Engagement models
Choosing a delivery model, embedding specialists, running a capability centre and keeping a system in service.
23 questions
How do you handle time zones and working hours?
We agree working hours with you before the team starts, including the hours when the team and your staff overlap for meetings, reviews and questions. Where your users or systems need cover outside those hours, we plan it into the team’s shape rather than leave it to chance.
How do you keep quality the same across in-house and outsourced engineers?
Everyone works to the same coding standards, testing rules and definition of done, and uses the same pipelines and checks. XSIS engineers review changes before they are merged. Quality problems are raised in the same way for everyone, and the delivery lead acts on them.
Read more: Hybrid delivery and build-operate-transfer hubsLink to this question
When is project-based delivery the right choice?
When the outcome can be described clearly and you want one company to be responsible for reaching it: a defined application, an integration, a migration. If your priorities will keep changing, or the work has no natural end, a dedicated team usually fits better.
Read more: Fixed-outcome projects and round-the-clock managed servicesLink to this question
How do we choose an engagement model?
Start from two questions: how clear is the outcome, and how much of the day-to-day management do you want to carry? A clear outcome with an end points to project-based delivery. A product with a changing roadmap points to a dedicated team. If you already run a team and need skills or capacity, staff augmentation fits. We recommend a model in our proposal and explain why.
Can we change the engagement model later?
Yes. Work often starts as a project and continues as a dedicated team, or a dedicated team is gradually replaced by your own hires. We plan the change with you, including handover and notice, and keep the same people where that helps.
How will we see progress? (How we work)
Through written reports at a rhythm you choose: what was planned, what was delivered, what is at risk and what needs your decision. You also see the work itself, in demonstrations, in the backlog and in the code in your own tools. For projects, reports track milestones and change requests.
How is the work accepted?
Against acceptance criteria we write and agree with you before the build starts. At each milestone we demonstrate the work and you test it against those criteria. If something does not meet them, we fix it. When everything in scope meets its criteria, you sign off the milestone or the project.
What happens if our requirements change during the project?
Requirements often change, and that is fine. Each change goes through change control: we describe the change, its effect on cost and on the plan, and you decide. Nothing changes the scope, the price or the dates without your written approval.
Is the self-check's suggestion binding?
No. It is a starting point for the conversation. A Principal Architect confirms the track in the free 48-hour readiness review, after going through your documents with you.
What counts as a live system?
A system already in use that is failing, undocumented or needs integration: for example, a platform a previous vendor left half-finished, or an ERP that must connect to e-invoicing or ISO 20022 payment messages.
What should we prepare for the review?
Whatever you have: an RFP or a specification, architecture diagrams, the list of systems to integrate, the regulations that apply and any acceptance criteria. Gaps are not a problem; they point to the right track.
When is Blueprint Studio the right track?
When the business outcome is clear but the requirements, the stack or the integration boundaries are not. A concept-stage project, such as a custom CRM, a portal or a sovereign AI agent, goes through Blueprint Studio before anyone quotes a build.
What is in the Ready-to-Build pack?
You receive a Ready-to-Build Blueprint Pack of 6 deliverables: the product and functional specification, the architecture and technology stack blueprint, the integration and data contract specification, an interactive UI prototype, the security and regulatory matrix, and a binding fixed-price build proposal.
Can it run inside a public-sector tender?
Where conflict-of-interest rules apply, it is structured as a pre-commercial technical feasibility and POC pilot, or under a single design-and-build prime contract.
How do we choose a package?
Start with the package that matches the decision in front of you: a transformation roadmap, an agent prototype, an e-invoicing mandate, a cloud cost review or a security audit. The free 30-minute online pre-consulting session is where we confirm the fit.
How long does a package take?
Each package lists its typical duration. The proposal fixes the scope and the dates for your case.
Is a package a build contract?
No. It is a defined piece of work with a result; any build is scoped and proposed separately.
How does a pod start?
It starts with the free 30-minute online pre-consulting session. The readiness review confirms the scope, and the proposal sets out the team, the milestones and the schedule.
Do specialists work on site?
Yes. They work nearshore or on site, including inside your premises when the environment requires it.
Read more: Embedded specialists and strategic augmentationLink to this question
How does an assignment start?
With the free 30-minute online pre-consulting session, then the free 48-hour readiness review. The proposal names the role, the scope and the schedule before the specialist joins.
Read more: Embedded specialists and strategic augmentationLink to this question
What is build-operate-transfer?
A model in which XSIS recruits, trains and operates a local and global team, then transfers full ownership to the client.
Read more: Hybrid delivery and build-operate-transfer hubsLink to this question
How does a capability centre start?
With the free 30-minute online pre-consulting session. The readiness review and the proposal then define the scope, the team and the handover.
Read more: Hybrid delivery and build-operate-transfer hubsLink to this question
What is a fixed-outcome project?
A fixed-scope, milestone-driven delivery with a named delivery lead. The proposal fixes the scope and the price before work starts.
Read more: Fixed-outcome projects and round-the-clock managed servicesLink to this question
More questions
- Working with XSISHow you see progress, time zones and how work is accepted.1 question
- Strategy and consultingWhere a transformation starts, fractional leaders and PMOs, architecture reviews, discovery workshops, blueprints and how consulting begins.38 questions
- Software, AI and dataWhere to start with AI, quality and accuracy, accessibility, speed, app store releases and migrations without downtime.24 questions
- Integrations and industriesMaster data, unmatched statements, offline stores, refunds, partner outages, reconciliation, settlement and e-invoicing.35 questions
- Cost and pricingWhat drives the cost of a project or a team, and how we estimate.29 questions
- TimelinesHow long work takes to start and to deliver, and what changes it.10 questions
- Ownership and contractsWho owns the code, the data and the results, and how contracts work.22 questions
- Security and dataHow we protect your systems, code and data while we work.79 questions
- Teams and staffingWho works on your project, how they are chosen and how teams change.30 questions
- TechnologyThe platforms, standards and tools we work with.144 questions
- Support and operationsWhat happens after go-live: support, monitoring and change.29 questions
- About XSISWho we are, where we are and how to reach us.6 questions
Start with a conversation, not a contract.
Tell us what you need to build, connect or secure. An architect goes through it with you, then recommends where to start.
What happens next
Agreeing a time
Our team emails you to agree a time for the session.
Pre-consulting session
A free 30-minute online pre-consulting session: we go through your goals, systems and constraints.
Readiness review
In a free 48-hour readiness review, a Principal Architect checks your project against the 6-point Definition of Ready and recommends the track that fits.
Choosing the track
Scope-ready projects receive a binding proposal within 3–5 business days. Concept-stage projects start in the Blueprint Studio. A live system that is failing, undocumented or needs integration starts with a diagnostic of 1–2 weeks. The Blueprint Studio and the diagnostic each have a fixed fee, quoted in the proposal.