Example · Sales
Lead received → qualified → quoted → followed up → handed over. Each stage, role, system and approval helps define the scope.
← Business solutions
Planning before building
Three days to understand the work, not just the request.
Before we design a custom tool or system, we spend at least three days understanding how your business actually works: observing agreed processes, speaking with the employees involved, and finding where time, frustration or avoidable errors build up.
Why plan first?
The department name isn't the scope.
“Helpdesk”, “HR”, “Management” or “Sales” can each contain several distinct processes. And one process might cross all of them. We scope around the work from beginning to end: what starts it, who handles each step, what information moves, where decisions happen and what a good result looks like.
This avoids treating every department as a separate product, or missing the integrations and handoffs that make the real solution more involved.
Example · HR
New starter request → approvals → account and equipment setup → induction. Offboarding is usually a separate workflow to map.
Example · Helpdesk
Request received → categorised → assigned → resolved → recorded. Escalations, customer updates and reporting can add scope.
Example · Management
A dashboard may bring together the agreed information from other workflows. We establish its data sources, measures, permissions and update needs.
At least three days
What happens in the planning session
The activities and access are agreed beforehand. The day labels below are a typical focus, not a rigid timetable; the exact agenda depends on the agreed scope. We work with your team respectfully and avoid collecting confidential customer information or credentials that are not needed.
Day 1 · Understand
Set the baseline
Confirm the agreed process, goals, participants and constraints. Observe work as it happens and note systems, handoffs, repeated steps and waiting points.
Day 2 · Listen
Speak with the people doing it
Talk with relevant staff and managers about what slows them down, what creates rework, what they have to work around and what a better outcome would be.
Day 3+ · Map & plan
Validate the problem
Map the workflow end to end, check findings with your team, identify options and agree what the proposed solution should include. Further days are agreed if needed.
What you get
A clear, agreed scope before any build price
- ✓ A current-state workflow map and documented pain points
- ✓ Findings informed by observation and staff conversations
- ✓ Recommended solution approach and alternatives, where useful
- ✓ Proposed users, roles, integrations, data, reports and boundaries
- ✓ A final written build quote with itemised deliverables, costs and timing
- ✓ Clear training, handover and ongoing support options
Before the session begins
Planning fee agreed up front
For a small, tightly scoped one-workflow internal tool, the total discovery-and-build project starts from £1,750 overall. We confirm the exact planning scope, schedule and fee in writing before it starts. After the minimum three planning days, we finalise the total project quote, including the build, and show how each part is priced; if the scope changes the starting estimate, you see the revised price before deciding.
You can accept the final quote, ask us to adjust the scope or decide not to proceed with the build. We don’t start development until you approve the final written quote.
Planning FAQs
A few common questions
How long is the planning session?
At least three days. We agree the exact schedule and scope in advance.
What happens during planning?
We observe agreed processes, review how work is currently done, talk with employees involved, identify pain points and map the end-to-end workflow.
When will I get the final quote?
After the planning session is complete. You receive a written scope, deliverables, schedule and itemised price before any build begins.
Does planning commit me to the build?
No. The planning session and build are separately approved. You decide whether to accept the final build quote after planning.
Ready to map your process?
Start with a guided project quote request
Tell us which teams and systems are involved. We'll use that to prepare for a conversation and confirm the planning scope and fee in writing.
Open the quote builder