What working with us looks like
Five steps, from a first conversation to a system your team owns. At each one you'll know what happens, what we need from you, and what you get. Nothing is built until the scope is agreed in writing.
The steps
01Fit call
A thirty-minute conversation about the report or workflow that prompted you to get in touch, the systems involved, and what would make a first piece of work worthwhile.
What we need from you
- The process that triggered the inquiry and who feels its cost
- Which systems hold the inputs, at a high level (no credentials)
- Who would sponsor, approve access, and own the result
What you receive
- A recommendation: an assessment, a bounded build, a referral, or no engagement, with the reason
- An agreed next step, owner, and date
02Paid assessment, where needed
When the sources, definitions, or access are unclear, a short paid assessment resolves them before anyone commits to a build. It covers one agreed report, with a limited number of interviews and sources set in the proposal.
What we need from you
- The current report and the files or exports behind it
- Time with the people who prepare, review, and use it
- Read access or sample exports for the agreed sources
What you receive
- A report inventory and a source map
- A metric register with definitions, formulas, and owners
- A prioritized implementation scope and a readout with the recommended next step
- The documents are yours whether or not you choose us for the build
03Agreed scope
A written proposal with fixed scope and price, agreed after discovery. Anything not in it is either out of scope or handled through the change process.
What we need from you
- Decisions on priorities, assumptions, and what stays with your team
- Confirmation of prerequisites and owner responsibilities
- Review by whoever approves the work and the access
What you receive
- The problem, deliverables, source scope, and report pages or objects in scope
- Assumptions, prerequisites, owner responsibilities, and the schedule basis
- Fees, payment milestones, licenses and hosting, and the change process
- Acceptance criteria, handover, intellectual property, confidentiality, and support terms
04Build and reconcile
We build against the agreed scope and check the output against your own figures. Acceptance is a checklist, not a feeling.
What we need from you
- Review of sample project and job mappings
- Approval of metric definitions and reference cases
- Sign-off, or a written list of remaining conditions
What you receive
- Sources and history windows that match the scope
- Reconciliations within written tolerances, with any differences documented
- Visible treatment of missing, duplicate, rejected, and unmapped records
- Refresh status and data age shown where required; failure handling and recovery exercised
- Correct access for agreed roles, with no accidental public sharing
- For any write workflow: authorization, duplicate prevention, and a tested recovery plan
05Handover and optional ongoing care
Your named operating owner takes over with documentation. If you want continued support, a separate care scope defines exactly what is covered.
What we need from you
- A named operating owner for the system
- Decisions on who holds credentials and licenses
What you receive
- Runbooks and training for the operating owner
- Documented dependencies, licenses, asset ownership, and support responsibilities
- If you choose care: named assets, support hours, severity definitions, response targets, and exclusions in writing
Is this a fit?
An honest answer early saves both sides time. If something is missing, we'll name the specific gap.
Good fit
Most engagements that go well start with these in place:
- A repeatable report or process your team runs every week or month
- Pain that matters: hours spent, numbers questioned, decisions delayed
- An accountable owner who can sign off definitions and results
- Source data we can reach with approved, read access
- Willingness to check the output against your own figures before relying on it
Not ready yet
These are common and fixable. Any one of them usually means it is too early to build:
- No one owns the report or can approve its definitions
- The question the report should answer is still unclear
- Access to the source systems is not available or not approved
- A deadline that the available data, access, or decisions cannot support
Practical next step: name an owner, pick the one report that matters most, and work through the reporting readiness checklist. A fit call can help you decide what to settle first.
Not a fit
We will say so plainly, and suggest someone better placed where we can:
- Guarantees that AI will make contractual or financial decisions on its own
- Open-ended scope with no agreed output or acceptance method
- Work outside our capacity or expertise
How pricing works
Pricing is based on scope: a fixed scope and price, agreed after discovery and before any build starts. What moves the price:
- How many source systems are involved, and how they are accessed
- The condition of the data and how much mapping and reconciliation it needs
- How many reports, pages, metrics, or workflows are in scope
- Whether any workflow writes back to a system, which needs extra safeguards
Software licenses, hosting, and ongoing support are separate from the implementation fee and are listed on their own in the proposal, so you can see what recurs and what doesn't.
What happens on the fit call
Thirty minutes, no preparation required. It helps to have the report in mind.
- 0–5 minWhat prompted the inquiry, who feels the cost, and your next reporting deadline or decision.
- 5–15 minThe report, its sources, what is done by hand, and how your team checks the result today.
- 15–22 minWho sponsors the work, who approves access, who would maintain it, and how you think about investment.
- 22–27 minOur recommendation and the open questions that drive it.
- 27–30 minA concrete next step, its owner, and a date. We won't promise a start date before checking capacity.
Want to prepare anyway? Try the reporting readiness checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Do we have to start with a paid assessment?
No. If the report, sources, and access are already clear, we can move straight to an agreed scope. The assessment is for cases where those are uncertain and a build would otherwise be guesswork.
Will you need our passwords or admin access on the fit call?
No. The fit call stays at the level of scope. Access is requested later, through whoever approves it on your side, and only for what the agreed work needs.
Why don't you publish prices?
Cost depends on the number of sources, the state of the data, how many reports or workflows are in scope, and what support you want afterward. You get a fixed scope and price, agreed after discovery, before any build starts.
What if the numbers don't match our accounting system?
Reconciliation is part of the build. Differences are checked against written tolerances, and anything outstanding is documented rather than hidden. Your owners decide acceptance.
Who owns what you build?
Ownership of assets, intellectual property terms, and licenses are set out in the proposal and documented again at handover.
Next step
Which report or workflow would you like to improve?
Tell us what your team does today, which systems are involved, and what you want to change. We'll discuss whether there is a practical fit.
Prefer email? charley@buildflows.ai