By using first principles methods to generate a model of a-Al2O3, this enables the calculation of electronic properties, such as the eDOS, NMR and XAS, which is not possible using classical simulation methods. This is especially important for functional materials such as alumina, which are routinely used in electronic devices. We further demonstrate the importance of incorporating experimental insight at the model configuration sampling stage, as we describe a set of 54 different AIMD simulations, all with sensible initial conditions and RDFs, but only two of which had coordination environments within the experimental margin of error. This additionally underscores the need for having a specific experimental comparison metric when generating amorphous models; the results presented in this work are all with reference to one ALD deposited sample of alumina using the most relevant possible spectroscopy methods for characterization.