The parts of the relationship that are easy to get wrong.
Priorities, approval, documentation and response are the four things most technology relationships argue about later. Here is how each one is set.
01Priorities and scope
Onboarding establishes priorities with your ownership and leadership. That list is what the work is measured against, and it is revisited rather than assumed.
The engagement defines scope, capacity and the commercial model for your situation. There is no universal hours cap and no unlimited-work promise, because neither would be true.
02Approval before extra work
Your priorities set the work. You approve additional charges before extra work starts.
We agree the priorities with your leadership, watch for requests outside that plan, and discuss changes with your authorized decision-maker before proceeding. An employee request, an AI-prepared change record or an invoice is not authorization.
AI monitoring flags work or cost drifting outside the agreed priorities. It is an early warning that sends a person to have a conversation. It is not permission to run up chargeable work and ask afterwards.
Third-party expenses and licensing dependencies are discussed and documented for your engagement rather than published as a universal schedule here.
How a request outside the plan is handled
Step 1 of 5: Priorities agreed
01Priorities agreed
Onboarding sets the priorities with your ownership and leadership. Everything after this is measured against that list.
Agreed at onboarding
1. The quote tool has to survive month end. 2. Two integrations before the new season.
Measured against this list
02A request arrives
It comes from someone inside your business, which is exactly why it needs checking rather than refusing.
From your sales lead
“Add two more users to the quote tool.”
Ref CR-0148
03It is checked against the plan
Work or cost drifting outside the agreed priorities is flagged, and a person looks into it with the requester.
Checked
Quote tool, month end: on the list. Two more users: not on it.
A person talks to the requester
04Extra work is held
Nothing chargeable starts here. An employee request, an AI-prepared change record or an invoice is not authorization.
Waiting for approval
CR-0148 sits here. Nothing chargeable starts while it waits.
No emergency exception
05Approved, then recorded
Your authorized decision-maker approves the additional charge before the work starts, and the record and approval reference stay attached to it.
Approved by your decision-maker
Approval reference attached to CR-0148. Work starts now.
Record and approval stay together
Illustration drawn for this page. The request and the reference number are invented, and no customer work is shown.
03Documentation and continuity
Work records, approval references and handoff notes are kept so an invoice can be traced back to what was agreed.
Documentation is written so that another provider could pick the work up. Ownership of code, accounts and licences follows your agreement; this page does not create new ownership rights in either direction.
Before we take over an existing system we confirm your authority over it, obtain the access and documentation that exist, and assess condition, dependencies, licences and rollback considerations.
04What the response window means
Automated intakeWithin five minutes, 24/7, including weekends and holidays.
PeopleThe normal support window, 8 a.m. Eastern to 5 p.m. Pacific.
An automated first response within five minutes, 24/7, including weekends and holidays. Our AI-connected phone and email intake acknowledges your request, creates a ticket and routes it.
That clock measures intake, not resolution. People work requests during our normal support window, 8 a.m. Eastern to 5 p.m. Pacific. Service days, after-hours callbacks and any extended coverage are set in your agreement.
You also have a direct line to the owner, Ashish. People monitor the automated work and step in when needed. That is not a claim that a person watches every interaction or that an engineer is on call at any hour.
What the paperwork looks like
Four documents from one invented engagement, in the templates we actually use. They show the sequence: a scoped proposal, a change authorized before the work, an acceptance record, and an invoice that traces back to both.