Free buyer’s checklist
Performance management software buyer’s checklist: 25 questions to ask vendors
Twenty-five questions to ask performance management vendors before or during the first demo, in eight groups — reviews and goals, AI, integrations, GDPR and data residency, languages, admin effort, pricing and support — with the red flags to listen for and a downloadable sheet for each vendor.
By the CLEAR Talent team
This is the short list to have open before the first vendor demo, not the full evaluation. Twenty-five questions in eight groups, each asking how something works rather than whether it exists, so a vendor cannot pass it with a “yes”. Send them ahead of the call or ask them in the first ten minutes, and you will know which vendors have earned a second meeting.
If you are running a formal tender, the RFP template has fifty questions and a weighted scorecard. This checklist is the step before it: fewer questions, the red flags that should make you ask again, and links to the side-by-side comparisons once you have names on the shortlist.
Before the demo
How to use this checklist
Send the questions to each vendor a few days before the demo and ask them to show, rather than describe, the answers that matter most to you. A demo built around your questions is a different meeting from a vendor’s standard tour: you see the parts you will use, in the order you will use them, and the gaps show up while you can still ask about them.
Mark two or three questions as must-haves before any vendor answers. For many teams that means where the data is hosted, how people data gets in, and what a year costs at their headcount. A vendor that fails a must-have is out, however good the rest of the demo looks.
Running a formal tender? Use the 50-question RFP template and scorecard
The checklist
The 25 questions to ask performance management vendors
Eight groups, numbered in order so your panel’s notes line up across vendors. Under each question is what a good answer sounds like: specific, shown on screen, and backed by something you can put in the contract file.
Reviews and goals
Whether the product runs your process, or asks you to adopt its own.
Can you run our review — our form, our rating scale, our stages — in the demo, rather than your sample?
A strong answer: The vendor asks for your form in advance and configures it without professional services, or says plainly which parts need their help.
How does each stage — self-assessment, manager review, calibration, sign-off — get its own deadline and reminders?
A strong answer: Reminders go automatically to whoever has not submitted, stage by stage, without HR exporting a list and chasing by email.
When a manager writes a review, are the employee’s goals, check-ins and feedback on the same screen?
A strong answer: The evidence sits beside the form, so the rating is written from the year’s record rather than from memory.
How do goals cascade from company objectives to individuals, and what happens to a goal that changes mid-cycle?
A strong answer: The employee can see how their goal connects to the level above, and both versions of a changed goal are kept with the date of the change.
AI features and transparency
Where AI touches employee data, and who stays accountable for what it produces.
Which features use AI, and can each be switched off on its own — for a cycle, a team or a module?
A strong answer: A complete list, with an off switch per feature or scope rather than one setting for everything.
Is AI-generated text labelled, and can a person edit or reject it before an employee sees it? Can AI ever set a rating?
A strong answer: Every output is labelled and editable, nothing reaches an employee without a person approving it, and a plain no on ratings.
Is our employees’ data used to train any model — for us, for other customers or by the model provider?
A strong answer: A written answer that covers all three cases separately, matched by the contract or data processing agreement.
Integrations and HRIS
How people data gets in, stays current and gets out again.
Which HRIS do you connect to with a prebuilt connector today? If ours is not one of them, how do people and reporting lines get in and stay current?
A strong answer: Named connectors that ship now, kept apart from the roadmap, and a described alternative — bulk import, API or both — with who does the work and how often.
Is API access included in the plan you would quote us, and is it documented?
A strong answer: Documentation your IT team can read before the decision, and a clear statement of any extra cost.
Which sign-in methods do you support today, and do you offer SAML single sign-on and SCIM provisioning?
A strong answer: A list of what ships now, not what is planned. If single sign-on is a must-have for your IT team, this one answer can save a whole demo.
GDPR and data residency
The questions your DPO will ask — better asked before the demo than after the decision.
Where will our data be hosted, and will you confirm the region in the contract or data processing agreement?
A strong answer: A named hosting provider and region, confirmed in writing rather than taken from a web page.
Can we see your data processing agreement and subprocessor list before we sign, including any AI model providers?
A strong answer: Yes, early enough for your DPO to review them, with the AI providers named on the list.
How do you handle a subject access request and an erasure request for reviews, ratings and feedback?
A strong answer: Built-in export and erasure that cover performance data, shown or documented, rather than a support ticket.
Which security certifications or attestations do you hold, and what is their scope?
A strong answer: The certificate, its scope and its date — or a plain statement that there is none, with the controls described instead.
Languages
Whether every employee can complete a review in the language they work in.
Which languages are the employee-facing screens available in, and can each employee choose their own?
A strong answer: A list that covers every language your workforce needs, and a setting per person rather than one language for the whole account.
Is AI-generated content — summaries, suggested wording — produced in the employee’s language, and is support available in it?
A strong answer: A separate answer for the product, the AI output and the support team, because the three often differ.
Admin effort
How much of the cycle HR still runs by hand once the system is live.
Who sets up a new review cycle or changes a form — our HR team or your services team — and how long does it take?
A strong answer: HR does it alone, and the vendor shows it in the demo rather than describing a ticket.
How do completion and progress reports reach HR and managers without someone building a spreadsheet?
A strong answer: Standard reports by team and department, scoped to each manager’s own people, generated live in the demo.
What does a rollout involve for an organisation of our size, and what does it need from our side?
A strong answer: A plan with tasks owned by both sides, scoped to you rather than a brochure timeline.
Pricing and contract terms
The figures you need to compare vendors on the same basis.
What will a year cost at our headcount, including setup, support and every module we saw in the demo?
A strong answer: One total with line items, or a published price list you can work it out from.
What counts as a billable user — every employee, only people in a review, or administrators?
A strong answer: A definition you can apply to your own headcount without another call.
What are the minimum term, the notice period and any cap on price increases at renewal?
A strong answer: All three in writing before you sign.
If we leave, how do we get all our data out, in what format and at what cost?
A strong answer: A full export in standard formats, at no extra charge, stated before signature rather than at renewal.
Support
What help looks like once the contract is signed.
Which support channels and response times come with the plan you are quoting, and are they in the contract?
A strong answer: Support terms written into the agreement, not only described on a website.
Can we trial the product with our own managers before signing, and who helps us during the trial?
A strong answer: A trial or pilot long enough to run a real scenario, with a named contact and its terms stated.
Nothing here is gated. The spreadsheet holds all twenty-five questions with the notes on good answers, a must-have column and a column for each of three vendors. Excel and Numbers open it directly; in Google Sheets, open a blank sheet and choose File, then Import, then Upload.
Red flags
Red flags in a vendor’s answers
Most weak answers are not false; they are vague. None of the signs below rules a vendor out on its own, but each one is a reason to ask again, in writing, before the next meeting.
In the answers
Yes to everything
A one-word yes to a question about how something works. Ask to see it; if it cannot be shown, treat it as not available.
The roadmap offered as an answer
A connector, language or feature described as coming soon. Judge the product that ships today, and revisit the roadmap at renewal.
No straight answer on AI training
Hesitation over whether your employees’ data trains a model, or an answer that covers only one of the three cases. It belongs in the data processing agreement, so ask for the clause.
A price only after the demo
No figure for your headcount until you have seen the product, or a quote that leaves out modules you were shown. Ask which plan every screen in the demo belongs to.
In the demo and the paperwork
A sample form instead of yours
A standard tour after you sent your own review form. Configuring a form is the first thing your HR team will do, so watch it being done.
The DPA after signature
A data processing agreement or subprocessor list offered only once the contract is signed. Your DPO needs both before the decision, not after it.
A hosting region that cannot be written down
Hosting described as available on request but not confirmed in writing. If residency matters to you, it has to be in the contract.
An exit with a fee attached
Data export priced as a service, or left unanswered. How you get your records out should be stated, in standard formats, before you sign.
See how CLEAR Talent answers the GDPR, hosting and AI questions
Once you have names
Compare the vendors on your shortlist
The checklist names no vendor. Once a few are on your shortlist, the comparison pages below set CLEAR Talent beside each one, row by row: what CLEAR Talent does today in one column and, in the other, the question to put to the other vendor — never a claim about a gap. The kind of product the other vendor is changes which sections of this checklist matter most, so the table says where to press hardest.
| Comparison | How the other vendor positions itself | Checklist sections to press hardest |
|---|---|---|
| Performance management software compared | Several platforms side by side, with the scoring method and its sources shown | All eight: the place to build a long list |
| CLEAR Talent vs Lattice | A people platform: reviews, goals and OKRs, 1:1s, engagement surveys, development and analytics, extending into core HR | Pricing and contract terms (which modules your tier includes); AI features and transparency |
| CLEAR Talent vs 15Five | Continuous performance and manager enablement: check-ins, 1-on-1s, OKRs, reviews, engagement surveys and manager coaching | Reviews and goals; admin effort; pricing and contract terms |
| CLEAR Talent vs Betterworks | Enterprise goal and OKR management, with conversations, feedback, reviews and calibration, typically beside an existing HCM | Integrations and HRIS; admin effort; pricing and contract terms |
| CLEAR Talent vs ClearCompany | A talent management platform across the employee lifecycle, from recruiting and onboarding to performance — and a separate company from CLEAR Talent | Reviews and goals; pricing and contract terms (which lifecycle modules you are paying for) |
| CLEAR Talent vs Personio | An all-in-one HR platform for small and medium-sized companies, with performance and development as one part of it | Reviews and goals (is the module enough?); integrations and HRIS; languages |
| CLEAR Talent vs HiBob | An HR platform for mid-sized and multinational companies, with performance management as one module | Reviews and goals (is the module enough?); integrations and HRIS; languages |
| CLEAR Talent vs BambooHR | An HRIS for small and medium-sized businesses, with performance management as one part of the platform | Reviews and goals (is the module enough?); integrations and HRIS; admin effort |
| CLEAR Talent vs Leapsome | A people enablement platform: reviews, goals and OKRs, 360° feedback, engagement surveys, 1:1s, learning and onboarding | AI features and transparency; pricing and contract terms (which modules the plan includes) |
| CLEAR Talent vs Culture Amp | An employee experience platform best known for engagement surveys and people analytics, with performance and development alongside | Reviews and goals; pricing and contract terms (how the products are priced together) |
Positioning is summarised from how each vendor describes itself, as restated on its comparison page. Packaging changes, so confirm what a quote includes with the vendor. The comparison pages quote no competitor prices and carry no ratings.
The pre-demo vendor checklist template
Template
Pre-demo vendor checklist
One sheet per vendor. Fill in the demo details beforehand, then one row per checklist section as the answers come in. The red-flag column is a yes or no; anything marked yes goes into the follow-up column as a question to answer in writing.
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Demo details | |
| Vendor | The vendor and the plan being demonstrated. |
| Demo date and attendees | When, and who attends from your side: ideally HR, someone from IT or data protection, and a line manager who will use the system. |
| Must-haves | The two or three requirements a vendor is out without. Record pass or fail for each before discussing anything else. |
| Sections to press hardest | The checklist sections that matter most to this decision, so the demo time goes there. |
| For each section (up to 8) | |
| Checklist section | One row per section: reviews and goals, AI, integrations, GDPR, languages, admin effort, pricing, support. |
| What the vendor said | The answer in a sentence, in the vendor’s own words where it matters. |
| Shown or described? | “Shown” if you saw it working, “described” if you were told about it, “in writing” if it arrived as a document. |
| Red flag? (Y/N) | Yes if the answer matches one of the red flags on this page. |
| Follow-up | The question to send in writing before the next stage, with a date for the answer. |
As a spreadsheet
One row per section. Copy the grid below and paste it into the first cell of a spreadsheet, or download the CSV.
| # | Checklist section | What the vendor said | Shown or described? | Red flag? (Y/N) | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 |
Show the plain-text template
PRE-DEMO VENDOR CHECKLIST Vendor: Demo date and attendees: Must-haves: Sections to press hardest: SECTION 1 Checklist section: What the vendor said: Shown or described?: Red flag? (Y/N): Follow-up: SECTION 2 Checklist section: What the vendor said: Shown or described?: Red flag? (Y/N): Follow-up: SECTION 3 Checklist section: What the vendor said: Shown or described?: Red flag? (Y/N): Follow-up: SECTION 4 Checklist section: What the vendor said: Shown or described?: Red flag? (Y/N): Follow-up: SECTION 5 Checklist section: What the vendor said: Shown or described?: Red flag? (Y/N): Follow-up: SECTION 6 Checklist section: What the vendor said: Shown or described?: Red flag? (Y/N): Follow-up: SECTION 7 Checklist section: What the vendor said: Shown or described?: Red flag? (Y/N): Follow-up: SECTION 8 Checklist section: What the vendor said: Shown or described?: Red flag? (Y/N): Follow-up:
Nothing here is gated: the spreadsheet and the text file hold exactly the fields shown above, with eight blank section rows. Make one copy per vendor so the answers can be read side by side.
Pre-demo checklist examples: three demos
Three filled-in sheets from three different demos. The first goes cleanly, the second turns up red flags that end the evaluation, and the third leaves questions that have to be answered in writing before a second meeting.
These organisations, vendors and answers were written for this page to show how the checklist works. Vendors A, B and C are not real products, and the examples describe no real organisation or any CLEAR Talent customer.
A clean demo
Example 1: a 120-person software company replacing spreadsheet reviews
The HR manager sent the review form and the checklist a week ahead. The must-haves were reviews and OKRs in one system, published pricing and reviews completed on a phone. Vendor A configured the form before the call and passed all three.
- Vendor
- Vendor A, mid-tier plan
- Must-haves
- Reviews and OKRs in one system: pass. Published pricing: pass. Reviews on a phone: pass
- Sections to press hardest
- Reviews and goals; admin effort; pricing and contract terms
| Checklist section | What the vendor said | Shown or described? | Red flag? (Y/N) | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews and goals | Ran our form on our four-point scale, with goals and feedback beside the review. | Shown | N | None: confirmed in the demo. |
| Admin effort | HR sets up cycles and forms without the vendor; reminders go out per stage. | Shown | N | Ask for the admin guide to share with the HR assistant. |
| Pricing and contract terms | Published plan prices; setup fee quoted separately. | In writing | N | Get the setup fee in writing before the second meeting. |
| Languages | English and Spanish screens, chosen by each employee. | Shown | N | Confirm which languages support covers for the Madrid team. |
Red flags
Example 2: a 400-person healthcare provider where the DPA arrives too late
The data protection officer joined the demo, and a hosting region confirmed in the contract was a must-have. Vendor B’s product looked strong, but it would confirm the region and share its data processing agreement only after signature, so the evaluation ended there.
- Vendor
- Vendor B, enterprise plan
- Must-haves
- Hosting region in the contract: fail. DPA before signature: fail. No AI rating without approval: pass
- Sections to press hardest
- GDPR and data residency; AI features; reviews and goals
| Checklist section | What the vendor said | Shown or described? | Red flag? (Y/N) | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDPR and data residency | Hosting region “available on request”; DPA and subprocessor list after signature. | Described | Y | None: fails two must-haves, so the evaluation is closed. |
| AI features and transparency | AI suggestions labelled and editable; one switch turns all AI on or off. | Shown | N | Recorded for reference only. |
| Pricing and contract terms | No figure for our headcount until after a second demo. | Described | Y | Recorded for reference only. |
| Reviews and goals | Calibration view with a reason logged against every changed rating. | Shown | N | Recorded for reference only. |
Questions to follow up
Example 3: a 250-person professional services firm with open questions after the demo
The firm runs reviews in English, French and German and keeps people data in its HRIS. Vendor C demonstrated reviews well but answered the integration and language questions with its roadmap, so the panel sent three questions in writing and booked a second demo only once the answers arrived.
- Vendor
- Vendor C, standard plan
- Must-haves
- Reviews in three languages: not yet confirmed. People data kept current from the HRIS: not yet confirmed
- Sections to press hardest
- Languages; integrations and HRIS; pricing and contract terms
| Checklist section | What the vendor said | Shown or described? | Red flag? (Y/N) | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integrations and HRIS | A connector for our HRIS “planned for next year”; CSV import today. | Described | Y | Ask who runs the import, how often, and what happens when someone moves team. |
| Languages | English and French today; German “on the roadmap”. | Described | Y | Ask for the German release date in writing, and which language AI summaries use. |
| Reviews and goals | Ran our form, with goals and feedback beside the review. | Shown | N | None. |
| Pricing and contract terms | Quote covers reviews only; the 360° feedback shown in the demo is a higher tier. | In writing | Y | Ask for a quote covering every module shown in the demo. |
If CLEAR Talent is on your list
How CLEAR Talent answers the checklist
Here are our own answers, including the ones that rule us out for some buyers. Reviews run in stages — self-assessment, manager review, calibration and final rating — each with its own deadline and automated reminders on whatever is outstanding, and every change to a rating or comment is logged with who, what and when. Goals cascade from company OKRs to individual goals. Ava, the AI assistant, labels every output as AI-generated, leaves it editable and approved by a person, never makes the final rating, and can be switched off per cycle, team or module; your employees’ data is never used to train models for other customers.
CLEAR Talent is hosted on Google Cloud Platform with regional requirements agreed per deployment, provides data subject access request exports and right-to-be-forgotten workflows, and offers a data processing agreement you can request for your DPO to review. It supports 16 languages, with AI-generated summaries and recommendations delivered in each employee’s preferred language. The two answers to know now: there is no SAML single sign-on or SCIM provisioning today, and no prebuilt connector to a named HRIS — people and structure come in by CSV or Excel bulk import or API access, and records go out as CSV, Excel or PDF on every plan.
On price, the plans are published: Basic is USD 39 a month for 1 admin user and 10 staff users, Pro is USD 295 a month for 3 admin users and 50 staff users, with published rates for additional users, and Enterprise is quoted. Annual billing saves 15%, setup fees are quoted depending on the package, every plan includes the help centre and email support, and there is a free 1-month trial — long enough to put these questions to the product with your own managers.