01 · Engagement models
Bring the decision. Agree what it takes to answer it.
Start with a bounded decision: what should change, what evidence is needed and when to stop. If the decision supports further transformation, engineering or operational work is separately scoped and authorised. Nothing progresses automatically.
Engagement brief
Illustrative · not an agreed scope
- Decision sought
- Should we change how refund exceptions are handled, and is it worth funding?
- Process boundary
- Refund exceptions, from the customer's claim to the final ledger entry. Standard refunds excluded.
- Known, and the main unknown
- Cost by budget line is known. Volumes by exception type and rework are not.
- Decision and process owners
- The operations director decides. The refunds team lead owns the process.
- Stop or continue if
- Stop if exceptions start upstream. Model the economics only if the process qualifies.
02 · Agree the scope
Agree the scope before any work starts.
Scope follows your decision and the evidence you already have. It is agreed in writing before commissioned work begins, and not every engagement uses every product.
You bringThe decision and the business boundary
PurpleAI establishesThe question the work must answer, and what is out of scope
You bringThe evidence you have: an executive view, cost lines, volumes or system records
PurpleAI establishesThe level of evidence the decision needs, and the main unknowns
You bringAccess to people, systems and data, under your permissions
PurpleAI establishesExactly which sources are used, and how
You bringWho decides, and who owns the process
PurpleAI establishesThe decision package you will receive
You bringConstraints, exclusions and programme controls
PurpleAI establishesResponsibilities, assumptions and commercial terms
Owner-declaredYour people describe the work; the process owner reviews it.
System-observedOnly where separately agreed and permitted.
Industry priorFrames the questions. Never counts as proof.
Agreed scopeDecision, evidence level, outputs, responsibilities, permissions, exclusions and terms, in writing.
03 · During the work
Each checkpoint ends in a decision you can defend, including stop.
The work goes only as far as the evidence and your approvals allow. Every checkpoint leaves something you keep.
CheckpointIs the problem what we believe it is?
- Qualified
- Fix the process first
- Leave it alone
You keepAn evidence-qualified finding, with its sources and gaps
Only if qualified and scopedIs the change worth funding?
- Approve
- Change
- Decline
You keepA modelled economic case, with assumptions and sensitivity
Only if approved and separately scopedShould it be built and released?
- Build and release
- Hold
You keepEngineering and release evidence
Only once released, where connected and permittedWhat is actually running?
A signal is not a saving.
You keepOperating evidence from the running process
Stopping is a result.The synthetic stock-discrepancy example on this site stops at the first checkpoint: fix the process first. Nothing was modelled, approved or built.
04 · Who does what
Work together. Your authority stays with you.
You contract directly with PurpleAI. PurpleAI is responsible only for what is contracted, and a delivery partner only for what is specifically assigned to it.
AlwaysYour organisation
- Investment decisions
- Process and financial ownership
- Technical governance and implementation acceptance
- Release authorisation
- Operational accountability
- Risk, permissions and acceptance
As contractedPurpleAI
- Evidence investigation and qualification
- The economic case for a qualified process
- Decision context and lineage, kept with Hippo
- Only if authorised and scoped: a first-draft engineering backlog from NOVA Build, for your engineers to review and refine
Optional · only as assignedDelivery partner
- Specifically contracted work, such as engineering, data or change delivery
- Does not resell PurpleAI, approve releases or replace your contract with PurpleAI
Your teams, PurpleAI where separately contracted, or an assigned delivery partner may carry out agreed delivery work. Your designated authorities retain investment, technical acceptance, release and operational accountability.
- FundingYour leadership
- ReleaseYour release authority
- OperationYour service owners
05 · What you take forward
Useful whether or not the change goes ahead.
A justified stop is a result. What you keep depends on what was scoped.
Decision file · illustrative
- The decision and its reasonsIncluding stop, fix first or change
- Evidence sources and named gapsWhat is known, assumed and missing
- What the process costs todayWhere scoped
- The economic caseOnly for a qualified, commissioned process
- Risks and assumptionsEach with an owner
- Handoff materialOnly where implementation was approved and scoped
Start with the decision you need to make.
Discuss an enterprise engagementSeparate choices, not steps towards an engagement: explore the free simulator, or assess one process yourself with Delta-Lite, a paid, standalone workbench.