How we work
Enablement first, then deployment, then a subscription
We are an implementation-led software business. That means the engagement starts with teaching, moves through deploying and adapting our platform to your business, and settles into a recurring subscription for access and support. Every stage below states plainly whether it is a one-off fee or a recurring charge.
Stages 01 to 03 — professional services
Enablement, deployment and any customisation are quoted as fixed fees against an agreed written scope and invoiced as professional services. They are one-time charges. Each is scoped and priced before the work begins, not billed as it goes.
Stage 04 — platform subscription
Once you are live, platform access, hosting, updates and support are billed as a monthly subscription. It starts at go-live — never during enablement or deployment — and carries no minimum commitment: thirty days’ written notice cancels it, with no cancellation charge. What is refundable is set out in our refund and cancellation policy.
Discovery & enablement
Most planning software fails for a reason that has nothing to do with the software: the people expected to use it were never taught what it is doing. A forecast is handed to a team who cannot judge whether it is reasonable, so they either accept it uncritically or ignore it entirely. Both outcomes waste the investment.
So we start by teaching. These are working sessions, not a slide deck — run against your own products, your own history and your own problems. We cover what the discipline actually is, how it is measured, where it reliably fails, and what a good result looks like in your specific business. By the end, the people who will use the system can hold an informed argument about its output.
This stage also does the scoping. We review how planning is done today, what data exists and in what condition, and who the decisions sit with. That review is what everything after it is quoted against — which is why it comes first and is priced on its own.
What exists at the end of this stage
- A shared working vocabulary across your planning, operations and commercial teams
- A written assessment of your current process, data and system landscape
- An honest view of what is achievable, and what is not achievable yet
- A defined scope for deployment, with the work and the assumptions written down
Typical duration
Two to four weeks
Deployment
We deploy our planning platform and configure it around your business: your product hierarchy, your locations, your planning calendar, your suppliers and lead times. Your historical data is loaded, assessed and cleaned to the point where it can be modelled — this is usually the longest part of the stage and we say so in advance rather than discovering it late.
Nothing goes live on trust. Output is validated against your own history first, and against the way you plan today, so you can see where the two agree and where they differ before anything depends on it.
Your team is trained on the system itself during this stage, building on the fundamentals covered in enablement. The aim is that they can run it without us.
What exists at the end of this stage
- A configured, working environment on your data with user access set up
- Historical data loaded, assessed and documented, including the gaps
- Validation results comparing platform output against your existing method
- Your team trained on day-to-day operation
Typical duration
Four to eight weeks, depending on data condition
Customisation
Standard configuration covers most of what most businesses need. Where it does not — an unusual constraint, a reporting structure specific to your industry, an integration with a system you already run — we build the adjustment.
Customisation is quoted separately and only when it is genuinely required. If the standard configuration is sufficient, we say so and this stage does not happen. Where it is required, the work is scoped and priced before it starts, not billed as it goes.
What exists at the end of this stage
- Adjustments built, tested and documented against an agreed written scope
- Any integrations with systems you already run
- A fixed quote agreed before work begins
Typical duration
Scoped case by case; frequently not needed
Ongoing subscription
Once deployment is signed off, the relationship becomes a subscription. It covers access to the platform for your users, hosting and maintenance, updates as the product develops, and support when something needs attention.
This is a recurring monthly charge and is presented as one from the outset. It begins at go-live — not during enablement or deployment — and it carries no minimum commitment: you can cancel at any time on thirty days' written notice, with no cancellation charge. We would rather earn the renewal than lock you into one, and a single seasonal cycle is usually what it takes to judge a forecast honestly. Cancellation notice and what is refundable are set out in our refund and cancellation policy.
Where a client wants us to stay involved beyond support — sitting in planning cycles, reviewing forecast accuracy, retuning parameters as the business changes — that is agreed as part of the subscription rather than billed ad hoc.
What exists at the end of this stage
- Platform access for your users, hosted and maintained
- Product updates and improvements as they ship
- Support against an agreed response commitment
- Optional ongoing review of accuracy and planning performance
Typical duration
Billed monthly, no minimum commitment, thirty days' notice to cancel
What we will not do
We will not deploy the platform into a business that has not been through enablement. It is not an upsell; it is the stage that decides whether the rest is worth doing, and it is where we will tell you if the answer is no.
We will not quote deployment before we have seen the state of your data. Historical data is almost always in worse condition than expected, and a number given before anyone has looked is a number that gets revised upward later.
We will not bill customisation you do not need. If the standard configuration fits, stage 03 does not happen and is not charged.
Start with a conversation
Tell us what you plan today, how you plan it, and what it costs you when it goes wrong. We will tell you plainly whether this is a fit — and if it is not yet, what would have to be true first.
We reply within two business days.