> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.archways.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Archways Works

**Start with what you already use. Score against real requirements. Decide with evidence.**

Archways sits above the systems you already use: ServiceNow, Coupa, Workday, SAP or spreadsheets. It's a decision layer on top of them, not a replacement.

#### ​**Start**

Bring contracts, spend and usage from the systems you already use, or set requirements and run a fresh evaluation with no import needed.

#### ​**Score**

Archways scores any vendor against your real requirements, drawing on 175,000+ continuously profiled vendors for capability, pricing, security and financial signals.

#### ​**Decide**

Every evaluation, renewal or consolidation lands on one page with alternatives and capability fit, ready for the vendor conversation and ready for audit.

#### **​Where the data comes from**

175,000+ vendors, continuously profiled for capability, pricing, security and financial health, built on inputs you can trace and a scoring approach you can audit.

* **Inputs you can trace** — Public vendor docs, APIs, release notes and security disclosures; licensed financial and risk datasets; direct vendor submissions; and your own contracts, owners and usage, kept private to your workspace.
* **A capability framework, not a search box** — Every vendor is mapped to the same capability model and scored against your requirements, not a generic template, so overlap and dependencies surface across your stack automatically.
* **Continuously refreshed** — Vendor capabilities are tracked across releases, M\&A, pricing changes and security incidents. Every decision feeds the next, so the picture compounds over time instead of going stale.

#### **​What comes out the other end**

Every renewal Archways touches resolves to one of three outcomes:

* **Renew** — when fit and cost are validated against current needs.
* **Renegotiate** — when credible alternatives create leverage.
* **Replace** — when overlap, risk, or misfit is confirmed.

Each outcome is captured as a Decision Record — the alternatives considered, the capability fit, and the rationale — ready for the vendor conversation and for audit.

#### **​Quick answers**

**How does Archways score vendors?** Every vendor is scored against the buyer's own stated requirements using a shared capability framework, drawing on Archways' continuously profiled coverage of 175,000+ vendors — not a static directory listing or a generic template.

**Does Archways replace our existing systems?** No. Archways is a decision layer that sits on top of tools like ServiceNow, Coupa, Workday or SAP, and can also work directly from spreadsheets — it doesn't require replacing what's already in place.


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