Interactive tool
TMS Vendor Scorecard
Score each vendor against your own prioritized dimensions, weighted by what matters to you. Set the weights before the demos so a polished presentation can't quietly re-weight your judgement. It's the companion to the vendor demo questions guide.
| Dimension | Weight % | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Functional fit | |||
| Bank connectivity | |||
| Integration | |||
| Implementation | |||
| Vendor viability | |||
| Total cost of ownership | |||
| Weighted total | 3.00#1 · tied | 3.00#1 · tied |
Score 1–5 on each dimension; the weighted total is out of 5. The winner is the highest weighted total on the same scenarios — not whichever demo felt best. Nothing you enter leaves your browser unless you copy a share link, which carries these names and scores in the URL itself.
Worked example
Two vendors scored on this tool's opening weights — the suggested weights from the vendor demo guide. The 1–5 scores are illustrative, there to show how the weighting works: they are not ratings of any real product, and not a benchmark.
Weights and scores (1–5)
- Functional fit · 30%A 5 · B 4
- Bank connectivity · 20%A 2 · B 5
- Integration · 15%A 3 · B 4
- Implementation · 15%A 3 · B 4
- Vendor viability · 10%A 4 · B 4
- Total cost of ownership · 10%A 4 · B 3
- Weights total100%
Weighted totals (out of 5)
- Vendor A · Σ(score × weight)360
- Vendor A · 360 ÷ 1003.60
- Vendor B · Σ(score × weight)410
- Vendor B · 410 ÷ 1004.10
- Rank #1Vendor B
- Rank #2Vendor A
Read it as: Vendor A has the better feature list — the only dimension it wins — and still loses by half a point, because it is weak exactly where the weights are heaviest after functional fit. That's the pattern the guide warns about: most failed selections over-weight the feature list and the licence, and under-weight connectivity and implementation.
How this works
Methodology
Each vendor's weighted total is Σ(score × weight) ÷ Σ(weights), so a perfect 5 on every dimension scores 5 regardless of how you split the weights. Vendors are ranked by that total, highest first.
Assumptions
- Your weights reflect your real priorities, and you set them before the demos.
- You scored every vendor on the same evidence and the same 1–5 scale.
- The listed dimensions are the ones that actually decide the choice for you.
Limitations
- It ranks on your inputs — a biased or careless score set produces a confident-looking but wrong ranking.
- Weights that don't total 100% are normalized, not rejected (the tool flags it); totals are relative, not absolute.
- It can't weigh anything you didn't make a dimension — contract terms, a specific integration, cultural fit.
Frequently asked questions
How is the weighted total calculated, and what about ties?
Each vendor's total is the sum of score × weight divided by the sum of the weights, so it stays on the same 1–5 scale as the scores themselves and a perfect 5 everywhere reads 5 however you split the weights. Because the weights are normalised rather than rejected, a set that doesn't add to 100% still produces a usable ranking — the page flags the total so you know. Vendors are ranked highest first, and equal totals genuinely share a rank rather than being ordered by whoever was entered first.
How many vendors and dimensions can I put in?
Six dimensions, fixed in this build — functional fit, bank connectivity, integration, implementation, vendor viability and total cost of ownership — with weights you set, plus as many vendors as you need; two are seeded, and a restored or shared scorecard brings back up to 26. Rename any vendor. What the table can't weigh is anything that isn't one of the six dimensions: contract terms, one specific integration, cultural fit. Score those elsewhere rather than smuggling them into functional fit.
What weights should I use on a TMS scorecard?
The suggested starting weights — the ones this tool opens with — are functional fit 30%, bank connectivity 20%, integration 15%, implementation 15%, vendor viability 10% and total cost of ownership 10%. Functional fit is only 30% and licence price only 10% deliberately: most failed selections over-weight the feature list and the licence, and under-weight connectivity and implementation, the things that actually decide whether the system works and goes live on time. Adjust them to your own priorities — but set them before you see the demos, so a polished presentation can't quietly re-weight your judgement.
How do you score TMS vendors fairly?
Same scenarios, same scorers: one panel scoring every vendor against identical scenarios. Score during, decide after — fill the scorecard right after each demo while it's fresh, and compare totals once all of them are in. And tie requirements to scores, so each functional line traces back to your requirements checklist and "fit" means fit to your must-haves rather than a general impression.
What does the share link hand over?
The whole scorecard: your six weights, every vendor name and every 1–5 score, encoded into the URL and copied to your clipboard. Nothing is posted to a server when you press it, but a ranking of named vendors is commercially sensitive, so treat sending the link as sending the assessment. Without that button nothing leaves the page — the scorecard is held in this browser's local storage — and consent-gated analytics records only that the tool was used, exported or shared and that a ranking was reached.
Can I take the ranking away, and will it still be here later?
Export CSV downloads tms-vendor-scorecard.csv — one row per dimension with its weight and each vendor's score in its own column, then a final row of weighted totals out of 5 — which opens straight in Excel or Google Sheets for the evaluation pack. The scorecard is also saved in this browser and restored on your next visit, with Start fresh to clear it and Reset weights to put the six opening weights back. A colleague's shared link never overwrites your own saved scores unless you press Keep it in this browser.
These answers are about the scorecard. How to evaluate a vendor, what to ask in a demo and what matters most in the choice are covered in the vendor demo questions and scorecard guide and how to run a TMS selection process.