Fixed scope · fixed fee · 2–3 weeks

The Data Diagnostic

An assessment of whether your data and systems are actually fit for the initiative you're already funding. You name the initiative, you and I agree on the systems, and three weeks later you have a written answer and a costed path.

What it is

An answer to a question you're about to spend real money on.

Most data assessments are open-ended surveys that produce a maturity score nobody acts on. This one starts from something specific: an initiative you have already decided to fund. An agentic AI build. A LIMS migration. A tech transfer to a new site. A CPV program you have to stand up.

The assessment then asks one question about that initiative, in three different ways: is the data underneath it good enough to carry it? Where the answer is no, you get the specific gap, what it costs to close, and where it sits in the sequence. Where the answer is yes, you get that in writing too, which is worth having before you commit a budget on an assumption.

I do this in two to three weeks for a fixed fee because the scope is fixed before anything starts. There is no hourly meter and no discovery phase that quietly becomes the engagement.

Three lenses

The same data, examined three ways.

Every diagnostic runs all three. Which one goes deepest is set by the initiative you name.

Agentic readiness

Whether an agent could do useful work in this data at all. Is it retrievable or locked in scanned PDFs. Do records join across systems, or does a lot number mean one thing in the MES and something else in the LIMS. Is there enough structure to ground an answer in a citable record.

Could an agent answer your question from this data today, and if not, what exactly is in the way?

Compliance readiness

Whether the data would survive contact with an inspector. Part 11 posture on the systems in scope, audit trail coverage and gaps, ALCOA+ against the records that matter, and the honest map of where GxP-relevant data is living outside a validated system in a spreadsheet nobody owns.

Which of these records could you produce on demand, complete and attributable, without a fire drill?

Migration readiness

Whether the data can move. Master data conflicts between source and target, history that will not map cleanly, the fields that exist in one system and have no home in the other, and the reconciliation you will owe quality on the other side of a cutover.

What in this data breaks on the day you cut over, and what does it cost to find that out then instead of now?
How scope is set

Two dials, both agreed in writing before anything starts.

These are the only two variables. Everything else about the engagement is fixed, which is what makes the fee fixed.

Systems in scope

You and I name the systems up front and that list is the boundary. Four systems is typical for a first diagnostic. If something turns out to matter that isn't on the list, I tell you and you decide whether to add it, rather than absorbing it silently and running long.

The initiative you name

The thing you're funding. This sets what "ready" means, because ready for an agentic build and ready for a system migration are different bars. It also sets where the assessment goes deep instead of broad.

The same rigor applies regardless of which dials you set. The dials change where the effort concentrates, not how carefully the work is done.

What you get

Six artifacts and a costed roadmap.

Delivered as documents you own, in a readout session with whoever needs to hear it.

  • 1
    System and data-flow inventory
    Every system in scope, what data lives where, on what medium, and how it moves between them
  • 2
    Data-quality scorecard
    Rated across completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness and integrity, with the evidence behind each rating
  • 3
    Maturity assessment
    Where you are today against where your named initiative requires you to be
  • 4
    Gap and risk register
    Every gap scored by severity and by effort, so it can be sequenced rather than just listed
  • 5
    Written assessment report
    Findings, the evidence for each, and the reasoning. Written to be forwarded and read without me present
  • 6
    Costed roadmap
    Priced and sequenced, with your named initiative as the destination
The fee

$8,000, fixed.

$8,000
Fixed fee for the full diagnostic. Not an estimate, not a starting point, not a rate card.
Payment
50 / 50Half at kickoff, half net 30 after the readout
Timeline
2–3 weeksKickoff to written readout
Quote validity
60 daysFrom the date of the written scope
What it is not
  • Not a software purchase or a tool implementation
  • Not a vendor pitch. Findings are system-agnostic and there is nothing downstream you're obligated to buy
  • Not open-ended consulting. Fixed scope, fixed fee, fixed timeline
  • Not a re-litigation of a decision you've already made. It de-risks the path you've chosen rather than arguing with it
What happens after

Two paths, and neither is compulsory.

Most clients take one of two routes from the roadmap. Either a defined project to close a specific set of gaps, scoped and priced off the register the diagnostic produced, or a fractional retainer starting at $11,000 per month where I hold senior data and AI leadership for you on an ongoing basis: executing the roadmap, building the connected foundation, and keeping it inside your validation and change-control reality. The third route is that you take the data diagnostic report and do the work with your own team or a third-party. In that case, the diagnostic still provided value to your organization.

What your IT and quality systems group will want to see

Name the initiative. I'll tell you if it's an $8,000 question.

Bring the thing you're funding and the systems it depends on. Thirty minutes is enough to scope a diagnostic or to tell you that you don't need one.

30 minutes on your workflow, no pitch →