The rules below are fixed in code and applied identically to every deal, every vendor, and every run.
What the score means. The score answers one question: how good a prospect is this buyer for you. It is not a measure of how helpful you are to them, and it is not a grade on your marketing. A high score means their stated priorities and your demonstrated capabilities overlap in ways you can act on.
Where the evidence comes from. Buyer priorities are extracted from filings, earnings calls, press, and the buyer's own site. Vendor capabilities come from the vendor's public record, plus any workspace documents you have confirmed. Every scored cell carries a verbatim quote and its source.
When we refuse to score. If the public record is too thin to score a cell honestly, the cell says so and stays out of the subtotal. An unscored cell is information: it tells you where proof is missing, yours or a competitor's.
Relative, not absolute. The point of the matrix is ranks and deltas between vendors on the same buyer, judged by the same method. Absolute numbers move with the buyer's disclosure habits; comparisons between columns are the signal.
Pairing-specific judgment. A capability's strength is judged against this buyer's stated plans, so the same vendor scores differently against different targets. Scoring is normalized by vendor category, so an operational vendor competing on delivery can reach the top bands without pretending to be something it is not.
Coverage counts what you could address. Coverage is computed over the priorities a vendor could plausibly serve, so you are not penalized for a buyer ambition outside anyone's scope.
Forward credit has a rule. A vendor gets credit for a buyer's future needs only when those needs follow almost arithmetically from stated commitments. A commitment to hire 20,000 people a year is a commitment to a growing benefits load. Speculation beyond that earns nothing.
The same method every run. The steps, the evidence rules, and the scoring are fixed in code, so the same inputs produce the same result for everyone on your team, today and next quarter. That consistency is what makes deals comparable over time.