How the Weighted Total Is Calculated
For each vendor, every scored criterion contributes weight × score. The weighted
total shown is the sum of those products divided by the sum of the weights for criteria you've
actually scored: total = Σ(weight × score) ÷ Σ(weight). This
keeps the result on the same 1-5 scale as your individual scores, regardless of how many criteria
you've filled in so far — a criterion you leave blank doesn't count toward either sum, so partially
scoring a vendor won't unfairly lower (or inflate) its total.
Practical Ways to Use This
Use it during live vendor demos (score right after each call, while details are fresh), to compare finalists side by side once all demos are done, or to build internal consensus by having more than one stakeholder fill in their own copy and comparing where scores diverge. Because weights are editable, two people can reasonably reach different totals for the same vendor if they value criteria differently — that disagreement is often more useful to surface than a single "winning" number.