Phase 0: find the problem before you buy a solution
A four to six week process, with a fixed end date.
A paid project with no predetermined outcome, we’re not paid more if you buy software after. Every map and recommendation belongs to you, whether you work with us again or not.
Timeline
4 to 6 weeks, start to finish.
Who
Leadership, department heads, and the people who actually run the process day to day.
Outcome
A decision based on how your business really works, not on a vendor's promises.
You own
Every document and map, in plain files you can open anywhere. No lock-in.
Mapping How Your Business Actually Runs
We write down, in plain terms, how your business really operates today, not how the org chart says it does. The workarounds, the tribal knowledge, the steps that only one person knows how to do. Your leadership team gets on the same page about what's actually true, instead of guessing.
What used to live only in people's heads becomes something anyone on your team can look up. That's the foundation every good decision after this depends on.
What this solves
- –Know-how that only exists in one person's head
- –Everyone doing the same job a different way
- –The business grinding to a halt if one key person leaves
- –No shared picture of how things actually work
What you get
- ✓Your core processes written down, with who owns what
- ✓Simple maps your whole team can actually use
- ✓One agreed-on version of how the business runs
Deciding What to Keep, Fix, or Replace
Now that we know how your business really runs, we check whether your current software actually supports that or fights it. Instead of guessing, or just blaming "the system," you get a clear answer on what's working, what isn't, and where the software is slowing your people down.
You decide what to do next based on how your business actually works, not on what a salesperson promises. Any money you spend after this goes toward fixing a real problem.
What this solves
- –Not knowing if new software would even help
- –Expensive manual workarounds nobody questions anymore
- –Everyone on the leadership team having a different opinion
- –Fear of spending big and getting it wrong
What you get
- ✓A clear comparison of how your processes and your systems line up
- ✓A straight answer: keep it, fix it, or replace it
- ✓Findings you can act on, with no vendor pushing an agenda
Protecting You Through the Project
If you do move ahead with new software, we make sure the project stays focused on what your business actually needs, not on what's easiest for the vendor to sell or build. You get someone on your side of the table the whole way through, watching your budget, your goals, and your day-to-day operations.
Instead of finding out about problems after they've already cost you time and money, you catch them early. The software still gets built, but your business is the one being protected while it happens.
What this solves
- –The vendor quietly cutting corners
- –The project slowly growing bigger than what was agreed
- –The new system not actually matching how the business works
- –Problems that only surface when it's already expensive to fix them
What you get
- ✓Someone representing you, not the vendor, in every project meeting
- ✓Pushback whenever the project drifts from what was agreed
- ✓Your goals translated into commitments the vendor is held to
- ✓Problems flagged early, while they're still cheap to fix
Ongoing support (selective)
Independent Advisory Retainer
For leadership teams who want ongoing independent perspective during periods of operational or system change. Available by invitation only.
This can also include business intelligence and dashboard work: helping you decide what to track, designing dashboards that give leadership a clear read on the business, and reviewing how they are built and how they look, from both a technical and a business perspective, before your team relies on them.
Common questions
Questions We Hear From Leadership Teams
If your question is not answered here, bring it to the strategy call. That is what it is for.
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. In plain terms, it's the software that runs the core of your business, orders, inventory, purchasing, finance, often all in one place. Most companies start by shopping for that software first. That's backwards. If you don't fully understand your own problem, you end up buying a solution that doesn't fit it, and you usually find that out mid-project, once it's expensive to fix. Phase 0 is that missing first step: understand the real problem before you spend a dollar on software.
Your advisor has been on both sides of the table
Since 2006, I have worked on both sides, inside vendor organizations and alongside the businesses buying from them. That taught me something most manufacturers learn the hard way: the moment you let a vendor lead your own assessment, the outcome is already decided.
I founded Metadata Advisory to give mid-market manufacturers in Canada something they rarely get: an honest, independent opinion before any contract is signed, the plan is locked in, and the money is spent. My work is straightforward. I work only for you, never the vendor. I map out how your business actually runs. I write out exactly what vendors have to bid against, in plain terms. I hold them to it.
- Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)
- Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM)
- MBCS, Professional Member of the Chartered Institute for IT
- PMI® Certified Member, Project Management Institute
- Member of CIPS Ontario, Ontario's Association of Information Technology Professionals
- Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Windows Server 2003 (MCSE)
- IIBA® Member & Essential Training Partner
Fateh AlNaeb