This document provides instructions for using TransparentChoice software to evaluate and select vendors. It outlines a 5-step process: 1) create a project, 2) add vendors manually or by importing from a file, 3) define evaluation criteria in a hierarchy with pairwise comparisons or scales, 4) complete a survey to score vendors and prioritize criteria, and 5) view prioritized ranking and sensitivity analysis results. The document walks through setting up a sample project importing vendors from a spreadsheet, defining financial and credibility criteria, and generating results comparing the top-ranked vendor.

1. How to evaluate and select
vendors
TransparentChoice Software Tutorial

2. From this presentation you will learn how to use
TransparentChoice software to evaluate and select
vendors. See sample results below…

3. The first thing you need to do is to
create a project. In order to do that
you need to be logged in.
If you don’t have an account yet – you
can create it here.
Vendor selection process
1. Create a project.
2. Add vendors.
3. Define criteria.
4. Evaluate.
5. Display results.

4. Click here to create
a project…

6. Now it is time to add vendors as
“Alternatives”. “Alternatives” are things
that will be evaluated in your decision
project e.g. vendors, technologies,
projects or candidates.
So in this project Alternative = Vendor
There are 3 ways to add alternatives:
• Manual one-by-one.
• Collect online – publish a form and
invite other people to submit
proposals.
• Import – from text or a spreadsheet
file.
Vendor selection process
1. Create a project.
2. Add vendors.
3. Define criteria.
4. Evaluate.
5. Display results.

7. Use this button to add
vendors manually…

8. This option allows you to publish
a web-form with which people in
your organization can nominate
vendors. It will be explained in
another tutorial.

9. In this tutorial we will
show you how to import
vendors…

10. You may use “Quick” import and
simply paste the list of vendors
(each in a new line).

11. or import vendors from a
spreadsheet file.

12. This is a spreadsheet that we will
use.

13. Requirements for the spreadsheet
• The file must be saved in xlsx or xls format.
• Data for the import must be in the first sheet.
• The first row must contain headers (names of
imported attributes).
• Headers must be unique.
• One of the columns must be populated with
alternatives’ names. Other columns are optional.
• Names of alternatives must be unique.

14. The first column contains the
names of vendors. “Name” is the
only column (attribute) that is
required for the import.

15. Name (required) and Description
(optional) are default attributes for
each alternative (vendor) you're
importing. You can add other attributes
(a fancy name for any data you want to
attach to a alternative you're
evaluating) such as cost, risk, etc.

16. Click here and upload your
file…

17. “Price” is not a default
attribute so if you want
to import it, you need to
create a new attribute…

18. Leave the default settings.
“Attributes” will be explained
in another tutorial…

19. Click here to preview
the imported data…

20. Click “Import” to
confirm.

21. Vendors are added to your
project as “Alternatives”.

22. If you want to edit a
vendor…

24. Defining criteria is about:
• Building the hierarchy of criteria.
• Setting the measurement option
for each criterion.
There are 3 measurement options:
• Pairwise comparisons (default).
• Custom scale – define your own
scale for a criterion.
• Attribute – use imported data for
the evaluation.
Vendor selection process
1. Create a project.
2. Add vendors.
3. Define criteria.
4. Evaluate.
5. Display results.

25. Go to “Criteria” tab…

26. Select the
best vendor
Financial
Cash flow
Competitive
pricing
Ownership
structure
Location Credibility
Reference
clients
Reputation
Partners
Quality of
deliverables
Support
Cost
Availability
Bottom-level criteria
You will use these criteria to
directly "measure" the
alternatives (vendors). You will
typically use a scale or attributes
to do this.
Upper-level criteria
These criteria are made up of
sub-criteria. You will typically use
pairwise comparison to work out
the relative importance of the
sub-criteria
This is the criteria
hierarchy that we will use…

27. Select the
best vendor
Financial
Cash flow
Competitive
pricing
Ownership
structure
Location Credibility
Reference
clients
Reputation
Partners
Quality of
deliverables
Support
Cost
Availability
Bottom-level criteria
You will use these criteria to
directly "measure" the
alternatives (vendors). You will
typically use a scale or attributes
to do this.
Upper-level criteria
These criteria are made up of
sub-criteria. You will typically use
pairwise comparison to work out
the relative importance of the
sub-criteria
Please notice the difference
between upper and bottom-
level criteria.

28. Click here to add criteria…

29. By default, criteria have “Pair-wise
comparisons” assigned. We will leave
this for upper-level criteria (sub-
criteria will be prioritized with pair-
wise comparisons).

30. Click edit to change
the measurement
option…

31. This is where you can
change it…

32. We switch to “scale” for all bottom-
level criteria (vendors will be scored
with scales).

33. The goal of evaluation step is to:
- establish the relative importance
of criteria,
- score vendors in the context of
bottom-level criteria.
You do this by filling auto-generated
(based on criteria settings) survey.
If you evaluate with your team you
need to:
- collect surveys from all members,
- build a consensus.
Vendor selection process
1. Create a project.
2. Add vendors.
3. Define criteria.
4. Evaluate.
5. Display results.

34. Software generates a survey
for each evaluator (member
of your team).

35. The list of surveys will show
up here. If you're working on
your own, you don't need to
add any more evaluators.

36. Here you define the type of
the judgments in survey.

37. Here you build consensus
when making group decisions.
It will be explained in another
tutorial.

38. Click here to access the
survey…

39. This is an exemplary pair-
wise comparison that
evaluator needs to make.

40. and vendor evaluation with
a scale.

41. You can display the results for the
whole group and for each member.
There are 4 types of results:
- Ranking
- Criteria weights
- Sensitivity analysis
- Score / cost chart
Vendor selection process
1. Create a project.
2. Add vendors.
3. Define criteria.
4. Evaluate.
5. Display results.

42. 1. Choose data source (in this
project we have only one
evaluator).
2. Click on “Show results”.
3. Choose the results to
display.

43. • This is the ranking of vendors.
Vendor 4 is the lead.
• You can display the chart data
in a table.
• Names and priorities of criteria
are below the chart.

44. • This is the score / price chart.
• The bigger circle, the greater value for
money.
• Vendor 4 seems to be the best choice.
• You need to import “price” as an
“attribute” to display this chart.

45. Criteria priorities. On this
chart we display only the
bottom-level criteria. You
can change it.

46. • Sensitivity analysis – see how
ranking changes when criteria
priorities change.
• Vendor 4 is “at the top” even if
the weight of criterion changes.

47. Next steps
• See our other tutorials
• Get the free trial of TransparentChoice software
• Schedule a live demo of TransparentChoice
software
• Request our support for your pilot project