How an engagement runs
The four phases below span roughly two years, though the first use cases reach production well before that. Each use case passes a stage gate before it gets funding for the next phase, and your team takes on more of the delivery work as the program goes on. The sequence holds across industries. What changes is where the value sits and which data problems have to be fixed first.
Discovery & Strategy
We interview leadership and work through each function to find where the business makes and loses money.
OutputA prioritized portfolio with a value case and a named owner against each item.
Foundations
We build the data platform and integrations the first use cases need, then extend them as later use cases require. We scope the hardest integration early, since integration cost is what usually changes the economics of a use case.
OutputThe integration, master data, and platform work the funded portfolio depends on.
First Delivery
We build with the people who will use the output, redesign the workflow around it, and deliver it inside the systems those teams already work in.
OutputProduction use cases measured against an agreed baseline and validated by finance.
Scale & Sustain
Scaling means running the same use case across every branch, plant, or hospital, and building the next twenty without reinventing the delivery method each time.
OutputStandard pipelines, deployment, and monitoring, reused across each rollout.
How use cases move between phases
At the end of each phase we review the use case against a fixed set of criteria, and it moves forward only if it clears them. Some do not, and we say so. A use case stopped at the first gate has cost a few weeks of discovery rather than a full build.
Is this worth funding?
Go if there is a defined problem, a named business owner, a credible value estimate, and source data that exists.
Does the value hold up?
Go if the prototype beats the current baseline and finance is willing to back the case.
Is it live and being used?
Go if it is running in production, the intended users are working with it, and the measured value matches the case.
Can it run across the business?
Go if the pipelines are reusable, the system is monitored, and someone inside the business owns running it.
How ownership transfers
Ownership moves during live delivery rather than in a handoff at the end. We document the pipelines, the deployment process, and the gate criteria as we go, so your team can run the use cases that come after.
| Pathfinder | OperateIQ | Your team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lead | Embedded |
| 2 | Joint | Joint |
| 3 | Review | Lead |
We agree the production path before the prototype is built, and a demo does not clear a gate.
We build what the funded use cases need and extend it as later ones require.
We staff delivery with people from the business unit and report into the function that owns the outcome.
We baseline before the build and have finance validate the result on the first use case.
Your team takes over delivery during the engagement, and we document what they need to run it.
We work out what the process should be, then automate what is left.
Bring a use case and we will walk it through the gates.
We can tell you what discovery would have to confirm before it could be funded.