Scoped permissions
The system reaches the repository and the matter it was built for. Nothing wider.
Example systems
Start where valuable work is getting stuck.
These governed systems recur across brokerages, accountancies, and consultancies. Each starts with one measurable process and earns the right to extend through evidence.
RFP Response System
Every RFP restarts from a blank page and a frantic search for the last good answer. Senior people write boilerplate at partner rates, and the version that ships is rarely the best one the firm has written.
Strongest where bid volume is high and win rates justify the effort. Directly protects the non-billable cost of business development.
- Tender received
- Retrieve prior answers
- Draft response
- Partner review
- Submission
What the system handles
- Retrieves approved prior answers, credentials, and case material
- Maps reusable material to the tender’s question structure
- Produces a first draft and checks mandatory questions and word limits
Where people decide
- Which argument and evidence best fit the opportunity
- Whether every claim is accurate and current
- What is approved for submission
What gets measured
- Hours per response
- Proportion of responses reusing approved language
- Turnaround from receipt to first full draft
Baselined in week one, measured again in week four. One of these is agreed as the KPI that carries the guarantee.
Research-to-Report System
Analysts read the same market, filings, and interview notes that everyone else reads, then spend the bulk of the engagement restructuring findings into house format rather than forming a view.
Fits fixed-fee research and strategy work where the scope assumes a set number of drafts and each extra pass comes out of margin.
- Source intake
- Structured extraction
- Synthesis
- Consultant review
- Client report
What the system handles
- Ingests approved filings, transcripts, notes, and prior work
- Extracts evidence into the firm’s reporting structure
- Produces a traceable first draft with claims linked to sources
Where people decide
- What the evidence means
- Which interpretation the firm is prepared to stand behind
- What reaches the client
What gets measured
- Analyst hours per report
- Number of drafts before partner sign-off
- Consistency of structure across the engagement team
Baselined in week one, measured again in week four. One of these is agreed as the KPI that carries the guarantee.
Due-Diligence Review System
Review quality depends on who opened the folder and how late it was. Findings are inconsistent between reviewers, and the second pass often catches what the first should have.
Suits transaction and advisory work priced per deal, where timetable pressure is what turns a fixed fee into an overrun.
- Data room intake
- Document classification
- Issue flagging
- Reviewer judgement
- Findings log
What the system handles
- Classifies documents across the data room
- Flags clauses and issues against the firm’s taxonomy
- Links each flag to the relevant source location
Where people decide
- Whether a flag is material
- How findings affect the transaction view
- What is entered into the approved findings log
What gets measured
- Hours to first complete pass
- Consistency of findings between reviewers
- Issues surfaced before the second pass rather than after
Baselined in week one, measured again in week four. One of these is agreed as the KPI that carries the guarantee.
Compliance Reporting System
The same report is rebuilt each cycle from the same evidence, by whoever is free. Evidence trails are reconstructed after the fact, and the audit question is always harder to answer than the report itself.
Fits recurring compliance retainers, where the same work repeats often enough to establish a baseline quickly.
- Evidence gathering
- Control mapping
- Draft report
- Compliance review
- Filed report
What the system handles
- Collects evidence against required controls
- Drafts against the current reporting template
- Records changes from the prior cycle
Where people decide
- How requirements apply to exceptions
- Whether evidence is sufficient
- What is approved and filed
What gets measured
- Hours per reporting cycle
- Time to assemble evidence for an audit request
- Reporting cycles delivered without a late escalation
Baselined in week one, measured again in week four. One of these is agreed as the KPI that carries the guarantee.
Shared operating layer
Governance is part of the workflow.
The task changes between systems. The controls around approved access, human judgement, and traceability do not.
Human review gates
Nothing reaches a client without a named person approving it. The gate is part of the workflow, not a policy note.
Audit trails
What went in, what came out, who approved it. Answerable to a risk committee, not just to a demo.
Approved tools only
A written starter policy on what staff can and cannot put into AI tools, so the informal use already happening has somewhere to go.
If your priority process is not one of these, it is still worth the conversation.
These four come up most often, not exclusively. Meeting-to-report generation and contract or policy analysis fit the same shape: a repeatable process, a document set, and a deliverable someone has to stand behind.
- Meeting-to-report generation
- Contract and policy analysis