Process
How we work.
Five stages. A reply within one working day, and scope agreed in writing at stage three, before anything gets built.
Process
Understand the goal
We start with the decision or the workflow, not the dataset. Reply within one working day.
- You provide
- The problem in your own words, and the decision the output should support.
- We produce
- A written statement of the goal, and our first read on whether we are the right fit.
- Approval point
- You confirm we have understood the problem.
- What usually goes wrong here
- The goal is a tool ("we want a dashboard") rather than a decision. We will push back until it is a decision.
Inspect a sample
A small, safe sample tells us more than any amount of description.
- You provide
- One representative file or page. Not the full dataset, and nothing sensitive.
- We produce
- An assessment of structure, quality, volume and the constraints we found.
- Approval point
- You agree the sample is representative of the whole.
- What usually goes wrong here
- The sample is the tidy one. Send the messy file — it is the one that sets the effort.
Confirm scope
Deliverables, exclusions, revisions and a delivery date, in writing — usually within one working day of the sample.
- You provide
- Sign-off on the scope, and the deadline that actually matters.
- We produce
- A written scope and a quote, with the exclusions as explicit as the inclusions.
- Approval point
- You accept the scope in writing before any build starts.
- What usually goes wrong here
- A requirement surfaces after sign-off. It becomes a change request, priced separately — never absorbed silently.
Build and validate
We build, then we try to break it before you see it.
- You provide
- Access to the agreed data, and answers to the exceptions we raise.
- We produce
- The deliverable, plus the reconciliation showing headline figures match your source.
- Approval point
- You review against the scope, not against new ideas.
- What usually goes wrong here
- Source data changes shape mid-build. We stop and re-scope rather than quietly absorb it.
Hand off or maintain
You own the file, and somebody on your side can run it — or we keep running it for you with Managed Reporting.
- You provide
- One person to be walked through the refresh.
- We produce
- Files, documentation, refresh guide, and a walkthrough session.
- Approval point
- Your named person runs the refresh once, themselves, before we close.
- What usually goes wrong here
- Nobody is nominated to own it. A system with no owner stops being refreshed within two periods.
FAQs
Questions worth asking before you hire anyone.
Straight answers on files, confidentiality, cost and timing.
How long does it take?
Send a sample and you get a written quote with a delivery date within one working day. The date depends on the data, so we give it after seeing a sample rather than guessing before. Each package lists what its timeline assumes.
What affects the price, and why are no prices published?
What moves it: how much data there is, how clean it is, how many separate sources it comes from, and whether the report has to refresh every period. We quote a fixed figure after seeing one sample file, in writing, and it does not change unless the scope does.
Who owns the final file?
You do. You get the working file, not a locked export — the workbook, the queries, the measures, the editable deck. If you stop working with us, nothing stops functioning and nothing needs our permission to change.
Stage one is a conversation, not a commitment.
Describe the problem. If a sample makes sense we will ask for one, and if we are not the right people for the job we will say so at that point rather than later.