The pilot runs in five phases: a setup phase before Day 1, whose duration is driven by PortCo readiness rather than a fixed window, followed by the 40 working day diagnostic sprint (Day 1 to Day 40). The plan below shows the activities, deliverables and ownership by day. Decision gates at Day 15 and Day 40 punctuate the work and provide structured exit points.
The figures referenced as "expected outputs" in the table are illustrative for a £30M-spend PortCo. Adjust the £250K and £500K thresholds proportionally for larger or smaller candidates.
| Day | Phase | Activity | Output / Deliverable | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -10 to -2 | Setup | Legal (NDA, DPA), Technical (M365, ERP, Entra ID access), Stakeholder (briefings) | Readiness checklist signed off | A&C Lead |
| -1 | Setup | Final readiness check, agent smoke tests | Go/no-go for Day 0 | A&C Platform |
| 0 | Setup | Half-day kickoff workshop, agents activated | Pilot live, baseline extraction begins | A&C Lead |
| 1 to 3 | Discovery | Copilot Lens Agents sweep SharePoint, OneDrive, email per lens user | Document inventory, first contracts surfaced | A&C Platform |
| 3 to 5 | Discovery | Forensic Harvester begins contract parsing, version determination | First 100 to 200 contracts indexed in Trust Ledger | A&C Platform |
| 5 | Setup | Weekly sync 1: progress, blockers, first observations | Sync notes | A&C Lead, CFO |
| 5 to 8 | Discovery | ERP Connector full extract, entity resolution running | Vendor master cleaned, invoice data loaded | A&C Platform |
| 8 to 10 | Validation | First Validation Agent passes against contracts vs invoices | First quantified findings appear in Trust Ledger | A&C Platform |
| 8 onwards | Validation | POC begins HITL review of findings as they accumulate | Validated Value pool starts growing | POC |
| 10 | Setup | Weekly sync 2: early findings preview | Sync notes, sponsor expectation set | A&C Lead, CFO |
| 10 to 14 | Discovery | Renewal Scheduler completes, auto-renewals identified | Auto-renewal calendar, time-critical items flagged | A&C Platform |
| 15 | Gate | Early Signal Gate. £250K threshold check, sponsor review of Day 15 Dashboard | Right-to-continue decision, sign-off or early exit | CFO, A&C Lead |
| 15 to 18 | Validation | Synergy Hunter starts cross-entity comparison | Pricing harmonisation findings | A&C Platform |
| 18 to 22 | Validation | Inference Agent completes ownership traces, orphaned contracts flagged | H7 findings, dependency map | A&C Platform |
| 20 | Setup | Weekly sync 3: validation rate, finding mix | Sync notes | A&C Lead, CFO |
| 22 to 27 | Validation | Ghost Hunter completes licence-to-user matching, dormant accounts surfaced | H5 tail spend findings | A&C Platform |
| 25 | Setup | Weekly sync 4: pre-roadmap view, value classification preview | Sync notes, draft value waterfall | A&C Lead, CFO |
| 27 to 30 | Validation | POC validation push: clear backlog of high-confidence findings | 80%+ of high-confidence findings validated | POC, A&C Lead |
| 30 to 33 | Roadmap | Impact Agent computes return-on-effort for every Actionable finding | Prioritised action queue, P1 to P4 | A&C Platform |
| 33 to 36 | Roadmap | Dependency Mapper checks each P1 to P2 action for operational risk | Safe-to-act list of 5+ findings | A&C Platform |
| 35 | Setup | Weekly sync 5: roadmap draft review | Roadmap iterated with sponsor input | A&C Lead, CFO |
| 36 to 38 | Roadmap | Value waterfall finalised: Identified, Validated, Actionable, Committed, Banked forecast. CFO assigns named owners and target dates for each Actionable finding. | Five-stage waterfall, value-by-type split, named owners | A&C Lead, CFO |
| 38 to 39 | Roadmap | Day 40 deliverable assembled: dashboard, register, calendar, roadmap, audit log | Full Day 40 pack | A&C Lead |
| 40 | Gate | Go/No-Go Decision. Day 40 review with sponsor: £500K threshold across all five stages, 5+ safe actions, hypothesis coverage, Committed Value confirmed | Decision: continuation engagement or close-out | CFO, Operating Partner, A&C Lead |
| 40+ | Handover | Trust Ledger handed to PortCo, raw data not retained by A&C | Audit log export, ownership transfer | A&C Lead, POC |