Most PIM projects are lost before the first vendor demo.

A PIM (product information management) project rarely fails because of the software. It fails upstream, in scoping: a scope nobody wrote down, data nobody audited, flows nobody mapped, attributes nobody owns and teams nobody trained. Each gap looks small at the vendor demo. Each one turns into change requests, delays and a catalog nobody trusts after go-live.

This scorecard checks those five gaps before you talk to vendors. It is vendor-neutral: Doctor Project sells no PIM license, so the only goal is a project that works.

A solid PIM project scope answers five groups of questions. These are the 15 questions of the scorecard.

1. Scope and success criteria

A PIM project scope names the SKUs, attributes, markets and channels of the first phase, and what is explicitly out. Success criteria must be measurable, such as data completeness by attribute, time to launch a product or search precision.

• We know how many SKUs, attributes and markets are in scope for the first phase.
• We have written down what is explicitly out of scope.
• Our success criteria are measurable.

2. Current-state data audit

Before any vendor demo, know where product data lives today and which data is missing, duplicated or conflicting, including identifiers such as GTINs. Cleanup is work: it needs its own budget and owners, outside the software license.

• We know where our product data lives today.
• We know which product data is missing, duplicated or conflicting.
• Data cleanup has its own budget and owners, outside the software license.

3. Data flows and integrations

Document every system that creates or uses product data, such as the ERP, e-commerce platform, WMS, DAM and marketplaces. For each flow, know how often it runs, how much data it moves, and where data is still retyped by hand.

• Every system that creates or uses product data is documented.
• For each flow, we know how often it runs and how much data it moves.
• We know where product data is retyped by hand today.

4. Ownership and governance

Every important attribute needs a named owner and written quality rules. E-commerce, merchandising, marketing, legal and supply chain must agree on what the PIM delivers, with a place to settle disagreements.

• Every important attribute has a named owner.
• Our data quality rules are written down.
• E-commerce, merchandising, marketing, legal and supply chain agree on what the PIM must deliver.

5. Adoption and change management

Plan training for daily users before go-live, define data steward roles, and decide how spreadsheet shadow processes will be retired. Choose between a big bang and a phased rollout, and know why.

• Training for the people who will use the PIM every day is planned before go-live.
• Data steward roles are defined.
• We have a plan to retire spreadsheet shadow processes after go-live.

Each of the 15 questions is answered No (0 points), Partly (1) or Yes (2), for a score out of 30. A sixteenth question, not scored, asks when your first vendor demo or RFP is planned.

0 to 10: Needs a full check-up

The scope rests on assumptions. This is the cheapest moment to fix it, before any vendor shapes the project for you.

11 to 20: Under observation

The foundations are there, but the gaps sit between teams: decisions everyone assumes someone else has made.

21 to 30: Fit to scope

The work most teams skip is done. The risk now is erosion: scope that grows during demos and tests run on demo data.

Your score and band are free. The full diagnosis (score per step, weakest step, field facts, reflection questions and your first move) unlocks with a work email.

Real PIM projects, anonymized. Each one matches one step of the scorecard.

Scope: a global petcare brand

The team set a measurable goal for search. After the catalog's categories and attributes were reworked, searches returning zero results fell from about 8% to about 2% in a year (figure reported by the client team).

Data audit: a global petcare brand

67% of products shared a duplicated barcode, caused by product versioning and low GS1 maturity. Fixing it meant warning distributors for about 4,000 references.

Data flows: a European DIY retailer

Supplier Excel files were checked with simple scripts (GTIN key, mandatory fields) while the supplier portal was still being deployed. A pragmatic stopgap beats waiting for the perfect tool.

Ownership: a global petcare brand

In a content workshop, the six pain points raised were about governance, ownership and source of truth, not missing features.

Adoption: a luxury jewelry house

Roles, rights per locale and category, translation workflows and training for merchandising teams in the US and regional teams in South Korea. Governance is a daily habit, not a document.

Yassine Fatihi is the founder of Doctor Project, an independent PIM and PXM consultancy. He has led product data work on luxury, fashion, petcare and DIY retail catalogs across Europe, North America and Asia, and holds the Akeneo Foundation certification. The scorecard condenses the questions he asks at the start of every engagement.

Related reading

• Why PIM projects fail, and how to scope one that won't
• How to choose a PIM
• PIM vs spreadsheets: when Excel becomes a liability
• PIM migration checklist
• PXM vs PIM: the difference and which one you need
• PIM audit and program oversight