OpenSkillIndex← back to search
claude-code

Knowledge-work-plugins vendor-review

Evaluate a vendor — cost analysis, risk assessment, and recommendation. Use when reviewing a new vendor proposal, deciding whether to renew or replace a contract, comparing two vendors side-by-side, or building a TCO breakdown and negotiation points before procurement sign-off.

install
source · Clone the upstream repo
git clone https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/operations/skills/vendor-review" ~/.claude/skills/anthropics-knowledge-work-plugins-vendor-review && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: operations/skills/vendor-review/SKILL.md
source content

/vendor-review

If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see CONNECTORS.md.

Evaluate a vendor with structured analysis covering cost, risk, performance, and fit.

Usage

/vendor-review $ARGUMENTS

What I Need From You

  • Vendor name: Who are you evaluating?
  • Context: New vendor evaluation, renewal decision, or comparison?
  • Details: Contract terms, pricing, proposal document, or current performance data

Evaluation Framework

Cost Analysis (Total Cost of Ownership)

  • Total cost of ownership (not just license fees)
  • Implementation and migration costs
  • Training and onboarding costs
  • Ongoing support and maintenance
  • Exit costs (data migration, contract termination)

Risk Assessment

  • Vendor financial stability
  • Security and compliance posture
  • Concentration risk (single vendor dependency)
  • Contract lock-in and exit terms
  • Business continuity and disaster recovery

Performance Metrics

  • SLA compliance
  • Support response times
  • Uptime and reliability
  • Feature delivery cadence
  • Customer satisfaction

Comparison Matrix

When comparing vendors, produce a side-by-side matrix covering: pricing, features, integrations, security, support, contract terms, and references.

Output

## Vendor Review: [Vendor Name]
**Date:** [Date] | **Type:** [New / Renewal / Comparison]

### Summary
[2-3 sentence recommendation]

### Cost Analysis
| Component | Annual Cost | Notes |
|-----------|-------------|-------|
| License/subscription | $[X] | [Per seat, flat, usage-based] |
| Implementation | $[X] | [One-time] |
| Support/maintenance | $[X] | [Included or add-on] |
| **Total Year 1** | **$[X]** | |
| **Total 3-Year** | **$[X]** | |

### Risk Assessment
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|-----------|--------|------------|
| [Risk] | High/Med/Low | High/Med/Low | [Mitigation] |

### Strengths
- [Strength 1]
- [Strength 2]

### Concerns
- [Concern 1]
- [Concern 2]

### Recommendation
[Proceed / Negotiate / Pass] — [Reasoning]

### Negotiation Points
- [Leverage point 1]
- [Leverage point 2]

If Connectors Available

If ~~knowledge base is connected:

  • Search for existing vendor evaluations, contracts, and performance reviews
  • Pull procurement policies and approval thresholds

If ~~procurement is connected:

  • Pull current contract terms, spend history, and renewal dates
  • Compare pricing against existing vendor agreements

Tips

  1. Upload the proposal — I can extract pricing, terms, and SLAs from vendor documents.
  2. Compare vendors — "Compare Vendor A vs Vendor B" gets you a side-by-side analysis.
  3. Include current spend — For renewals, knowing what you pay now helps evaluate price changes.