Guidelines for Vendor Review Cycles The purpose of these guidelines is to clarify estimated turnaround times that are provided for vendors to review research sent for fact checking. The timing varies depending on the type of research sent for review. These "Guidelines" are suggested best practice and may be modified for special circumstances. The Guidelines apply to published research that mentions specific vendors or other named companies in a published piece. The author(s) are responsible for determining if a piece needs outside review and ensuring it happens. Research sent for review is in draft format and is strictly for internal review by the vendor. Under no circumstances is external distribution or press notification permitted. Gartner does not publish "editorial calendars" or other agenda planning notices, but rather relies on as-needed vendor review according to the following schedule: FirstTakes — For up to 360 words of content that is about an event or announcement that less than 5 days old, we provide "review" copies for factual error checking only. •  Vendors will receive minimum four hours of review time during the working hours of their headquarters location (longer where feasible at analyst's discretion). After the four hour period expires, posting occurs at 4pm US EDT each day. Analyst Comments — For less than 500 characters of content with references to 2 pieces of research within 48 hours of the event (usually much less). •  Courtesy copy without expectation of a response. This is similar to a press quote. Event Research Units — for Notes that react to events. •  24 hours of vendor/company review. Standard Research Units. — (including Case Studies) •  2 business days — except Magic Quadrant Vendor Rating and MarketScope Notes. Magic Quadrant Research Units, Vendor Ratings and MarketScopes •  a draft of pertinent sections will be sent 1 week prior to Commit, then a courtesy copy of the final draft will be sent to all vendors 24 hours before Commit. Every vendor receives the whole Magic Quadrant or MarketScope note including the full graphic. Criteria Notes should attempt to precede the Magic Quadrant note, but may be simultaneous. MarketScopes may be updated on an individual vendor-basis as opposed to a complete update. In the case of a single vendor update, only that vendor will receive a review copy and 48 hours of factual review time. Vendor-specific presentations — Powerhouse presentations (and similar single-vendor presentations) •  one week, but the week falls prior to Editorial submissions for the event CD production. •  Single slides that focus on vendor or company: 48 hours Strategic Analysis Reports and Focus Reports — longer than 14K characters •  one week Gartner Dataquest Statistics — Statistics and market share related research •  there is no requirement to reveal the full view. One week review on the vendor-specific slices preferably during the actual data collection phase (i.e. vendor should discuss with the analyst or otherwise respond within a week), and •  4-hour advisory copy is not a review but a notice for the vendor's PR dept. To avoid premature publication, the info is embargoed and includes only the vendor's own data (including share). This applies to the top tier vendors in a region plus any who have dramatically changed and moved from the top tier. Contact Points One critical and difficult issue that transcends review time is the identity of the actual reviewer at a vendor organization. For vendors, best practices in this area include creating an e-mail alias(gartneranalyst.relations@vendor.com) that can be checked regularly by a variety of responsible people regardless of vacations, etc. In the absence of this best practice, authors should provide a current contact. Changes to Guidelines Gartner, Inc. reserves the right to change its guidelines at any time, without notice. These guidelines are for informational purposes only and do not constitute a waiver with respect to any of Gartner, Inc.'s rights, all of which are specifically reserved. The guidelines in their most current form will be available on www.gartner.com under the Vendor Relations link. Source: Vendor Relations , version 3.8, 07/07/04.