I'm a UK-based IT manager at a school and currently handle almost everything apart from first-line support, which is covered by a full-time technician. The school is considering either hiring someone to replace me or bringing in a managed service provider while keeping the onsite technician.
I expected to provide enough information for a rough estimate, along with hourly rates for projects and additional services. Instead, the MSP has requested extensive details covering daily and seasonal responsibilities, staff and student numbers, servers, networks, remote access, devices, suppliers, contracts, licensing, documentation, administrative access, operational procedures, risks, projects, budgets, and compliance.
Some of this seems reasonable, particularly the general scope of work and infrastructure size. However, asking for complete runbooks, detailed documentation, supplier information, contract costs, and other operational details before any agreement feels excessive. It could also expose sensitive information or give the MSP a detailed list of future sales opportunities.
What information would normally be reasonable to provide at the initial quoting stage, and what should wait until a contract or formal discovery phase is agreed?
5 Answers
I would turn their list into two stages. For the initial quote, provide counts, scope, support expectations, major systems, infrastructure age, known issues, compliance obligations, and planned work. For the second stage, provide detailed documentation, diagrams, procedures, contract data, and access information under a formal agreement or paid assessment.
Ask them to explain why each category is needed, what they will do with it, and whether the information is mandatory or merely helpful. If they refuse to quote without receiving your entire documentation set, the school can decide whether that provider is worth pursuing.
The questions about responsibilities, staffing, user counts, device numbers, major systems, and the general infrastructure are reasonable. An MSP needs to understand the size and complexity of the environment before pricing support.
Complete runbooks, detailed procedures, credentials, and all internal documentation are different. Those should normally be shared during a paid discovery or onboarding phase, not handed over in full before there is an agreement. You could provide a high-level summary and a few redacted sample documents instead.
Supplier and licensing information can be useful, but a full breakdown of contracts, renewal dates, costs, and every licensing arrangement feels more appropriate after the provider is shortlisted. It may also reveal commercial information that is not necessary for a rough support estimate.
Have the school’s decision-makers own the process and decide what can be disclosed. Provide redacted examples where possible, avoid sending passwords or sensitive security details, and make sure any documents are transferred through an approved secure method.
The request may also be intended to estimate how difficult the handover will be. An MSP needs to know whether it is inheriting a clean, documented environment or a poorly documented one, since that can make a substantial difference to staffing and transition costs.
The amount of information needed depends on the scope. If the school has not clearly defined what it wants the MSP to take over, it is fair for them to ask broader questions. Supporting a small office with a few standard devices is very different from supporting a school with complex systems, safeguarding requirements, legacy infrastructure, and seasonal workloads.
A sensible approach would be to give them a high-level service description, approximate quantities, major platforms, support hours, known risks, and upcoming projects. Ask them to state their assumptions and exclusions, then price a detailed discovery and transition separately.
A small MSP might only need endpoint types and quantities, user numbers, major applications, connectivity details, and an outline of who supports what to produce a ballpark quote. Once they are selected, they can carry out a proper technical assessment and collect network diagrams, data-flow information, and administrative access securely.
Larger providers may have discovery tools that gather much of this information automatically. Be careful about allowing scans or privileged access before the school has approved the engagement and agreed how the collected data will be handled.
Some of the risks, known problems, planned changes, and compliance requirements are also relevant to an initial estimate. They can affect the price without requiring you to disclose every operational detail.