Four stages, and you can stop after any of them
Every stage produces something you keep, whether or not you carry on to the next. The first two cost nothing, so you can get all the way to a specific written quote without spending anything.
No pitch, no obligation.
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Free
The discovery call
Thirty minutes on a video call. You describe which figures get argued about and what that costs you in time or money. We ask enough questions to work out whether this is the sort of thing we can fix.
If it is not, we say so on the call. That happens often enough to be worth mentioning: sometimes the answer is a conversation between two departments rather than a data project.
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Free
The data audit
We look at which system holds what, where the figures diverge, and why. Not a sales document, a working map of your data with the disagreements marked on it.
This is usually the moment something clicks. An argument that has been running for two years often turns out to be two departments counting a credit note differently, and once that is written down it stops being an argument.
You keep the findings regardless of what you do next, including if you take them to another supplier.
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The build
Warehouse, pipelines and reporting, built in agreed stages rather than as one long silence followed by a launch. Each stage lands as something you can actually open and use.
Everything gets reconciled against the reports you already trust before it goes live. Where a new figure differs from an old one, we show you exactly which records cause the gap and you decide which is right. We are not going to tell you your own business is wrong about its own numbers.
You see progress every week or two. If something is heading the wrong way, you find out then rather than at the end.
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Handover
Written definitions for every figure that matters, access set by role so people see what their job requires, and a named owner for each number. Then a session with whoever will look after it.
The test we hold ourselves to is simple: if we disappeared tomorrow, could your team change a report without us? If the answer is no, the handover is not finished.
Support afterwards is optional and monthly. It should be a choice, not the only way to keep the thing running.
What this asks of your team
Data projects have a reputation for eating people's time, usually because the supplier needs someone to explain the business to them every other day. The audit exists partly to get that over with in one go.
After that, the commitment is roughly an hour a week from one person who knows the numbers. Most of it is reviewing what we have built and telling us when something looks wrong.
That review is the part that cannot be skipped. When two systems disagree, we can tell you exactly where and why, but we cannot tell you which answer your business considers correct. Somebody there has to decide, and then we hold that decision permanently.
What we do not need is a project manager, a steering group, or a weekly meeting with eight people in it.
Access we will ask for
- Read access to the systems involved
- A route to ask questions when something is unclear
- Someone who can settle a definition
- Copies of the reports we are matching against
We do not need administrative rights, and we do not change your systems or install anything on production equipment.
When we tell you not to bother
Three situations where we will say the work is not worth doing. Better to hear it on a free call than four weeks in.
The problem is not really about data
Sometimes two departments report different figures because they genuinely measure different things and nobody has ever said so out loud. That is a half hour conversation, not a project.
The numbers do not justify it
If the thing we would fix costs you two hours a month, the work will not pay for itself. We would rather say that than sell you something that never earns its money back.
You are mid-change already
If you are replacing your ERP next quarter, building on top of the old one is wasted effort. We will tell you to come back afterwards.
Practical questions about the process
The ones that come up once people have decided the idea is sound and want to know what it actually involves.
How much of our team's time will this take?
Less than you would expect, but not none. Budget roughly half a day during the audit for someone who knows the systems, then about an hour a week during the build to review what we have produced. The reviewing is the part that cannot be skipped, because we cannot tell you which of two conflicting figures is correct.
Who will we actually be dealing with?
The person doing the work. There is no account manager relaying messages, and nobody senior turns up to sell the project and then hands it to someone junior.
How do you work with our IT team or IT provider?
We need read access to the systems involved and a route to ask questions. We do not change your systems, install anything on production equipment, or need administrative rights. Your IT people or provider stay in control of what we can reach.
Do you work on site or remotely?
Mostly remotely, which keeps the cost down. A visit early on is often worth it if the work involves the shop floor, because seeing how something is actually recorded explains more than any amount of asking.
What if we need to pause the project?
Work is built in stages that each finish in a working state, so a pause between stages costs you nothing beyond the delay. You are never left with a half connected system that has to be finished before anyone can use it.
What happens if our departments disagree about what a number should mean?
That comes up on most projects and it is not a technical problem. We set out the options and what each one implies, then someone in your business decides and we record the decision. Our job is to make the disagreement visible and then hold whatever you choose.
Wondering what it costs? See how pricing works.
Stage one is a phone call and it is free
Tell us which figure you do not trust. We will tell you whether it is fixable and roughly what it would take.
- Completely free, no obligation
- No sales pitch, no slide deck
- Nothing to prepare beforehand
- An honest answer if we are not the right fit