PXM Field Guide · Published 2026-09-16 · Practitioner review pending · Editorial owner: Luke Thompson
Send the script two weeks ahead
Give each vendor the same document: the business situation, the tasks you want to see, the sample data, the roles who will operate the system, and the questions you expect answered on the call. Ask the vendor to confirm which edition and modules they will show. A vendor who demonstrates a module you will not buy has shown you a different product.
Allocate the time by task
A 90-minute session works well as ten minutes of context, sixty minutes of scripted tasks, and twenty minutes of questions. Ask the vendor to skip the company overview. Give each task a clock and stop when time runs out; an unfinished task is a finding. Record the session with permission so a colleague who missed it can score it later.
Task 1: onboard and correct real data
For PIM, import your sample supplier file with the missing identifier, mixed units, and duplicate you planted. For DAM, upload a batch that includes a near-duplicate, a file with no metadata, and one with a rights restriction. Watch the operator find the problems, fix them, approve the result, and repeat the import. Count manual touches and note who needed to help.
Task 2: change something and follow it downstream
Change an engineering value on a shared product, or replace an approved image with a new version. Ask to see the affected products, the approval step, the audit record, and the destination that received the change. Ask what a downstream site shows during the gap between approval and delivery. Ask what happens to a copy someone already downloaded.
Task 3: let your occasional user drive
Hand the mouse to someone who will use the system once a month. Ask them to find a specific product or asset, understand its status, and export or share it. Do not let the vendor narrate. The time and questions from this person predict adoption better than any feature list.
Task 4: break a connection
Ask the vendor to send an intentionally incomplete record to a test destination and show the failure, the owner of the error, the fix, and the retry. If the vendor cannot show a failure in a demo environment, ask for a documented example and mark the item unresolved. Ask which parts of the fix require standard configuration, a paid connector, partner services, or custom code.
Score on the same sheet
Give each evaluator the same scoring sheet before the call: the task, the expected outcome, what you observed, a 1 to 5 score, and the evidence for that score. Leave any task the vendor skipped as unknown rather than average. Record edition, modules, demo date, and the vendor team present. Collect the sheets within 24 hours and reconcile disagreements in a short meeting rather than by averaging.
Close with written commitments
Send the vendor a list of every claim made on the call that you will rely on, and ask for written confirmation with the edition and any limits. Include the questions nobody could answer. Put the answers, the recording, and the scores into your shortlist record. The same document becomes the acceptance criteria if that vendor wins.
Sources and scope
Official sources checked 2026-09-15. Vendor statements establish documented scope, not completed testing. The evaluation tasks are PXM Field Guide’s proposed approach.