Fixed-Scope Engagement

Data Strategy & Architecture Review

From a fragmented data estate to a strategy the executive team can own.

When you need this

Every function has its own platform, and every platform has its own version of the truth. Reports that should agree don't. The AI plans assume data the organisation cannot actually produce. Spending on platforms continues; confidence in them does not.

This is not a technical conversation. It is a business one that requires technical depth to have correctly.

The engagement

A fixed-scope review over four to eight weeks, depending on the size of the estate. Conversations with the people who produce the data and the people who depend on it — not just the people who manage the platforms. A review of the estate as it is: architecture, governance, ownership, and the organisational structures that determine whether data is genuinely useful at executive level.

What you receive

A written assessment of what the organisation actually holds and what condition it is in. A target architecture direction without unnecessary complexity. A governance and ownership model that names who decides. And a sequenced set of decisions — what to fix first, what to stop buying, what becomes possible once the foundations hold.

What it changes

Data stops being a permanent programme and starts becoming a capability. The executive team can answer three questions it currently cannot: what do we hold, who owns it, and what can we responsibly build on it.

Experience

Currently architecting an AI Data Mesh programme for UK policing custody data — one of the most demanding accountability environments in public sector technology. Enterprise architecture across public sector, health, finance, telecoms, and retail. Thirty-seven years in technology across 20+ sectors, from computer operator to Group CTO.

Engagement details
Format
Fixed-scope review
Duration
Four to eight weeks
Output
Written assessment, architecture direction, decision sequence
Commercial basis
Fixed fee
Frequently asked

Questions people ask before booking

How long does the review take?

Four to eight weeks, run as a fixed-scope engagement.

Is this a technical review or a business one?

Both — it's fundamentally a business conversation about what the organisation can trust and act on, but one that requires real technical depth to have correctly rather than being run as a pure architecture exercise.

What do we receive?

A written assessment of what the organisation actually holds and what condition it's in, a target architecture direction without unnecessary complexity, a governance and ownership model that names who decides, and a sequenced set of decisions.

Does this tell us what to stop doing, not just what to start?

Yes — the decision sequence names what to fix first and what to stop buying, not only what becomes possible once the foundations hold.

How is it commercially structured?

A fixed fee, agreed before the review starts.