How an engagement runs

First conversation

Write to us from the contact page, or at support@orkestar.eu. Tell us the business need, such as a margin that fell and nobody can say why, a product cost nobody trusts or a plan nobody signs, and the software you want if you have something in mind. Say where the data lives. You do not need to send figures.

We read every message and reply by email, and where it helps we arrange a call. The next conversation is with the people who own the numbers and the people who produce the exports, and the pilot is agreed there.

The pilot

A paid pilot on your own exports, at a fixed fee that comes off the build if you go ahead. You pick one question, such as the deductions behind one customer's net price, the cost of one product family or the demand plan for one market, and send the exports you already produce. We load them, write down the definitions behind that question, build the screens that answer it on your figures, and check the totals against what you already report.

It runs three to four weeks and ends with three things in your hands: the working screens, the definitions in writing, and a scope for the build with a fixed fee on it. By then you have seen the software on your own numbers, and we have seen your data, so the quote is based on your real data.

Scope

The pilot also shows us what your company makes, moves or sells, which systems hold the data, and what the first build should cover. Then the scope of the build is agreed in writing:

• what is built: which screens, reports and processes;
• where the data comes from;
• where the system runs: hosted for you, or on your own servers;
• which options you want, such as scheduled reports by email, alerts or an AI assistant;
• the stages of the build, and what you review at each;
• how we will both know the build is finished.

The price and the timetable are both set in that scope. The screens use your company's own names for things, and changing the labels is part of the build.

Definitions, in writing

Before a screen is built, we write down the definitions the build will use, in your terms:

• what counts as gross sales, and which deductions sit on the invoice and which settle later;
• how net sales is reached from gross, deduction by deduction;
• what goes into cost of goods;
• which views of the business matter: brands, categories, customers, markets, channels and products;
• for product cost: the cost components, how factory costs are spread over products, and which standard you compare against;
• for planning: the calendar, the planning levels, and who signs off at each stage.

Each definition records the choice made and the reason for it, so any disagreement comes out now, before the screens are built. The document is yours from the day it is signed.

Your data

• How it arrives. From the exports your team already produces, such as Excel or CSV files from your ERP, data warehouse or spreadsheets, or through a direct connection to your database or data warehouse. We set it up as part of the build.
• Your column names can be anything. The software proposes how each one maps to the definitions, and a person confirms it.
• Your files are read as your systems write them, with decimal commas, day-first dates and local characters handled.
• A sales file can start small. A month and a gross sales amount are enough to begin, and each extra column, such as volume, deductions, cost or a promotion flag, opens up more of the analysis.
• Everything is checked before anyone relies on it. Totals are compared with the figures you already report. Monthly cost data is checked for completeness, and a month that fails the checks is held back with the reasons listed.

Build and review on your numbers

We build on your data from the first screen, so what you review is your own products, customers and cost centres. We build quickly because we know the processes and start from software that already works.

Some checks are built into the software:

• totals are worked out from the rows beneath them, so a headline and its detail always agree;
• margin is shown only where cost is known, and the rows without a cost are listed;
• every bridge adds up exactly to the change it explains;
• new and discontinued products show as business won and lost, so nothing quietly drops out;
• in product cost, every euro a cost centre spent is checked to have reached a product, and the cost of idle capacity is shown on its own line;
• the stock value is compared with your ERP's, product by product;
• sales are matched to the general ledger, account by account.

Other checks are ours to do. Before you review, we compare the headline totals with the figures you already report and explain any difference. If a figure looks wrong to you during the review, we find out why: either the data or a definition was wrong, and we fix whichever it was.

Go-live

• Your people sign in with named accounts that we set up, or with your company's own login through single sign-on. Nobody joins unless your administrator adds them
• Each person sees what their role allows, down to a market or a legal entity
• Key tables export to Excel with their formulas intact, so your teams can see how each figure was calculated
• Any scheduled reports or alerts in the scope are set up with the recipients you choose
• What you own at handover is set out on the engagements page

Hosting and your data

Either way, your company has a system and a database of its own. No other company's data is in it.

Nothing leaves your system unless you ask for it. Options such as scheduled reports by email, alerts, or an AI assistant that needs to send figures to a model are agreed in the scope, by your choice. Your data is never used to train models. A full technical description is available to your IT or security team on request, with written answers on where the data sits, who can reach it and how it comes back to you.

After go-live

From go-live the annual subscription keeps the system running and current, with support from the people who built it and a small allowance for changes. Who loads each month's data, your team or us, is agreed in the scope. When new needs come up, small changes fit in the allowance and larger ones are scoped and built like any other build. What the subscription covers, and what it costs, is on the prices page.

Who does the work, and what is written down

We do the work: the specification, the definitions, the software and the review. Where a piece needs a specialist, such as a tax question or a security review your IT department would rather hear from someone independent, we bring one in, tell you who they are, and stay responsible for the result.

Everything the work depends on is written down:

• the definitions and the agreed scope, yours from the day they are signed;
• how your data maps to those definitions, kept in the system;
• how each important figure is calculated, shown on the screen and in the Excel exports;
• set-up instructions your own IT team can follow;
• the automated tests every change passes before it reaches you.

What it costs

Every engagement is priced the same way: a paid pilot at a fixed fee, then a fixed fee for the build, then an annual subscription. Your own figures are in writing before the build starts, and every price is explained on the prices page.

Prices → What we build together →