How we score. And why we won't take vendor money.
Every shortlist Nova produces is auditable. If a CFO asks why a vendor scored 85 and another 55, you can answer to the dimension, the weight, and the underlying evidence.
Thirteen fit dimensions, eight capability axes
Our engine scores fit against thirteen dimensions tuned to your priorities — five baseline (size, geography & payroll, budget, expert rating, AI capability) and eight tailored to the way you answered the Scorecard (trigger alignment, pain alignment, target capabilities, architecture, stack synergy, renewal urgency, team breadth, change capacity). Each vendor card also surfaces eight redesigned capability axes — Core HR, Payroll & Compliance, Talent, AI, Integrations, UX, Support, Value — derived from the underlying schema so you can compare strengths visually.
Hard exclusions before scoring, never silently
Vendors that fundamentally cannot fit — wrong geography, no payroll coverage in your data-residency region, an implementation timeline you cannot accept — are excluded before any score is computed. Each exclusion is surfaced with a stated reason on the "considered but excluded" panel, so you see exactly which constraint each vendor fell short on.
Evidence beats marketing
Each dimension is scored against vendor demos, customer reference checks, real-world contract reviews, and (for AI) live capability tests. We score what ships today — not roadmap promises.
Weights flex to your priorities
Default weights reflect Nova's view of what matters for a typical Irish/UK SMB. Your Scorecard answers re-weight live: payroll-heavy team? Compliance jumps. Hiring 200 people next year? Talent jumps.
A confidence band, not a single number
Every match score carries a confidence band. We re-run the scoring under thousands of plausible variations on your weights and surface the spread — a tight ± 3 means the recommendation holds up under small priority changes; a wider ± 8 means the choice is sensitive to how you ranked your priorities. Where one vendor wins clearly, we show "top in N% of scenarios" so you know how robust the call is.
AI is a substance score, not a buzzword
We catalogue every AI feature each vendor ships — generally available, beta, or roadmap; included or add-on; and size-relevant or not. GA features score; roadmap promises score zero. The catalogue is reviewed against vendor releases as new capabilities ship.
No vendor pays to rank
Nova is paid by the buyer, never the seller. Vendors cannot pay to be added, weighted, or rated. We refuse referral fees from vendors. Independence is the product.
Transparent and auditable
Click any score in your shortlist and see the dimension, the weight, the underlying evidence, and the rationale. Export to PDF. Take it to your board. We will defend it line-by-line on a call if asked.
What each dimension actually measures.
Every vendor in the catalogue is scored across all thirteen; the weight on each is set by your Scorecard answers.
Size fit
How well your headcount sits inside the vendor's sweet spot. A 200-person buyer evaluating an enterprise platform scores low here; the same buyer evaluating a modern mid-market tool scores high.
Geography & payroll fit
Whether the vendor operates in your regions and whether they own native payroll where your people are paid. Native UK/IE payroll for an Irish buyer scores higher than partner-routed payroll.
Budget fit
Per-employee, per-month pricing against the future envelope you specified. Vendors fully inside your range score high; those at the edges or partially outside scale down proportionally.
Expert rating
A direct rating from the Nova analyst team based on demos, reference calls, and live deployments. We score what ships today, not roadmap promises. Unrated vendors are flagged so you can see what we have and have not directly evaluated.
AI capability
Substance, not buzzword. We catalogue every AI feature each vendor ships — generally available vs. beta vs. roadmap, included vs. add-on, size-relevance threshold — and score against your stated AI priority. A vendor with three GA AI features in your size range scores higher than one with ten roadmap promises.
Trigger alignment
How well the vendor is positioned for *why* you're looking. A buyer driven by a renewal coming up favours vendors who pitch around contract transitions; a buyer driven by an acquisition favours vendors with multi-entity setups.
Pain alignment
How directly the vendor solves what's breaking today. Pick payroll reconciliation as a pain and vendors whose strengths include native payroll surface higher; pick reporting and the analytics-first platforms rise.
Target capability match
For each of the three target capabilities you picked, whether the vendor delivers it natively — not via partner, not on roadmap, not a workaround. A vendor with zero overlap on your three picks is excluded outright; one with full overlap leads on this dimension.
Architecture fit
Whether the vendor sells as an integrated suite or a best-of-breed module — and whether that matches what you said you'd buy. Vendors who can sell either way ('either') get a softer fit score; strict mismatches are excluded.
Stack synergy
How cleanly the vendor connects to the platforms you already run. We catalogue native and certified integrations to the systems you named in your stack — finance, payroll incumbent, ATS, identity. Named integrations beat 'we have an open API'.
Renewal urgency fit
When any of your incumbent platforms is renewing soon, fast-implementing vendors rise; when nothing is on fire, implementation speed stops being a differentiator.
Team breadth fit
When your decision team spans four or more stakeholders (CHRO, CFO, CIO, payroll, ops, ...), vendors with broad native module coverage rise — a one-stop-shop is easier to defend across a wide panel.
Change capacity fit
When you're already running three or more concurrent change initiatives, longer implementations get penalised. Fast, opinionated vendors that won't pile onto your existing programme score higher.
Our four-phase consulting methodology.
Every Nova engagement follows the same four-phase rhythm — the lens behind the score, applied with stakeholders, system access, and a real read of your operations.
- Phase 01
Discovery & Stakeholder Interviews
Map current state, surface what your people actually do, and align on what good looks like before we score anything.
- Phase 02
System Capability Assessment
Audit every module against your real processes — not the demo script.
- Phase 03
Process Efficiency Analysis
Quantify manual work, integration drag, and the cost of staying put.
- Phase 04
Competitive Benchmarking
Score 40+ vendors against your requirements and your priorities.
Concrete deliverables
HR Systems Diagnostic
A structured assessment of your current state, priorities, and the vendor universe — the same engine that powers this site.
HR Vendor Selection
We run the full bake-off: demo coordination, scoring, reference calls, and contract review.
HRIS Project Management
Implementation oversight from selection through go-live. Change management and adoption baked in.
HR Metrics Dashboard
A read-only view of the metrics that matter — turnover, time-to-fill, comp ratio — wired to your HRIS.
Try it on your own situation.
Around five minutes. Free. No card.