AI support vendor decision packet

AI support vendor decision packet

Fictional showcase · 06 August 2026 · decision ready

This demonstration follows a fictional procurement review for Lantern & Field, an invented customer operations company. Every vendor, score, control, price, and evidence record is sample data created for the report engine; none describes a real organization or commercial claim.

Recommended

Cedar Assist · 84/100

Passes all four mandatory constraints with two time-bound conditions.

Highest raw score

Meridian Reply · 89/100

Disqualified until its support telemetry remains inside the approved region.

Qualified alternative

Quill Support · 77/100

Meets the baseline but needs more workflow and migration evidence.

The review treats a as a pass/fail constraint, never as a weighted preference. An prevents an old assurance from remaining valid indefinitely.

Hard gate

A mandatory security, legal, or portability condition. One failed gate disqualifies a candidate regardless of its weighted score.

Evidence expiry

The date after which a control claim must be re-tested or replaced before it can support the decision.

Gate decision

Mandatory constraint Cedar Assist Meridian Reply Quill Support
Regional processing and support access Pass · EU-only schedule Fail · global support telemetry Pass · EU-only schedule
SSO, SCIM, and role-separated administration Pass · tested 02 Aug Pass · tested 01 Aug Pass · tested 03 Aug
Audit export and 24-hour portable case export Pass · rehearsal complete Pass · API extract reviewed Pass · tabletop only
Contractual deletion propagation within 30 days Pass with condition · pilot test due Pass · evidence expires 30 Sep Pass · sample certificate

Eligibility: Cedar Assist and Quill Support proceed to weighted comparison. Meridian Reply remains ineligible until the failed regional-processing gate is independently re-tested as passing.

Sample evidence map connecting requirements, vendor evidence, gates, scoring, and a conditional decision

Weighted comparison

Weighted score after evidence reviewSample weighted scores rank Meridian Reply first at 89, Cedar Assist second at 84, and Quill Support third at 77; Meridian remains ineligible because it fails a separate mandatory constraint.
Weighted score after evidence reviewSample weighted scores rank Meridian Reply first at 89, Cedar Assist second at 84, and Quill Support third at 77; Meridian remains ineligible because it fails a separate mandatory constraint. Data: Weighted score, Cedar Assist: 84; Weighted score, Meridian Reply: 89; Weighted score, Quill Support: 77.022.2544.566.7589Cedar AssistMeridian ReplyQuill SupportFictional candidateWeighted score out of 100
  • Weighted score
Weighted criterion Weight Cedar Assist Meridian Reply Quill Support
Agent workflow fit 30 27 29 21
Evidence quality 25 22 20 19
Implementation effort 20 16 17 15
Portability depth 15 12 13 14
Three-year cost 10 7 10 8
Total 100 84 89 77

Review lenses

Weights were fixed before proposals were opened. Reviewers scored traceable evidence on a five-point rubric, then normalized the result to 100. Hard-gate outcomes were not converted into points.

Read the scoring assumptions and limits

Scores are fictional ordinal judgments, not measurements of real products. A two-point difference is not treated as statistically meaningful. The recommendation depends on the stated four gates, pilot scope, and evidence dates; changing any of them requires a new decision record.

  • Confirm each gate cites a current owner and evidence date.
  • Recalculate the weighted total without changing pre-declared weights.
  • Verify the selected vendor has a tested export and deletion route.
  • Record every pilot condition with an owner, deadline, and exit consequence.

Decision and conditions

Approve Cedar Assist for a reversible pilot

Proceed only for the EU support queue and exclude payment data. Security owns deletion verification by 21 August; Customer Operations owns peak-volume acceptance by 28 August. If either condition fails, stop ingestion and execute the tested export within one business day. Meridian and Quill remain alternatives, not fallback approvals.

Governed adoption pathFour sample checkpoints keep evidence, pilot access, acceptance, and the final rollout decision separate.

  1. Evidence locked

    Freeze the reviewed documents, hashes, owners, and expiry dates.

  2. Restricted pilot starts

    Enable the EU queue with payment data excluded and weekly exports enabled.

  3. Conditions reviewed

    Evaluate deletion propagation and peak-volume response against the written thresholds.

  4. Go or exit

    Approve wider use only if every gate remains passing and both pilot conditions close with evidence.

Close the procurement decision

  1. Attach dated evidence to each gate and record its expiry.
  2. Sign the restricted data-processing schedule and pilot access list.
  3. Run deletion and export rehearsals before adding a second queue.
  4. Reopen the decision if a gate, material subprocessor, or data flow changes.

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