Data Readiness for AI
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors, Main Contractors & Clients10 working days
I test whether your records would actually support the AI use you have in mind, and hand you an honest readiness report: what exists, what is missing, what does not connect, and what to fix in what order. The answer is often not yet, and finding that out from a report costs a great deal less than finding it out from a wrong valuation.
The problem
A commercial director reads that AI can draft variation valuations from site records, buys a tool, points it at the shared drive, and gets confident nonsense. The tool did what it was told. The records were not what anybody thought.
It is nearly always three things. The records are incomplete, so a conclusion is drawn from a fraction of the picture. They are inconsistent, so one subcontractor appears under three names and its work lands in three places. And they do not connect, so an instruction cannot be tied to the labour that answered it. The money is in the third: a variation account that cannot be evidenced is not an account, whatever the tool drafting it says.
The solution
I measure your records against the specific use you intend, not against a general standard. First what your team believes exists, in their own words. Then what actually exists, because the gap between the two is usually the most useful finding in the report. Then one project taken end to end: completeness, consistency, structure, and whether the records connect to each other. What comes back is a readiness score against your stated use, the changes that would move it, in order and with the effort against each, and a plain answer to the only question that matters: ready, or not yet. Where the answer is not yet, the report separates what is fixable going forward from what is only fixable retrospectively at cost, so the habits change before another month of records is produced the old way.
Fee fixed in writing after a scoping call.
What you receive
Nothing in this service commits you to buying a tool or a set-up. A team that runs this review and never adds AI still ends with a record that answers questions, which on the day a dispute arrives is the thing that decides it. And if the answer is ready, the set-up that follows is built on ground that has been tested rather than assumed.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: ten working days.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
How it works
You state the intended use precisely
One call does it, because readiness can only be measured against a specific purpose: what you want an AI tool to do, on which records, for what output.
You hand over the records as they are
Access to the records as they stand, and what the team believes exists and where. No tidying first; the untouched state is the finding.
- A
Access to the records as they exist
EssentialWithout it: The assessment has nothing real to test against; it can only comment on what people describe rather than what actually exists
Where to find it: Read access is enough, and nothing needs tidying or moving first.
Why I need it: Readiness is about the records that exist, not those described
- B
What the team believes exists and where
ImportantWithout it: The comparison between what people think exists and what actually does cannot be run, so the report loses one of its most useful pages
Where to find it: An email in their own words, before I open anything.
Why I need it: The gap between believed and actual is the finding
- C
One project end to end
EssentialWithout it: There is no depth sample to trace end to end, so the connection failures that only show up on a full project stay hidden
Where to find it: Chosen on the scoping call.
Why I need it: One project in full shows what a whole set looks like
Quality: a real project, end to end, messiness intact.
- D
The intended use, stated precisely
EssentialWithout it: There is nothing precise to measure readiness against, so the assessment cannot say whether the records are ready for anything specific
Where to find it: One call covers it.
Why I need it: Readiness is relative to a use
- E
The confidentiality and data position
EssentialWithout it: Nothing can be copied or examined until this is settled, so the assessment cannot start
Where to find it: A short confirmation from whoever manages the contract or data protection on your side, covering whether any records hold information belonging to your subcontractors, your client or anyone else.
Why I need it: Nothing moves before this is agreed
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
Beliefs recorded first
Your team's account of what exists is filed and dated before any record is opened, so the gap between believed and actual is measured honestly.
- A
I inventory what actually exists
The inventory is recorded against what was believed to exist, because the gap between the two is usually the most useful finding in the report.
I take one sample project end to end
Completeness, consistency, structure and connection, assessed in depth on one job: the tracing that finds what a broad skim across ten jobs misses.
I assess the habits that produced the data
The record-keeping habits get read too, because the records will keep being made the same way unless something changes.
I score readiness against your stated use
The score comes with the changes that would move it, set out in order, with the effort against each item.
Scored on counts
Every score rests on counts taken from the records themselves, against a use you agreed in writing, or the point is reported as not assessed.
You decide: remediate, proceed, or wait
The report is built to make that a decision rather than a guess.
I hand you the answer: ready, or not yet
Free Service Pack
A step-by-step Handbook, with the templates and working documents you need to carry out the work it covers yourself. You supply your own project information and records.
Follow the Handbook's scope and stopping points, and obtain independent advice where required. The pack is not project-specific advice or independent sign-off.
My products used
Tips that raise your odds of success
Questions I get asked often
Readiness decides whether a set-up is worth commissioning: where the answer is ready, the Project Systems Set-up and the Business Systems Set-up are built on ground that has been tested rather than assumed. And where AI is already reaching the documents you serve, the AI Governance & Audit Trail governs that use while the records catch up.