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WHITE PAPER

BEST PRACTICE CTRM PROCUREMENT

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INTRODUCTION Selecting a commercial CTRM software solution can be fraught with potential pitfalls. Traditionally, CTRM solutions have been selected using an arduous mechanical process involving various steps from issuing a Request for Information (RFI), through Request for Proposal (RFP), demonstrations, reference checking and scoring. Recently, some have opted to follow a process that may also involve a Proof-of-Concept stage (POC) to gain hands on experience with usage of the solution especially if it is delivered in the cloud as software as a service where it is easier to access. Despite everything,

the selection process remains problematic and potentially open to bias, and this white paper will seek to provide some lessons learned and best-practice advice to would be selectors.

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

CTRM Complexity The commodities business is broad and very varied depending primarily on what commodities are traded, how they are traded and where those operations are located. Commercial CTRM solutions have often evolved from a specific commodity and geography to become multicommodity, global solutions and through a process of adding specific functionality for specific customers. This means that such solutions can be highly configurable as they seek to satisfy the broadest potential customer base possible across multiple commodities and locations. While configurability helps ensure that the product can be used by a broad base of diverse customers, it also means complexity in terms of understanding the depth and breadth of functionality and how that functionality is accessed or lost through configuration. In part, it is this sheer complexity – not just of the CTRM – but of the application landscape that it will reside in, different business models and so on, that creates many selection headaches for those seeking a solution. The sheer complexities of both the market, and the commercial entities that constitute that market, can make it difficult to decipher and understand the software vendors’ marketing materials, sales brochures and websites. It is even more difficult to differentiate between these vendors without the ability to dive deep into their individual capacities for managing any commodity, business process, or geographic region or market.

existing vendor-supplied systems and customdeveloped solutions – or simply make the decision to move from spreadsheets to a more programmatic approach to managing their commodities businesses – the process of acquiring a best-fit solution can be daunting. As such, it is recommended that any company beginning the journey to find a new solution utilizes a structured programmatic approach, one that ensures they have a full view of all options and an understanding of the capabilities of those that might initially appear to be a good fit for meeting their functional needs; and ultimately, a chosen vendor that proves to be a solid and supportive partner in meeting their goals. Taking the time and effort to get the procurement process right can only be beneficial for everyone concerned saving time, money and effort in the long run. Moreover, getting the right solution will aid in acceptance by staff and in better and optimal business processes moving forward.

So, when companies begin their journey to replace

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

Overall Selection Approach As a rule, and beginning after the commitment to pursue a new system has been made and budget allocated, a well thought out selection process will be structured as: 1. Market scanning and analyst briefings, 2. Issuance of an RFI, followed by receipt of responses and scoring (potentially optional step) for high-level filtering, 3. Issuance of an RFP with weighted scoring and interactive demos or workshops, 4. Hands-on proof-of-Concept trials (POC) – especially for SaaS platforms, 5. Final selection and contract negotiations. Preparation – Set the Right Foundations It pays dividends to invest in an initial preparatory step internally designed to understand what it is the company is setting out to procure and how it will do that. This will include answering several key questions such as, • What is the CTRM strategy • Is it to procure a single source of truth across all regions and commodities, or to procure specific solutions by region and/or commodity? • What is the right level of effort to expend in the process? • What is the expected contract value and risks of not getting it right? • For example, is it wise to allocate a very small budget to procure a ten-million-dollar investment or should the effort placed into procurement be reasonable for the money being spent on the system? • What is the right balance? • How will the CTRM map into the overall IT landscape • What solutions will stay and require integration

• What solutions might stay (if overlap, which is the system of record) • Which will be replaced • What solution functionality may not be covered • What is the level of business involvement and wider business buy-in in the process? • Need to have the right representatives from the business • Need to have the right IT representatives • Need to ensure involvement and buy-in of wider business • Will you use a selection consultant to handle everything internally? Each poses a different set of risks. • Evaluation approach • How much thought needs to be given to future requirements as the business evolves? • Evaluation approach for coverage and capabilities versus the additional cost to develop if functionality is not included • Determine scoring methods

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

External Consultants – Friends or Bias? Using an outside consultancy or SI can help with a good procurement project by bringing in outside expertise and project management along with tools that can aid the process. However, they can also introduce unwanted bias. The primary concern will be that the firm has a bench with certain vendor/product skills that it would like to deploy. Other biases are identified below. Always be aware and mitigate for these biases. Identification of potential software providers The next step is to develop a list of vendors and products that may be applicable. This can be performed using online searches, online directories like that at CTRMcenter, and tools like the CTRM Sourcebook. It can also be supplemented by asking staff who they may have worked with before and colleagues in the industry. A third-party selection consultant will also have lists of vendors and products. The Request for Information (RFI) An RFI can be helpful if the team needs to cast a wide net or lacks market familiarity. In 2025, many buyers skip the RFI stage if they’ve already shortlisted through peer input or analyst briefings. When used, RFIs should focus on: • Vendor maturity and cloud architecture • Industry focus and integration capabilities • ESG alignment and security standards • Roadmap and investment in AI, analytics, and automation.

RFP – Depth Over Breadth Building the RFP document is a critical part of the selection process, often requiring significant time and effort. Consideration should be given to several requirements in drawing up the RFP including: • The detailed functional requirements for each business process or set of business processes under consideration and how important they are essential or simply nice to have. Over-engineering the requirements to include a long list of desired, but not commercially or operationally necessary capabilities will only increase costs and timescales and add to project risk. In other words, ensure you have the right level of granularity of requirements for success. • Consideration should also be given to possible future requirements through an understanding of overall business strategy, plans and goals. Also, which markets is the company operating in and is that likely to change in the future? If so, does this impact the requirements in terms of a system’s ability to interface with other market structures? • System features and general business requirements also ought to be considered. These could include adequate security, audit trails, workflow and document management, for example, • IT infrastructure preferences need to be considered. • Does your IT roadmap mandate only cloudbased solutions, or can a cloud-hosted or onpremises solution be considered? • What are the internal support requirements can the software be cost-effectively supported

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

by internal resources? • At what level does the vendor license model include application support – is it only ensuring the product is available and bugs will be fixed or is it a more comprehensive approach? • How will necessary integration to other systems be established and supported – web services, rich API’s, etc.? • Alignment with security and data policies. • The vendor’s track record, installed base size, culture and overall capabilities to keep the product current, • The vendor should provide a costed and resourced plan to show how the solution will be developed, implemented, and supported and if it will partner with other companies to provide the solution, It’s advisable to commence with the exchange of a bi-lateral confidentiality agreements and a letter confirming the vendor’s intent to respond to the RFP. The RFP should include information about the procuring firm such as, • Description of the buyer’s business, including user counts, locations of offices, markets, commodities, and assets, • A list of technical requirements for the vendor (multi-tenanted cloud, hosted in the cloud, onpremises with technology requirements such as Oracle or MS database required). • Instructions on how the vendor is to respond in writing to the requirements (within the supplied document or on a separate form), including deadlines and single point of contact for the buyer.

Note also that the scoring and evaluation process will require a broad selection of experienced project staff, with each bringing their unique set of expertise to the table. This team should include members from each operational or commercial discipline who will ultimately interact with and/or support the system. The project team’s job is to scrutinize the RFP and to test claims and terminology as best they can. Be careful not to accept vendor statements at face value. Caution is required to ensure that the review is performed with the due rigor that needs to be attached to a decision of this importance. If a third-party is used to help build the RFI/RFP, ensure that the RFP requirements are based solely on your requirement set and are not just a lightly tailored standard “cookie cutter” template. Template RFP documents have increasingly become a factor in CTRM software selection projects and while they may be a useful starting point and help accelerate the process, there is really no such thing as a standard set of requirements and using a “cookie cutter” approach can be a risk to the project. While outsourcing the process can be valuable, in the end you cannot outsource the decision! Pay particular attention to the following, • Ensure that non-relevant requirements in the template are removed while any additional specific requirements are added. Failure to remove unneeded requirements can result in an overengineered solution, increased project costs, complexities, and timescales. The template RFP requirements should be scrutinized and edited to suit your needs and anything that is truly not

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

required should be removed, or at least, designated as a ‘nice to have’ and not essential. Additionally, it is very important to distinguish requirements that are mainly related to collecting information (will the solution support potential future phases) and requirements that are part of the initial scope. • The template is based on the template providers past experiences in software selection and it will certainly reflect that. It should therefore be scrutinized for ‘bias’ by the user and rigorously amended as necessary since the template RFP and requirements might ‘predict’ a solution and that solution may be the wrong one. Scoring RFP Responses Once responses are received, they need to be scored. Though the process for applying and assigning scores for each may vary depending on your approach, this is a critical step in the process. Scoring in 2025 is often multidimensional and uses quantitative scores (1–4 or 1–5) against weighted criteria, but also considers other aspects for a more holistic view of the vendor like, for example: • Vendor responsiveness and transparency • Cultural fit and collaboration • Implementation support model • Client references and community reputation • Solution knowledge in the market (third parties) • Size and financial stability It is also best practice to create a dual-track path identifying a preferred vendor and backup to maintain leverage in contract negotiations.

Vendor Software Demonstration The next step is usually a software demonstration or POC to help validate functionality, capabilities, and sometimes - the RFP score. The overall objective of the demonstration is to prove that the software is functional, can meet the requirements, that is appropriate for my business complexity and intuitive to use. A POC provides hand on experience and can be extremely helpful. It is useful to consider the following in relation to a demonstration or POC. • Configurability • Modern CTRM software is extremely configurable and very powerful. While the configurability provides the ability for the same software package to have broad applicability across many or most niches of the market, it also means that this is complex software that is difficult to learn quickly. Indeed, the software can sometimes be so highly configurable that even many of the vendor’s own staff are not fully aware of its true power and capabilities. No short demonstration or even a short POC, can truly provide anything but a superficial glimpse into the workings of the software and its true capabilities. • CTRM Software releases and upgrades • The vendor is in the business of selling its software and is therefore constantly adding to its software’s features and functionality to meet business changes to best position itself to win new business. This often translates into a

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

hectic release schedule for the software, which has implications for those selecting software as well. It is, therefore, imperative to keep in mind that the functionality and features being offered and displayed may not yet be in the latest production version of the vendor’s software.

software itself running on that computer, or via a web browser or thin client to a remote server. In either case, the system may not perform as fast as it would in a run-time environment. On the other hand, poor performance during the demonstration (which can include error messages due to data-loading errors or system bugs) can point to potential downstream performance issues.

• System Performance • The vendor will probably demonstrate the software on a high-end laptop, either with the

Demo & POC: Proof Over Pitch It’s key to determine your objectives for the demonstrations and then share these with the vendor including any data and scripts they may require. While live demonstrations remain important, buyers now often demand more structured, real-life workflows. Consider: • Providing real business scenarios and data for demos that users recognise • Measuring ease of use, workflow automation, and straight-through processing • Assessing UI consistency and user roles • Understanding what’s currently available vs. on the roadmap If possible, follow with a cloud trial or POC as hands-on experience is the most reliable validator. If the solution is cloud-based, there is little work involved in accessing the software and this approach of trialing has the benefit of hands-on use of the solution right from the start. Much of the above guidance and advice

still applies. However, the RFP stage, and perhaps even the RFI stage, can be skipped by going straight to a trial, thus saving time and money. Vendors are likely to want a fee for the trial because they are, essentially, supporting you throughout the process. None the less, this can be an efficient way of selecting a software solution for some. The selection team should build scenarios using real data that reflects the actual business that the software will need to support. This is time-consuming, but worth doing properly, since it forces the vendors to come prepared to show exactly how aspects of their software can support the business. However, it is also a good idea to have the vendor show how a single deal can be entered and tracked all the way through the system

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

to an invoice - this demonstrates the straight-through processing capabilities of the system and gives the selection team a good idea of the complexity and workflow associated with the daily use of the system. By building a set of goals for the demonstrations and providing business scenarios and real data to the vendors, you also establish more of a level playing field by which to judge the different systems on display. In setting goals, it is advisable to consider the following with respect to CTRM software: • Can the vendor adequately demonstrate straightthrough processing? • Does the system have sufficient configurability and flexibility to handle most of your business? • Can the vendor handle the provided business scenarios and data without use of workarounds? • Does it produce the results you expect from the data sets and if not, why not? • What functionality and features being demonstrated are not yet in the current release, and when might they be available? • Does the system provide easy access to the data that it captures and calculates? • How are paper reports produced, and how easy is it to modify/tailor them and create new ad-hoc ones? • How ‘easy’ is the system to use and interact with generally? • How configurable is it and how is the configuration performed? Does it require a super-user to set up and maintain configuration? • How are the software functionality and features presented to the user? Does the system reflect a common and consistent UI convention that users will intuitively be familiar with?

• Ensure that the demonstration calls for an examination of the audit trailing, security, and other ‘background’ functionality. It pays to follow good meeting practice during the demonstrations and structure them to maximize their value. Finally, you will need to develop some sort of scoring mechanism or approach by which to judge the vendors and their products. The scoring mechanism, like that of the RFP process, can be developed from the objectives devised for the demonstrations and will help remove too much subjectivity from the decision-making process. No vendor will score highest in all categories and tradeoffs will likely be necessary. Reference Checking One thing that is often missed in a selection process is reference checking. Ask for references and follow them up. Furthermore, do internet searches for news regarding the vendor. This is a simple step, yet it is often overlooked. When obtaining references, it can be helpful to ask about the following. - how the implementation went - on quality of support given by the vendor directly after go live - regarding contractual term flexibility, no 5 years commitment.

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

Making the Decision Beyond Features – What Matters in 2025 • Time-to-Value Deployment speed remains a critical factor—but it must be balanced with business complexity. For simpler use cases, out-of-the-box SaaS implementations can go live in a matter of weeks. More complex, multi-commodity operations may require a phased rollout. Modern CTRMs should support both paths through modular, scalable deployment options. • Integration Ecosystem Open APIs, streaming data, and native support for third-party tools are now baseline expectations. Seamless connectivity across trading, operations, and finance is no longer a differentiator—it’s essential. • Cloud-Native Advantage True SaaS platforms enable continuous delivery, reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), and faster access to innovation. In contrast, cloud-hosted legacy systems often struggle to meet modern agility and performance requirements.

• ESG & Risk Today’s CTRMs must natively support tracking of carbon attributes, environmental products, and compliance risk—particularly as ESG regulations become more embedded in trade processes. • Exploring AI & Predictive Planning AI-powered forecasting, scenario modelling, and prescriptive analytics are emerging differentiators. While not yet mature enough to drive the final decision, they should be explored—especially in volatile markets where planning precision is critical. • User-Centric Design Modern users expect intuitive interfaces, embedded workflows, and self-service capabilities. CTRMs must be easy to use across roles—not just by specialists.

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

Final Thoughts: Making the Decision In 2025, CTRM selection is a cross-functional decision involving business, IT, risk, operations, and ESG teams. A wrong decision can cost millions—not just in license fees, but in lost agility, poor adoption, and extended timelines. A modern procurement strategy involves: • Clear business outcomes • Smart vendor filtering • Agile processes (with optional POCs) • Structured scoring with stakeholder input • Forward-looking criteria: cloud-native, data-driven, and ESG-aligned By following these best practices, organizations can avoid costly missteps and select a platform that not only meets today’s needs—but evolves with tomorrow’s challenges. Dealing with Bias One thing that is certain to occur on a selection project is bias. Bias should be anticipated and prepared for and, as much as is possible, decision criteria should be selected that remove bias by being quantitative in nature. Bias can occur because of the following

scenarios: • Previous working relationships with vendors and products on the part of your staff (i.e. at their last job they used a particular solution and liked or disliked it), • A consultant or systems integrator who has relationships with various vendors and/or who has staff on their bench with sets of expertise with different products, • Staff with a “position limited” viewpoint who favor a solution because it works for them whether other functional areas are satisfied or not, • The building of personal relationships with vendor staff during the process that distort objective views of the vendor’s capabilities. The project team should be made aware of the bias issue and asked to try to make decisions that factor in only the project requirements and goals, and the needs of the enterprise.

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

Best Practice CTRM Procurement

Summary This paper provides a set of suggestions and guidelines for procuring CTRM software based on best practice and experience. It also seeks to identify points or possible bias and show how to eliminate them. A procurement project requires a comprehensive and

well thought through approach to minimize the risk of a poor selection that might haunt the company for years and cost time, money and business opportunity. This all too often occurs. However, armed with this whitepaper, it is hoped that many of these issues can be avoided.

ABOUT ION COMMODITIES We’re transforming the world of commodities through innovation. Our mission is to understand the diverse and changing needs of your energy and commodities business and meet those needs with advanced technology. Wherever you are, and whatever industry you’re in, ION Commodities solutions put you in complete control. With decades of knowledge and experience, we can provide proven solutions to the challenges you’re facing. That’s why over 30,000 users worldwide have partnered with ION to sharpen their decision-making and boost their productivity. Want to know more? Contact us at: commodities@iongroup.com commodities.iongroup.com

ABOUT AMPHORA Founded in 1997, Amphora is a trusted CTRM provider for commodity trading, offering flexible rolling one-year contracts. Their CTRM software has broad and deep functionality to support edge case business requirements straight out of the box. Whether you have five users or five hundred, trade five products or a hundred plus, they have the scalable CTRM software package designed to meet your needs. Not only that but they will have you up and running in weeks not years. One branch of their software ensures that all of their clients are on the same version, with regular, automated, free upgrades. Integrating their CTRM to other software has never been easier, allowing for multiple systems to be used together, increasing the efficiency of their clients.

If you trade Commodities and need a fresh look at your risk management, you can contact Amphora’s Director Sales, David Glasspool, for an initial 30min call. Contact: linkedin.com/in/david-glasspool-34308937 Website: amphora.net

ABOUT Commodity Technology Advisory Commodity Technology Advisory (ComTech Advisory) is the leading analyst organization covering the Energy and Commodity Trading and Risk Management (E/CTRM) and Energy Transition technology markets. Led by Dr. Gary M. Vasey, along with affiliate analysts Dr. Irina Reitgruber and Kevin Mossop, ComTech Advisory provides invaluable insights, backed by primary research and decades of experience, into the issues and trends affecting both the users and providers of the applications and services that are crucial for success in markets constantly roiled by globalization, regulation and innovation. For more information, please visit:

www.comtechadvisory.com ComTech Advisory also hosts the CTRMCenter and the ETTCenter your online portal with news and views about commodity / energy markets and technology as well as a comprehensive online directory of software and services providers Please visit the CTRMCenter at:

www.ctrmcenter.com Please visit the ETTCenter at:

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