Commitment expands only when evidence earns it
The engagement structure answers a different question from Delphic's end-to-end method. The method explains how one question moves from mapping through measurement, diagnosis, treatment and management. The engagement structure decides how much of that capability the firm commits to at one time.
| Commercial stage | What the client receives | Decision before more scope |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bounded proof | A suitable cohort taken through baseline, diagnosis, approved treatment and a two-week read from confirmed indexation, followed by an auditable verdict and bespoke strategic proposal. | Did the system produce the pre-agreed movement in the proof period, and what does that justify next? |
| 2. Private map | A confidential map of the buyer-question markets the firm's real authority can support, progressively enriched with demand, ownership, position, potential and disclosure context. | Which markets matter enough to measure, defend or develop? |
| 3. Selected-family programme | Managed work on the families the evidence and client priorities admit, using the complete evidence-gated method. | Which families should be treated, held, reconsidered or removed from active scope? |
| 4. Rolling portfolio | Standing observation of active positions, source and demand movement, treatment history and emerging opportunities. | What material change or new market warrants the next portfolio decision? |
The stages are a commitment staircase, not a compulsory sales funnel. Evidence can support wider scope, narrower scope, further observation or a stop.
What the client knows before committing further
Each stage leaves a usable record:
- the proof states the agreed markets, starting position, treatment, result and whether the success standard was met;
- the private map shows the markets the firm can legitimately support and the evidence still missing from them;
- selected-family work records the baseline, potential, diagnosis, approved disclosure and measured result;
- portfolio management records what changed, what remained stable and which decision the evidence now supports.
The record prevents a weak result from being converted automatically into more work. It also prevents a favourable screenshot from being used as proof of the complete system.
The architecture is public because a buyer should know what it is being asked to commit to. Delphic keeps private its scoping method: how the number of markets, measurement depth, treatment complexity, cadence, responsibilities and economics become a viable engagement for one firm.
One live record, clear decision rights
The client portal holds the private map, active family state, supporting evidence, decisions and next actions. It is not a document archive added after the engagement; it is the live record through which the client can see what Delphic sees and approve what happens next.
Delphic owns the operating method, execution, evidence record and recommendations. The client owns domain truth, commercial priority, brand and risk policy, and every decision to disclose or publish knowledge. Nothing sensitive crosses the public boundary without explicit approval.
The commercial plan makes the same division concrete: agreed scope, family portfolio, cadence, responsibilities and terms are visible before work expands.
No stage hides the result of the last
The proof does not substitute for a complete private map. The map does not commit every market to publication. Managed scope can expand or contract by family. Rolling management preserves the evidence and decision process; it does not promise that every position will hold indefinitely.
Those boundaries matter, but the governing rule is simpler: the client never has to buy the next stage to discover what the previous one established. Every expansion is a new decision supported by evidence the client already has.