A structured, 22-tab evaluation workbook for making defensible software vendor decisions.
Built from two decades of enterprise technology evaluations across financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and the public sector. This is the same framework used in client engagements, packaged as a ready-to-use Excel workbook.
14Dimensions
250+Criteria
5Weight Profiles
What’s Inside
22 interconnected tabs organized into three phases: setup, evaluation, and analysis. Formulas automatically roll up dimension scores into a weighted consolidated scorecard.
Setup (3 tabs)
Setup
START HERE
Instructions, timeline, scoring guide, and tips from experience
Setup
Vendor Overview
Track vendors through your evaluation pipeline with status, contacts, and notes
Setup
Dimension Weighting
Set priorities across 14 evaluation dimensions with preset profiles
Evaluation (14 dimension tabs)
1
Functional Requirements
25 criteria · Core capabilities, workflow support, and feature coverage
2
Non-Functional Requirements
20 criteria · Performance, scalability, availability, and disaster recovery
3
Architecture & Integration
22 criteria · API quality, middleware support, and system interoperability
4
Data & Migration
18 criteria · Data model quality, migration tooling, and governance
5
AI & Innovation Readiness
15 criteria · AI capabilities, extensibility, and innovation trajectory
6
Vendor Viability & Stability
18 criteria · Financial health, market position, and leadership stability
7
Product Roadmap & Strategic Direction
15 criteria · Release cadence, investment signals, and strategic alignment
8
Implementation Ecosystem
20 criteria · Partner network, talent availability, and methodology maturity
9
Total Cost of Ownership
22 criteria · Licensing, implementation, operations, and hidden cost analysis
10
User Experience & Adoption
18 criteria · Usability, accessibility, personalization, and training needs
11
Support & Service Levels
16 criteria · SLAs, escalation paths, and customer success programs
12
Compliance, Legal & Contractual
20 criteria · Regulatory compliance, data sovereignty, and contract terms
13
Change Management & Org Readiness
15 criteria · Adoption planning, communication, and organizational impact
14
Long-Term Viability & Exit Strategy
14 criteria · Lock-in risk, data portability, and sunset planning
Analysis (5 tabs)
Analysis
Consolidated Scorecard
Automatic weighted rollup of all dimension scores with vendor ranking
Analysis
Reference Check
20 structured questions across 5 categories for vendor reference calls
Analysis
Demo & PoC Scorecard
Score structured demos and measure proof-of-concept success criteria
Analysis
Decision Log
Audit trail for every decision made during the evaluation process
Analysis
Glossary
Definitions for 60+ acronyms and technical terms used throughout the framework
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