplier selection reinvigorated our teams and generated momentum."

Jon Eaton, Communications and Digital Engagement Director, Epilepsy Action

Before you book a demo

If you're about to speak to suppliers, try one test first. Could the people leading your project each describe, in similar words, what the new system needs to enable your organisation to do, and what matters most? If their answers differ, that's the place to start.

Join our next webinar

We'll cover requirements gathering and choosing a technology provider in Choosing with confidence: Selecting the right technology and partners, Part 2 of the Hart Square Learning Programme. Rebecca Radley, Head of Marketing and Member Engagement at the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA), and Dean Terry, Co-Founder and Technical Director at Cantarus, join us to share the buyer's and the supplier's view. Everyone who attends will receive our guide, Choosing with confidence.

Thursday, 22 October 2026, 9.30am

If you'd like to talk about your own project, we can help you gather and prioritise your requirements, or support any part of choosing a provider. We're independent: we don't sell software, we don't represent any technology provider and we take no commission or referral fees.