The Scan · two working days · fixed price €3.500

We know something has to happen. But what, exactly?

There is a process that leans on a few people, a spreadsheet nobody dares to touch any more, or an AI question too big to put in one sentence. A Sprint needs one sharp question, and that question is not there yet. The Scan makes it sharp: in two working days you know what is rule work and what is judgement, where the knowledge sits, and which part has to be proven before you invest further.

Two people know how it really works. One of them retires in a few years.

It all runs on a spreadsheet with macros nobody fully understands any more.

We have been talking about AI for months, but nobody can say where we should start.

I do not want to buy a ten-day engagement before I know whether it is worth it.

01 · Two working days, before a Sprint

What is The Scan?

A Sprint proves in ten days whether AI can carry out one bounded piece of work. That takes one sharp question, and it is not always there: the subject is still too broad, the knowledge sits with a few people or in files nobody has an overview of any more. The Scan makes the question sharp. Two working days with the people who know the work, and at the end three things you can check, instead of a document nobody dares to act on.

Outcome 01

The map

A folded map with a single red pin in it.

What is rule work and what is judgement, where the knowledge sits and with whom, and which systems and files are involved. On one page, so everyone at the table has the same picture.

Outcome 02

One trial

A test tube in a wooden rack, with a little red liquid at the bottom.

On the part where the doubt is greatest, I run one first trial. A macro read and described, one key figure recalculated from the source, one integration called. Small, but real, on your own material.

Outcome 03

The proposal

An envelope with a red price tag on a string.

What the next step is and what it costs: a Sprint, straight to a Build, or nothing. With a fixed price, and with half of the Scan credited if you go ahead.

The trial is small, but it is what sets this apart from an advisory call. At the end you see something work, not just something described.

What a Scan is and is not.

Works well if

You know something has to happen, but the subject is still too broad for one question.
The knowledge sits with a few people or in files nobody fully understands any more.
You first want to know, at a small cost, whether a larger engagement is worth it.

This is not

It is not a discovery phase, but two days for a fixed price, with a priced proposal at the end.
It is not yet proof that it works, because that is the Sprint; the trial shows where that proof has to be delivered.
It is not an AI roadmap for the whole organisation, but one process and one concrete reason.

02 · Two days and an hour

How does it work?

Your time: half a day with the people who know, and an hour of feedback. I do the rest. Start within two weeks, and doing nothing is a valid outcome at the end.

A closed notebook with one red paperclip on the corner.

Day 1

Seeing where the time goes.

Half a day with the people who know the work: where does the time go, what drives it, what may a system touch and what may it not. After that I look into the files and systems themselves.

A magnifying glass over a stack of paper, the top sheet red.

Day 2

The trial, the map and the proposal.

One first trial on the part where the doubt sits, on your own material. After that I work out the map and the proposal.

An hourglass with red sand running through.

Afterwards

An hour of feedback.

This is the map, this is what the trial did, this is what I propose: a Sprint, straight to a Build, or nothing. With a price attached, and half of the Scan credited if you go ahead.

Sound familiar?

A half-hour call costs nothing. If it turns out the question is already sharp, you skip the Scan and start with a Sprint.

Book a Scan

03 · Price, next steps, questions

What does it cost, and then what?

One fixed price, half of which is credited if you go on to a Sprint or a Build.

The Scan · two working days

€3.500

fixed price, excl. VAT

Start within two weeks, feedback within a week after the second day.
The map, the trial and a priced proposal for the next step.
If a Sprint or a Build follows within three months, half of the Scan is credited against it.
Everything on the table is yours, even if you do not go ahead.

A spotting scope on a wooden tripod, with a red band around the scope.

Also have a look at

A small device under a glass bell jar, with a red tag on a thread.

Is the question sharp? Then The Sprint proves in ten working days whether AI can carry out that work. Working code on the critical part, and a build-or-no-build decision.

See The Sprint

A scaffold of blue tubes with one red plank on the top level.

Is it a build question rather than an AI question? Then we skip the Sprint. A Build starts with a fixed scope and is then quoted in phases.

See The Build

04 · What people want to know

Any questions?

The questions that always come up, with short answers. If yours is not here, a half-hour call is the fastest route.

Why not just a free call?

That call exists too, and it costs nothing. But in half an hour nobody looks into your files. The Scan does, and that is why something comes out of it that you can check.

What if the outcome is that nothing is needed?

Then you know that at a small cost, with a map of your process you would have wanted anyway.

How does the credit work?

If a Sprint or a Build follows within three months, the price of the Scan comes off that quote. The Scan then turns out to have been a down payment, not an extra step.

Do you work with our own files and systems?

Yes, otherwise I cannot try anything. A copy is good enough; I change nothing in what is running.

Who owns what comes out?

You do: the map, the trial and the proposal, even if you continue with another party.

Who takes a look

Look wide before you choose.

Too often I have seen an AI project start with months of discovery and end in a report nobody dares to act on. Two days of looking, one trial on your own material and a proposal with a price: then you know enough to choose, and you have thrown nothing away if the answer is no.

Daniel Plomp · AI Architect & Builder

Two days, and then you know where to start.

Tell me briefly where things keep getting stuck. You will hear whether a Scan is the right tool, or whether the question is already sharp enough for a Sprint.