Discovery and Design
Turn a business idea into a specification, an architecture and a fixed-price build proposal before you commit to the build.
An Idea Is Not yet a Specification
An idea for a system does not say how it should work, what it must connect to or what it will cost to build. Without that, a fixed price is a guess and the change orders that follow are hard to plan for.
Discovery and Design covers the point between the business outcome and the build. The goal is clear, but the requirements, stack and integration boundaries are not.
What You Leave With
You leave with 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.
A Specification a Team Can Build From
User roles, permissions, screen-level rules, exception handling and acceptance criteria.
An Architecture That Fits Your Constraints
System topology, data model, sizing, and the selected frameworks, ERP and AI models.
Integration Contracts
API payloads, sequence diagrams and reconciliation queues for every connected system.
A Fixed-Price Build Proposal
A milestone plan, a delivery schedule and a binding price with the fee credit applied.
From Idea to a Ready Pack
The workshops turn the idea into a pack an engineering team can build from.
Each tier runs the same workshops, to the depth the system needs.
Alignment
Executive vision and KPIs, stakeholder mapping, and a legacy and data audit.
Architecture
Functional workflows, stack and cloud selection, and ERP or bank API contracts.
Prototyping
Interactive UX wireframes, the security, post-quantum and legal checks, and a working technical proof of concept.
Ready Pack
The full product specification and architecture blueprint, the fixed-price build proposal and the fee credit certificate.
Three Fixed-Fee Tiers
The tier follows the complexity of the system. The proposal fixes the scope, the dates and the fee.
| Tier | Tier 1: Rapid Scope and Stack Sprint | Tier 2: Enterprise Architecture Blueprint | Tier 3: Private AI and Core System Studio With a Prototype |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope | Single-domain web and mobile platforms, departmental portals, custom CRM or ERP modules, and focused API integrations. | Multi-system enterprise platforms, SAP or Oracle with bank payment synchronisation, legacy modernisation and regulated integrations. | Air-gapped private models, multi-agent systems, public-service portals and digital twins, with a working prototype. |
| Typical project | One domain, one portal or one integration. | Several systems, an ERP and banking synchronisation, or a regulated rollout. | Private AI, multi-agent systems, a public-service platform or a digital twin. |
Tier 1: Rapid Scope and Stack Sprint
- Scope
- Single-domain web and mobile platforms, departmental portals, custom CRM or ERP modules, and focused API integrations.
- Typical project
- One domain, one portal or one integration.
Tier 2: Enterprise Architecture Blueprint
- Scope
- Multi-system enterprise platforms, SAP or Oracle with bank payment synchronisation, legacy modernisation and regulated integrations.
- Typical project
- Several systems, an ERP and banking synchronisation, or a regulated rollout.
Tier 3: Private AI and Core System Studio With a Prototype
- Scope
- Air-gapped private models, multi-agent systems, public-service portals and digital twins, with a working prototype.
- Typical project
- Private AI, multi-agent systems, a public-service platform or a digital twin.
The Ready-to-Build Blueprint Pack
The pack hands over the documents a build team needs. Each one is written so another supplier can build from it.
Product and Functional Specification
User roles, permissions, screen-by-screen rules, exception handling and acceptance criteria for each feature.
Architecture and Technology Stack Blueprint
System topology, database schema, sizing, and the selected frameworks, ERP modules and AI models.
Integration and Data Contract Specification
API payloads, sequence diagrams, error handling and reconciliation queues for every connected system.
Interactive Prototype and Technical Proof
Clickable wireframes, and for Tier 3 a working sandbox that tests the riskiest part of the design.
Security and Regulatory Matrix
Identity design, data residency, encryption and the rules the system must pass, mapped to the feature that meets each one.
Binding Fixed-Price Statement of Work
A milestone work breakdown, delivery schedule, named team and a fixed price for the build.
What We Need From You
The workshops depend on three things, and each one has an owner.
A Decision Maker in the Room
A business owner who can settle priorities, and a technical lead who knows the current systems.
Access to the People and Systems
Interviews with the teams who run the work today, plus read access to the systems, data and interfaces in scope.
Decisions at Each Workshop
A named approver for the scope, the architecture and the acceptance criteria before the pack is signed off.
Where Discovery Fails
Three failures are common. Each has a control built into the workshops.
A Goal That Stays Abstract
The workshops start with the business outcome and the measure that proves it. A goal without a measure goes back to the sponsor.
The Wrong People in the Room
We name the people who can decide and the people who run the system. If either is missing, the decision is marked open, not assumed.
A Prototype That Ignores Production
The prototype runs with production constraints: real identity, real data shape and the security rules that will apply at go-live.
What Good Looks Like
You can check the pack before you commit to a build.
A Supplier Can Price It
Another supplier can read the specification and return a price without a clarification meeting.
Every Requirement Has an Acceptance Test
Each feature maps to a test, and each test names the result that accepts it.
The Riskiest Assumption Was Tested
The prototype exercises the hardest integration or workflow, and the result is written down.
The Build Decision Is Written
The pack ends with a fixed price, a milestone plan and the decision you are being asked to make.
Questions and Answers
When is Discovery and Design the right way in?
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 private AI agent, goes through Discovery and Design before anyone quotes a build.
What is in the Ready-to-Build pack?
It is the handover described in What you leave with.
Who owns the blueprint?
You own 100% of the blueprint once the fee is paid, written in vendor-agnostic standards you can use with XSIS or with another provider.
How do we know the pack is complete?
The pack is complete when the specification has acceptance tests and every interface has a contract. The prototype has a result, and the build has a fixed price.
Have an Idea, Not yet a Specification?
Discovery and Design turns your goal into an architecture, a requirements document and a plan you can build from.
What Happens Next
Readiness Review
In a free 48-hour Readiness Review, a Principal Architect checks your project against What we need before we start and recommends the track that fits.
Discovery and Design
Structured workshops turn your goal into a ready-to-build blueprint. Tier 1 takes 1 to 2 weeks, Tier 2 3 to 4 weeks and Tier 3 4 to 6 weeks, each at a fixed fee quoted in the proposal.
Ready-to-Build Blueprint 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. You own 100% of the blueprint once the fee is paid, written in vendor-agnostic standards you can use with XSIS or with another provider.
Fee Credited to the Build
100% of the Blueprint fee is credited toward the build when you choose XSIS to build it. The credit is valid for 60 calendar days after the blueprint is delivered, for a build contract of at least 8× the Blueprint fee.