How we work
How a project runs, from first call to go-live
The same seven steps on every project, so you always know what is happening, what it costs and what comes next. Your current way of working carries on until the new system has proved itself.
Intro call
Twenty minutes
It starts with a free 20-minute intro call. You tell us what you'd like the system to do, and we ask questions: what the work is, who touches it, where it lives now. Phone or video, whichever suits. No commitment. For most firms the call arranges our free Business Systems Assessment: an hour with whoever runs the day to day, in person or online, and a walkthrough of what we would change.
| What you do | Talk us through it. Bring whatever you use now. A screenshot of the spreadsheet helps more than a description of it. |
|---|---|
| What you get | A clear sense of whether it is a small job or a larger one, before anybody spends time on a detailed quote. If it isn't for us, we say so. |
| How long | Twenty minutes. |
Fixed price, in writing
Before anything starts
We look at the job properly before putting a number on it. That usually means you walking us through how the work moves: a job coming in, who picks it up, what gets written where, and how it ends up on an invoice. Then we write down the scope, the price and the dates.
| What you do | An hour or two showing us how the work moves, and answering the questions that come out of it. |
|---|---|
| What you get | A fixed price in writing, with what is not included written as plainly as what is. It holds for thirty days. No follow-up sales calls while you decide. |
| How long | An hour or two of your time. You decide in your own time after that. |
| If it changes | If you want something outside the written scope, we tell you before we do it, not after. We won't come back for more because something turned out harder than we expected. |
Build
Usually a few weeks
We build to the written scope, around your words for things and the order your day already happens in. You get regular updates, and early warning if anything is going to move.
Where part of the work is routine, such as drafting a document, reading an email into a record or checking a certificate, we look at whether an AI feature would save time, and build it in with a person approving what matters.
| What you do | Very little. Answer the odd question, and send the data and decisions we ask for, because the dates depend on them. |
|---|---|
| What you get | A working system, documented as it is built, ready for you to try with real data. |
| How long | A first system is usually a few weeks rather than months. Bigger systems go live in pieces, so the useful part arrives early instead of everything arriving at the end. |
| If it changes | If a date is going to move, you hear it when we know, not on the day. |
Review with your data
Before go-live
You use the real system with your own data, not a demonstration with made-up jobs. This is the point where the people who will use it every day say what reads wrong, what is missing and what is in the way.
| What you do | A review session with the people who will use it, working through real jobs. |
|---|---|
| What you get | A system adjusted to how your team actually works, before anybody depends on it. |
| How long | It happens before go-live, while there is still time to adjust how it works. |
| If it changes | Adjustments to how the agreed system works are what this step is for. A new piece of work outside the scope is priced and agreed before it is done. |
Training
Office and road
Sessions for the office and for anyone on the road, run by the people who built it. Drivers and engineers see the phone screens they will use, and the office sees what arrives when they do.
| What you do | Get the right people in the room, or on the call. |
|---|---|
| What you get | A team that has used it before it matters, and a written guide they keep. |
| How long | Before go-live, so nobody meets the system for the first time on the day it counts. |
Go live
Alongside what you have
The new system usually runs alongside your current process for the first week. Nobody is forced into it overnight, and if something reads wrong under real pressure, the old way is still there while it is put right.
| What you do | Use it for real, and tell us what you notice. |
|---|---|
| What you get | A calm switch, and a system in daily use. |
| How long | Usually the first week side by side, then the old way is retired. |
| If it changes | Our own defects are fixed at our own cost, at go-live or any time after. |
Ongoing support
For as long as you keep it
Hosted in the UK, backed up nightly, monitored every few minutes and developed as your business changes. Support goes direct to the team that built it, 8am to 6pm on weekdays and Saturday mornings.
| What you do | Use it, and ring when you want something changed. |
|---|---|
| What you get | A fixed monthly fee for hosting and support, agreed at the same time as the build price and starting on go-live. |
| How long | No minimum term and no notice period. Your data comes with you if you leave. |
| If it changes | New fields, reports and statuses, with what the monthly covers agreed at the start. A new module or a second system is a new job with its own fixed price, agreed before it starts. |
What running it covers in detail is on the hosting and support page.
What you need to have ready
Less than people expect.
What helps
- Whatever you use now: the spreadsheet, the whiteboard, the forms
- An hour or two to walk us through how the work moves
- Somebody who can make decisions when we ask
- Your data, for the review and for go-live
- The people who will use it, for the review and training
What you don't need
A written specification. Working out what the system should do is our job, and the walk-through is where it happens.
Technical knowledge. The people who will use it have a say in how it works, and everybody is trained before launch.
A problem. Wanting it quicker or tidier is reason enough.
Honest answers
Anything else, ask us. We would rather answer a question than have you guess.
Can you promise a go-live date?
We give you a date in writing and keep you posted if anything moves. What we can't do is hit a date without the things we need from you, such as your data and your decisions, so those are part of the plan from the start.
What if we change our minds about the scope halfway through?
That is normal, and it is why the scope is written down. Anything outside it, we tell you before we do it, with the price, and you decide. Nothing gets added to the bill afterwards.
What if the build turns out harder than you thought?
That is our problem, not yours. The price is fixed, and we won't come back asking for more because something took longer than expected.
How do we pay for the build?
On a fixed price build we normally take a deposit up front and the balance when the system is live and you are happy with it. Your quote says if it differs.
What if we want to stop?
Before you accept a quote, you just don't go ahead, and nobody chases you. Once the system is live, either side can end hosting and support at any time. If you end it, we give you your data in a standard format and help you move.
Start with step one
The intro call is free and carries no commitment. Tell us what you'd like to keep track of and we'll take it from there.
Ring, 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings, or use the form below. Pick what you'd like to keep track of, add a line if you want to, and leave a name and a way to reach you. If you'd like to know who you'd be dealing with first, read about us.