How to Write DSP Requirements Before Watching Demos
Define pharma DSP requirements for audience, identity, supply, controls, measurement, workflow, data access, privacy, and commercials before demos.
The short answer
Write the use cases, mandatory controls, evidence standard, workflow, and commercial constraints before vendors demonstrate products. Then score the same scenarios across platforms. This turns selection from a feature contest into an operating-model decision.
Translate strategy into testable requirements
| Domain | Example requirement | Acceptance evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Activate approved NPI list with returned match funnel | Sample reconciliation output |
| Supply | Report app/domain and seller path | Export at required granularity |
| Frequency | Control at stated unit across listed channels | Live workflow and limitation statement |
| Measurement | Support defined Rx study population | Methodology and minimums |
| Governance | Role-based access and change history | Permission demo and audit sample |
| Data | Export fields needed for analysis | Data dictionary and sample file |
| Service | Named escalation and SLA | Contract schedule |
| Commercial | Transparent fee basis | Normalized price response |
Distinguish native, integrated, and manual
A capability may be native to the DSP, available through a partner integration, or executed by a services team. Each has different latency, control, data movement, and dependency. Score the proposed operating reality, not the broadest product ecosystem.
Use scenario demonstrations
Ask every finalist to complete the same tasks: onboard an HCP list, build a CTV deal, apply exclusions, diagnose frequency, export delivery, and set up measurement. Include an exception, such as a late suppression update, to reveal workflow and service quality.
Add hard gates
Examples include required geography control, data-use terms, named supply reporting, promotional format support, or separation of client data. Privacy, security, legal, and procurement owners should define their own gates.
Avoid false precision
Weighted scores organize evidence but cannot eliminate judgment. Run sensitivity with different reasonable weights. If the winner changes easily, the decision is close and implementation risk or commercial terms may decide it.
A short requirements template
For each requirement, capture six fields in a shared sheet:
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Use case | Activate quarterly HCP target list for display and video |
| Requirement | Return a match funnel by specialty within five business days |
| Priority | Must-have |
| Owner | HCP media lead |
| Acceptance evidence | Sample reconciliation file from a comparable client |
| Notes | Must use deterministic NPI match; probabilistic reported separately |
Limit must-haves to what would truly disqualify a platform. Teams often label 40 items as must-have, which makes the category meaningless and hands the decision back to the demo. A list of eight to twelve must-haves, supported by important and nice-to-have tiers, is usually enough to separate finalists.
Share the list with vendors before demos. Good vendors will tell you which requirements they meet natively, which need a partner, and which they cannot meet. That candor is itself a signal. See questions to ask in a healthcare DSP demo for scenario scripts built from these requirements.
Practical takeaway
Select the DSP that best supports the required operating model, not the longest feature list. The next step is a two-hour requirements workshop before any demo invitation.
Sources
- Google Display & Video 360 Help (official product documentation; verify current functionality during procurement)
- NIST, Privacy Framework
External guidance and platform documentation change. Links were current at publication; check them again before relying on them for a decision.
Editorial note. Analysis and frameworks are the author's own and do not represent Acxiom or any current or former employer, client, or named platform. Examples labeled hypothetical or illustrative are not results from real campaigns. Nothing here is legal, regulatory, or medical advice.
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