For Learning & Development Managers ·
What you'll accomplish
Three LMS vendors sent proposals in three formats: a long PDF, a slide deck and a Word document with an appendix. Your requirements list has twenty items, and you need to know which vendor meets each one and where it says so. Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) lets you add the proposals and your requirements as sources, then ask questions that come back with the source text attached. You decide the scores. The notebook gets you to the right paragraph quickly.
What you'll need
Check before you upload: Proposals and pricing pages are often covered by an NDA or a confidentiality clause in the request for proposal. Read the terms and your company's AI policy before uploading anything. If the contract does not allow it, do not upload the original. Make a summary that describes prices as ranges and leaves out contract terms. Upload that instead. Google's help page also says to avoid uploading documents you do not have rights to. Remove the names of your own employees and any unannounced plans that explain why you are buying.
What you should see: One requirements file and one file per vendor. Troubleshooting: Google's help page says each source can hold up to 500,000 words or up to 200MB for uploaded files. A proposal is unlikely to hit that, but a bundled contract might.
What you should see: A notebook with a Sources panel, a Chat panel and a Studio panel. Troubleshooting: Each notebook is independent, according to Google's help page. Keep one notebook per purchase decision so unrelated documents do not mix.
What you should see: Your files listed, and in the Chat panel a generated summary of all your sources. Troubleshooting: If an import fails, the help page lists a word limit as one cause. Split a very long file or paste the relevant text as a new source. Paywalled web pages are not supported as URL sources.
Ask about one requirement at a time. To limit an answer to some files, select them individually in the Sources panel. When more than one source is selected, name the source in your question, which Google says helps the notebook narrow its search.
What you should see: A table with citations placed in a second tab of the new Google Sheet. Troubleshooting: Edits you make in the exported Sheet do not sync back to the notebook, per Google's help page. Treat the Sheet as your working copy.
Full requirements sweep:
For each numbered requirement in my requirements file, tell me which vendors state that they meet it, which do not, and which are silent. Quote and cite every claim.
Contradictions:
Where do the vendor proposals make claims that contradict each other about how the same requirement works? List the requirement number and quote both.
Questions for the reference calls:
For every "not stated" answer, write one question I should ask that vendor in a follow-up call or reference check.
Terms that need legal review:
Which passages in these proposals describe renewal, cancellation or data ownership? Quote them exactly so I can send them to my legal team. Do not interpret them.