Workplace AI Enablement PlaybookOrganize

Vendor & Tool Evaluation Rubric

Run every external AI vendor, implementation partner, and internal tool through the same ten criteria. The council decides; specialists assess — and every tool lands in one of three registry columns.

11
Use whenEvaluating any AI vendor, implementation partner, or internal tool — including every tool surfaced by the shadow-AI inventory — before it is approved or funded.
OutputA working evaluation rubric and a registry placement: approved, experimental, or prohibited.
A

Evaluation context

Vendor / tool
Evaluated by
Date
Workflow it serves A workflow the organization has actually prioritized.
1

Ten evaluation criteria

Criterion
Rating (1–5)
Evidence & notes
Follow-up needed
1 · Business & workflow fit
Does it address a workflow the organization has actually prioritized?
2 · Security & privacy
Architecture, certifications, breach history, data handling.
3 · Data retention & model-training terms
Does the vendor retain inputs? Train on them? Can that be turned off contractually?
4 · Identity, access & administration
SSO, role-based access, admin visibility.
5 · Integration requirements
What it must connect to, and what that costs.
6 · Accuracy & human-review requirements
Error rates for this task, and the review burden they create.
7 · Accessibility & employee usability
Can people across roles and abilities actually use it?
8 · Training & support
What the vendor provides versus what the organization must build.
9 · Total cost & expected value
Licenses plus integration, training, oversight, and administration.
10 · Vendor stability & exit options
What happens to your data and workflows if the vendor folds or the contract ends?
Add any criteria your regulatory context requires before adopting the rubric.
2

Registry placement

The council decides; specialists assess.Detailed technical, security, legal, and workflow evaluations are delegated — the placement decision stays with the council.
Delegated to: IT / security Systems, identity, data protection, technical evaluation.
Delegated to: legal / privacy / compliance Contracts, regulated data, risk classification.
Delegated to: workflow owner Useful, usable, and realistic for the actual work.
You should now have