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TOR Workbook (ขอบเขตงาน)
A TOR states what must be delivered for a purchase to succeed: the specifications, the delivery and installation scope, warranty, training, and the criteria the goods must pass on arrival. The free Excel workbook below carries a numbered outline and a specification table vendors answer line by line. No signup and no email required.
Bilingual Thai and English. Two working sheets: a numbered TOR outline (background, specifications, delivery and installation, warranty, training, acceptance criteria, delivery time, other terms, with signature lines) and a landscape specification table (requirement, mandatory or desired, verification method, vendor offer, result) with a worked example row. The working sheets carry no branding at all; the document prints as your organization’s own. Free to use and adapt.
Turn this workbook into a quotation
Complete the project name and required specifications, then upload this workbook. We’ll keep the requirements together in one quotation request.
What a TOR is
A TOR (Terms of Reference, ขอบเขตงาน) is the buyer’s statement of what a purchase must deliver, written before vendors are approached. For laboratory equipment it answers five questions: what capability is needed and why, what specifications the instrument must meet, what delivery and installation include, what warranty and training come with it, and how the delivered goods will be judged at acceptance. Vendors quote against it; the buyer inspects against it.
The document earns its keep twice. Before purchase, it turns incomparable sales proposals into line-by-line answers to the same questions. After delivery, its acceptance criteria become the checklist the goods receipt is filled against, so whether the purchase succeeded is a reading, not a debate.
TOR vs purchase requisition
Both documents start a purchase. They do different jobs:
| TOR (ขอบเขตงาน) | Purchase requisition (ใบขอซื้อ) | |
|---|---|---|
| Used for | Formal or high-value equipment purchases | Routine purchases and reorders |
| States | Everything the delivery must include | What to buy and the budget to approve |
| Read by | Vendors preparing offers | Internal approvers |
| Spec depth | Full table: levels, verification, responses | A short specification column |
| Afterwards | Becomes the acceptance checklist | Becomes the purchase order |
A requisition asks permission to spend; a TOR defines what the spending must produce. For an instrument that will be used for years, the hour spent on the TOR is the cheapest part of the purchase.
What the workbook teaches
The structure encodes the habits that make a TOR work:
Mandatory vs desired
Every spec line carries a level. A TOR where everything is mandatory gets zero compliant offers, or prices padded for risk; the split is where judgment lives.
Verification per line
Each requirement names how it will be checked: datasheet, demonstration, or test result. A line that cannot be verified becomes an argument at acceptance.
Capability, not brand
Specifications describe what the instrument must do, never a model name. A spec locked to one vendor leaves exactly one offer to compare.
The vendor-response column
Vendors answer the table line by line, so offers come back comparable at once instead of as incommensurable brochures.
Acceptance written first
Section 6 of the outline is the checklist the goods receipt uses on delivery day. It is written before buying, while requirements are still requirements.
Warranty and training as spec
After-sales terms sit in the document vendors commit to, not in a conversation remembered differently by each side.
Three habits for a TOR that works
- 1
Write the pass criteria first
Decide what acceptance looks like before reading any offer. Criteria written after seeing prices bend toward the price you liked.
- 2
Make vendors answer in the table
Send the spec sheet and require the response column filled per line. What a vendor will not answer in writing is itself an answer.
- 3
Reuse the last good TOR
A TOR that produced a good purchase is the starting file for the next one. The library your organization accumulates is the real asset.
The article teaches the craft; the receipt closes the loop
Our guide on writing a lab equipment TOR walks through specification writing in detail, with the reasoning behind each section. And when the goods arrive, the acceptance criteria from section 6 become the inspection lines on the goods receipt. Both are free.
Guide: writing a lab equipment TOR·Free goods receipt (ใบตรวจรับสินค้า) template
Common questions
What is a TOR, and when does a purchase need one?
A TOR is the buyer’s written statement of everything a purchase must deliver: specifications, delivery and installation scope, warranty, training, and acceptance criteria. It earns its cost on formal or high-value purchases, instruments, systems, anything installed or trained on. Routine reorders do fine with a requisition.
What is the difference between mandatory and desired specifications?
A mandatory line disqualifies any offer that fails it; a desired line earns comparison points but does not disqualify. The split is the core judgment of the document: mark everything mandatory and no offer complies, or every price carries a risk premium. Reserve mandatory for what the work genuinely cannot do without.
Can a TOR name a specific brand or model?
It is better to describe the capability required and let any instrument that meets it qualify. A specification written around one model leaves one offer to compare and one vendor who knows it. Where compatibility with existing equipment genuinely requires a brand, state that reason in the line.
How detailed should the specification table be?
One row per requirement that matters to the work, each verifiable and each marked mandatory or desired. Ten well-chosen, checkable lines beat fifty copied from a catalog: every line you add is a line you must be able to verify at acceptance.
Is the download really free? Do I need to register?
Yes, it is free, and no. There is no signup and no email form. Download the file, put your organization’s name on it, and adapt the sections to your purchase. The working sheets carry no branding of ours.
What lab purchasing teams quote most
Laboratory centrifuges
Compare RCF, rotors and tube formats before the top speed.
Autoclaves
State the load, chamber size and the documents you need.
Balances and scales
Capacity and readability decide the class before the brand.
Viscometers
Match spindle and viscosity range to the real sample.
pH and conductivity meters
Define parameters, electrodes and calibration standards before quoting.
Water purification systems
Put the water grade and daily volume in the TOR.
TOR written? Send it to us as your first offer
Send the spec table and we answer it line by line, with the documents your acceptance criteria ask for. Any brands on one quotation, including items outside the catalog, and we reply within 1 business day.