Designing a Fair Vendor Evaluation System at Dell

Turning 100+ capabilities, 55 testers, and 3 CMS PoCs into a decision-ready comparison in 5 weeks.

I led the design effort for a decision framework that helped Dell compare vendors through timeboxed PoCs and align teams on what matters at enterprise scale. The goal was to replace “my opinion vs yours” with a fair, repeatable system leadership could trust.

This case study is password-protected due to NDA. Access can be provided upon request.

Overview / Challenge

Dell needed a vendor decision under real enterprise constraints: many teams, different responsibilities, and 100+ requirements. Without a shared model, evaluation would default to inconsistent criteria, uneven testing coverage, and biased conclusions.

Solution

I designed the evaluation framework and the decision matrix:

Grouped 100+ capabilities into clear evaluation sets
Introduced simple calibration questions to set enterprise priorities before scoring
Defined evidence-based scoring rules (hands-on only, no roadmap promises)
Produced an executive-ready summary view that stayed fair across uneven testing coverage

Results

Delivered a decision-ready vendor comparison in 5 weeks (3 PoCs, 55 testers)
Informed the final direction alongside finance and commercial negotiations
Supported a multi-million deal direction with an estimated $80-120M business impact range
Created a reusable framework for future platform/tool decisions

Enter password to view the full narrative, artifacts, and decision details. (NDA-protected)

Industry

Тechnology

Company

Designer

Role

Senior UX Designer / Design Lead
(Evaluation framework + decision matrix; stakeholder calibration; scoring model)

Team

Design, End-to-End Leads, SMEs/Testers, PoC coordinator, Vendor partners, Executive stakeholders (SteerCo)

Timeline