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Approach

From business question to investment decision.

The approach is designed for situations where process, data, existing technology, automation or AI could plausibly be part of the answer.

The purpose is to compare those possibilities against the same business question before committing to one route.

  1. 1Define what needs to improve
  2. 2Understand what the decision depends on
  3. 3Compare the realistic options
  4. 4Decide what deserves the next commitment

1. Define what needs to improve

We start with the outcome and the decision or workflow behind it.

We look at how the work actually happens, where the problem appears, what information and judgement people rely on, and how exceptions and workarounds are handled.

What is known, and what still needs to be established, stays visible throughout.

Evidence carries its own quality. A fact is recorded as Measured, Stated, Estimated or Not established, and those distinctions stay visible rather than being resolved by assumption.

2. Understand what the decision depends on

Technology choices sit inside a wider operating environment.

We look at six connected areas:

Six operating areas connect to the business decision, with governance spanning all six.
Business decision

  1. Value and strategy

    What should improve, and why?

  2. Process and operating model

    How does the work happen and where are the important decisions made?

  3. Data and information

    What information is available, trusted and usable?

  4. Applications and technology

    What the existing systems can already support, and where they cannot.

  5. Intelligence and AI

    Where could analytics or AI materially improve the work?

  6. People and adoption

    Who will use, own and support the change?

Governance runs across all six: ownership, permissions, controls, risk and measurement.

These six areas are examined together, because the constraint on a technology or AI decision often sits in one of them while the others look fine.

3. Compare the realistic options

Once the problem and its dependencies are clearer, the realistic interventions can be compared on the same basis.

We start with the simplest credible response: simplifying the work, clarifying ownership, improving the information or using existing systems better, before adding automation, analytics or AI where they are justified.

The choice depends on expected value, feasibility, risk, operating fit and the evidence available to support it.

The ten options are fixed

The same ten interventions are compared every time, in the same order, cheapest and least complex first. The order is the method: removing the step is considered before adding an agent.

Simpler routes, no AI

  1. 1.Remove or simplify the step entirely
  2. 2.Clarify ownership or decision rights
  3. 3.Improve the data, definitions or reporting
  4. 4.Configure or better use a system already owned
  5. 5.Conventional workflow automation, no AI
  6. 6.Analytics, forecasting or optimisation

Higher autonomy and authority

  1. 7.Computer vision
  2. 8.An assistant that retrieves and explains, no action
  3. 9.An agent that prepares actions for human approval
  4. 10.Bounded automatic execution of reversible actions

Six of the ten options contain no AI.

VALTAIRA can benefit commercially from a larger recommendation, so the control against that has to be visible rather than assumed.

Every one of the ten options carries a verdict and a written reason, including the cheapest routes and the ones not selected. That comparison goes to the client, who can use it to challenge the recommendation or to brief another supplier.

Six signals narrow the comparison

  • Is the step necessary?
  • Is it rule or judgement?
  • Knowledge gap or capability gap?
  • Is data available and trusted?
  • What if the action is wrong?
  • Does an existing system provide it?

They narrow the comparison. They do not select the answer.

4. Decide what deserves the next commitment

Before more money or time is committed, the expected improvement and the evidence needed to demonstrate it should be clear.

So should the main risks, ownership and the conditions that would cause the work to continue, change direction or stop.

The point is to make the next decision better informed, not to create a larger programme by default.

What was decided, what it rests on and which options were rejected is written down in a Decision Record, alongside the comparison of all ten options.

The seven documents an engagement produces are set out under Deliverables.

  • Continue
  • Change direction
  • Stop

Value Explorer

Value Explorer™

Value Explorer provides a structured first view of a specific problem.

It helps organise what is already known, expose important gaps and identify where further investigation would be useful. That information can then be carried into deeper work on the same problem rather than starting again.

Detailed design follows only when the relevant assumptions and evidence have been tested.

Value ExplorerIllustrative preview

Business problem

A specific problem under review

Evidence

Known
Illustrative status
Missing
Illustrative status

Options worth examining

  • Process
  • Existing system
  • Automation
  • AI

Next decision

What should be examined next

Open Value ExplorerContact