Business Systems Set-up
RemedialFixed FeeFor Subcontractors, Main Contractors & Clients
The reporting spine of the business rebuilt from the review's findings: CVRs that roll up without re-keying, a month-end pack that assembles itself from the jobs' own records, forecasts built the same way every month, sign-offs that leave a trail. Built in the software you already own and priced against the review before anything starts; where it de-risks the change, it pilots on one live project and rolls out from what that month teaches.
The problem
Business-wide systems fail differently from project ones. Every job reports in its own format because standardising was never anybody's job, processes announced from head office get worked around on site within a month, and the month-end keeps being assembled by hand because the person who does it has never had a month spare to change it. The review has said what the gaps are costing; what remains is building the fixes without stopping the reporting the directors rely on, and without handing site teams a system that gives them nothing back.
The solution
The data rules are settled and signed off in writing before anything is built: what may be used, in which tool, by whom. Then I build the business-wide fixes in the order the review ranked them, inside the software the business already pays for. Everything is built on established platforms such as Claude, Obsidian and Microsoft 365, in your accounts and on your licences: nothing proprietary, and you own everything. Where it de-risks the change, the build pilots on one live project first. I sit with the people who run each piece until they run it without me, and the price is fixed against the review before anything is built.
Everything I implement is handed over with its own plain-English manual, written for the people who will actually use it. And from handover you have a 24/7 triage contact: report anything at any time, it is logged and triaged straight away, and answered on the support terms we agree.
What you receive
You get a reporting cycle that assembles itself from the jobs' records, a plain written note of what was built and why, and each part handed over to the named owner inside your business who agreed to run it, able to run it without me. If you want it kept current as jobs open and tools change, the support retainer exists for exactly that; nothing obliges you to take it.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: the timetable is agreed in writing at scoping and then kept.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
How it works
You choose how far down the ranked list to go
The review's list is ordered by what each gap is costing the business. You choose the scope and whether the build pilots on one project first, and I put the price in writing against the review's findings before anything is configured.
You agree the data rules and name the owners
Before anything is built, pilot included: what data may be used, in which tool, and who may see it, drafted by me in plain words and decided by you in writing. At the same time each part of the build gets a named owner inside your business, because an element nobody will own is an element that should not be built.
Data rules agreed first
What data may be used, in which tool, and who may see it is decided and signed off in writing before anything is built.
You give me the access and, if the build pilots, the job
Admin rights on the licences, the reporting folders, and one live project willing to run the new spine for a month where piloting is the route. The pilot job's team gets the most attention, because the rollout copies what their month proves.
- A
The accepted business review, and a written statement of which of its ranked items this build covers and which it does not
EssentialWithout it: The build has nothing agreed to work against, and could cover the wrong scope for the whole business
Where to find it: You have it; it is the document the price was built from. Acceptance and the covered items come back in one email from whoever accepted the review.
Why I need it: The specification is written from the review's ranked items and its variation analysis, and it cannot be written from an unaccepted one
- B
The governance position and who owns it
EssentialWithout it: Nobody has authority to say yes or no, and the build has no one to check against later
Where to find it: One named person or forum on your side, usually whoever chairs your management or board meeting; a line naming them is enough.
Why I need it: Business-wide access is a bigger ask and needs stating
- C
Real records from more than one project
EssentialWithout it: A system built on one project's shape breaks the first time a different kind of job runs through it
Where to find it: Whoever exports from each project's live system, the project surveyors or whoever holds the logins; ask for straight exports with nothing cleaned or removed.
Why I need it: A common system has to work on more than one shape of job
- D
The pilot project, chosen and agreed
EssentialWithout it: There is no live job to prove the spine on, so the rollout has nothing tested to point to
Where to find it: Chosen together from the live list; the review usually makes the natural candidate obvious.
Why I need it: The rollout depends on a pilot that is representative
- E
Named users by role, and time in their diaries
EssentialWithout it: Nobody is trained on the system they are meant to run, so the rollout has nobody ready on the day
Where to find it: Each named user's own diary, booked for two hours in the week you agree; ask their line manager to hold the time rather than promising to find it later.
Why I need it: Each role is trained on its own work
- F
Access to the systems and licences the build needs, on every project in scope
EssentialWithout it: The build stalls before it starts, or it is built on the pilot and then cannot be deployed to the projects the price assumed
Where to find it: Whoever pays the subscriptions or runs the tenancy can grant it in minutes; ask for it project by project against the rollout list, not as one blanket request.
Why I need it: Nothing can be built or deployed without it, and the rollout touches every project rather than one
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
- A
I build the spine inside the tools you already own
The CVR format, the roll-up, the pack that assembles from the jobs' records, the forecast routine, the approval trail. Nothing is bought; the work is configuration of what the business already pays for, and each piece is built to be lighter than the copying it replaces.
I run the pilot month, then roll it out
Where the build pilots, one job runs the spine through a real month-end with me beside its team, and what that month teaches gets built into the rollout. Each following job is brought onto the standard the same way: with a person beside them through their first month, not an email.
Pilot proven before rollout
No other job receives the new reporting spine until every difference in the pilot's month is explained and corrected.
I sit with the people who assemble the month
Whoever builds the pack and the forecast runs a real month-end with me there, until the assembly happens without me and the directors are reading the same numbers the jobs actually produced.
Live only after sign-off
No reporting carries a live payment cycle until its handover manual is issued and you have signed off the workflow in writing.
I hand the month-end over and step back
Free Service Pack
A step-by-step Handbook, with the templates and working documents you need to carry out the work it covers yourself. You supply your own project information and records.
Follow the Handbook's scope and stopping points, and obtain independent advice where required. The pack is not project-specific advice or independent sign-off.
Tips that raise your odds of success
Questions I get asked often
The full menu of what a set-up can build is on the Build Menu page. The set-up needs a review in front of it, because the price and the build order come from the Business Systems Review. Its project-level sibling is the Project Systems Set-up, for one job's own systems. And once the spine is live, Systems Support exists to keep it current as jobs open, people move and the tools change.