The Underlying Question
The company was running on a system of handwritten notes and dueling spreadsheets, creating a state of data chaos. Project meetings were spent debating whose numbers were correct, not making decisions.
While profitable, the founder's need for control in this environment left him with a persistent uncertainty: was value leaking out in ways he couldn't see? The core question was, how could he gain absolute clarity and control without being the central hub for every single decision?"I thought control meant being in every meeting. Now I know real control is having a tool you can trust to give you the facts. This didn't just free up my time; it freed me to actually lead."
Building the Single Source of Truth
Our process began by asking not 'What data do you want to see?' but 'What is the most critical decision you need to make?' The answer was clear: project profitability.
We then designed and built a bespoke Project Profitability Dashboard to be the company's single source of truth. Second, we worked side-by-side with his finance manager, a capable accountant, to elevate their role from data archaeology to providing forward-looking insight. We executed a complete knowledge transfer, empowering him to own and interpret the new tool.
The Decisive Result
Project meetings were no longer debates; they became brief, decisive reviews grounded in a single set of objective facts. The owner was no longer a bottleneck in the chaos; he was a strategist, making high-level decisions based on clear, reliable information from his empowered team. This created a resilient, scalable financial function within the business.
The owner could step back from the daily operational details, not because he was losing control, but because he finally had a tool he could trust completely, freeing him to focus on steering the company's future.