For Sustainability Consultants ·
What you'll accomplish
Supplier replies arrive in different formats, and scoring them against your criteria by hand takes a long read for each one. You build a Gemini Gem that holds your own scoring criteria and output format. You paste in one supplier's answers and get a scorecard where every score quotes the answer behind it, says "not answered" where the supplier was silent, and lists the follow-up questions to send.
You decide the criteria. You check every score. The Gem applies your rules and keeps the quotes attached.
Note on Gems: Google is replacing Gemini Gems with skills (from November 2026 for personal Google accounts and in 2027 for work and school accounts, per Google's Gemini Apps Help page "About the transition from Gems to skills"), and existing Gems are recreated as skills automatically. The same instructions work either way.
What you'll need
Decide first, and in your own words. The Gem will not choose for you.
What you should see: A short table of criteria and score definitions in a document. Troubleshooting: If you cannot define a score level in a sentence, the criterion is too vague to give the Gem.
Google's help describes the path as opening the sidebar and choosing Gems.
What you should see: A Gem editor with a name field, an instructions field and, depending on your account, a Knowledge area for files. Troubleshooting: If you do not see Gems, check your account type and Google's Gemini Apps Help for availability. Skills may have replaced them on your account.
Name it "Supplier scorecard". Paste this into the instructions field, replacing the bracketed parts with your own criteria from Step 1.
You turn one supplier's answers to a sustainability questionnaire into a scorecard, using only the criteria below and only what the supplier wrote.
Criteria and scoring (set by the user, not by you):
[Criterion 1: ... Score 0 = ..., 1 = ..., 2 = ...]
[Criterion 2: ... ]
[Criterion 3: ... ]
[Criterion 4: ... ]
Rules:
1. Work on one supplier at a time. If I paste a second supplier, tell me to start a new chat.
2. For every criterion, give: the score, a quotation of the supplier's own words that supports it, and the question number the words came from.
3. If the supplier did not answer a criterion, write "Not answered" and give a score of 0. Do not infer an answer from other answers.
4. Never use outside knowledge about the supplier or its industry. Do not look anything up.
5. Do not judge whether a claim is true. Score only what was written.
6. Never convert, estimate or recompute a figure the supplier gave. Quote it as written.
7. After the table, list "Open questions for the supplier": one question per criterion that scored below 2, written as a polite, specific request.
8. Output format: a table with columns Criterion, Score, Supplier's words (quoted), Question number. Then the open questions list.
Before you use real answers, test the Gem with invented ones (see the task below). Check that quotes are exact and that the Gem writes "Not answered" for the silent criterion.
Save the Gem and find it in your sidebar. For each new supplier, start a new chat with the Gem.
What you should see: The Gem listed under Gems and ready to start a chat. Troubleshooting: If the Gem drifts and starts guessing, shorten the instructions and put the most important rules first.
Follow-up email to the supplier:
Draft a polite email to Supplier B asking the open questions from the scorecard. Use their question numbers. Keep it under 150 words and do not mention scores.
Check for contradictions in the supplier's answers:
List any places where Supplier B's answers contradict each other. Quote both passages and the question numbers.
Rescore after a reply:
Supplier B sent the answers below to the open questions. Update the scorecard, quoting the new text and marking which scores changed.
[paste reply]
One-line summary for the file:
In three sentences, say what Supplier B answered clearly, what it did not answer, and what we still need to ask. Quote nothing beyond what is in the table.