Articul8 Hex-Model™

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

The Articul8 Hex-Model Assessment Pack provides a detailed breakdown of each evaluation dimension, scoring criteria, and sub-component weighting used to assess vendors across the multi-dimensional Hex landscape. This pack is designed to support analysts, buyers, and decision-makers in understanding both the structure and substance behind each rating—offering transparency into how insights are derived, what each score reflects, and how dimensions combine to form a holistic view of vendor capability, maturity, and strategic alignment.

UNDERSTANDING WEIGHTED SCORING IN THE HEX-MODEL

To provide a balanced, business-relevant assessment, the Articul8 Hex-Model™ uses a weighted scoring system that reflects the strategic importance of each evaluation dimension. Rather than treating all dimensions equally, greater emphasis is placed on areas that drive enterprise value and transformation outcomes—such as Performance, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), and AI Maturity. Each dimension is scored on a 4-point scale across four defined criteria, then multiplied by its assigned weighting to generate a composite vendor score.

Notably, for dimensions like TCO, where lower costs are more desirable, the scoring is inverted—ensuring that vendors with more efficient pricing and faster ROI are rewarded. This nuanced approach ensures the final score reflects not just how a vendor performs, but how much each area truly matters in real-world decision-making—empowering HR and procurement leaders to make smarter, more strategic choices.

Each dimension has been rigorously defined and assigned weighted sub-components to reflect its contribution to a vendor’s overall positioning. These scores contribute to the larger Hex-Model visual and diagnostic narrative, showing not only where a vendor sits, but also why.

The Radial Rings (Enabler to Catalyst) reveal a solution's strategic role—from essential operational support to driving transformative change. The Trajectory Axis, which uses positioning and orientation to show the rate of change, instantly signalling whether a solution is Advancing, Stabilising, or Contracting relative to the market

A solution's position on the diagonal Potential Axis reveals its scope and sophistication, assessing its ability to handle complex enterprise requirements, from foundational to Market-Leading Potential. This is balanced by the diagonal Performance Axis, which reflects real-world market traction and customer impact—quantifying success from lower adoption levels to Market-Leading Performance

Suites (circles) are comprehensive, integrated platforms designed for broad capabilities, while Specialists (squares) are highly focused solutions designed to introduce depth, innovation, and disruption within a targeted niche. This distinction helps leaders navigate the trade-off between stability and targeted impact.

These two dimensions help contextualise viability and investment. Market Presence reflects the vendor's scale, visibility, and enterprise footprint across three maturity bands, while Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is an inverted, weighted score that reveals the three-year lifecycle investment, rewarding solutions that offer efficient pricing and faster ROI.

Vision & Strategy brings all dimensions together to signal a solution’s readiness for the future of work and potential for long-term partnership. This forward-looking insight is reinforced by AI Maturity, which utilises shaded indicators (Lower, Mid, Higher) to assess the practical and measurable use of applied intelligence in driving transformation and decision support at scale.

VISUAL SCORING SYSTEM EXPLANATION

To provide an intuitive and consistent understanding across all dimensions, the Hex-Model uses shaded circular indicators to denote maturity and performance levels. These are not arbitrary shapes—they are deliberate, progressive markers of vendor positioning based on both qualitative insight and quantitative scoring:

  • Full Circle – “Leading”
    Signifies exceptional maturity, execution, and impact. The vendor demonstrates comprehensive capabilities with proven results across enterprise environments. Represents the top benchmark of current capability.

  • Three-Quarter Circle – “Strong”
    Indicates above-average maturity with consistent performance and breadth. The vendor is well-embedded and dependable, but may have room to grow in a few areas to reach full leadership status.

  • Half Circle – “Developing”
    Reflects an emerging capability or a solution in evolution. The vendor shows promise, solid fundamentals, and directional alignment, but still requires enhancement or consistency to scale impact.

  • Quarter Circle – “Nascent”
    Signals foundational readiness or early-stage development. The core principles or features may be in place, but real-world application, depth, or outcomes remain limited or unproven at scale.

Each circle shape is colour-coded and used consistently across all dimensions—so that a “Strong” in AI Maturity carries the same relative weight and interpretation as a “Strong” in Market Presence or TCO.

This scoring system simplifies comparative analysis while preserving nuance. It enables fast visual comprehension without sacrificing analytical rigour.

Feature-Level Evaluation in the Hex-Model™

In today's complex HR technology landscape, surface-level comparisons are no longer enough. That’s why the Articul8 Hex-Model™ goes deeper—evaluating not only strategic positioning, performance, and innovation, but also the presence, maturity, and readiness of critical platform features.

Each solution is assessed against a curated set of Mandatory and Common Features that reflect real-world enterprise needs—such as workforce planning capabilities, AI-driven insights, and systems integration. These features are not scored in isolation. Instead, they are mapped directly to the 11 diagnostic dimensions and 44 sub-components of the Hex-Model™, ensuring full alignment with the strategic, operational, and technological criteria that matter most to buyers.

To bring consistency across all dimensions of analysis, each feature is evaluated using a 4-point maturity scale:

  • 1 = Not Present – The feature is absent from the platform.

  • 2 = Foundational – A basic or limited version of the feature exists but lacks depth or configurability.

  • 3 = Developing – The feature is present and maturing, offering solid capability with room for evolution.

  • 4 = Leading – The feature is fully embedded, enterprise-ready, and often represents best-in-class capability.

By applying this granular feature-level lens—combined with weighted scoring logic and cross-dimensional mapping—organisations gain a sharper, more structured understanding of vendor strengths, limitations, and overall strategic fit. It’s this level of rigour that transforms the Hex-Model™ from a visual snapshot into a powerful decision-making tool.

METHODOLOGY FOR MAPPING

For each Mandatory and Common feature:

  1. We determine which dimensions it directly reflects or supports (based on its function and value).

  2. We identify the sub-component(s) within those dimensions that best describe the capability being delivered or enabled.

  3. We create a matrix or table that links feature → dimension(s) → sub-component(s).

  4. We assign weights to Mandatory vs Common features in the overall feature score contribution.

This means a “4” in Headcount Forecasting carries the same relative weight as a “4” in AI-Powered Recommendations — you’re measuring feature capability and maturity, not popularity or marketing claims.