How we work
How an engagement works
Every JAI engagement runs the same way, whether it is replacing a paper job ticket or connecting a twenty-year-old database to the tools you use now. You see the plan and the price in writing before any build starts, and you work with the same person from the first conversation to the handoff.
The four steps
1. Discovery
We start where the work actually happens: the forms, the spreadsheets, the folder nobody is allowed to rename. Discovery is a close look at how your business runs today, what breaks, and what a working system would have to do. You get a short written summary of what we found and what we'd recommend.
2. Written scope and price
Before anything is built, you get a written scope: what will be built, what it will and won't do, what we need from you, the timeline, and the price. Nothing is built until you have approved it, and nothing is added later without the same conversation.
3. Build with your team
The system is built with the people who will use it, in short rounds, and tested against your real records rather than sample data. When something doesn't fit the way your team works, the system changes, not the team.
4. Handoff and support
You get documentation written for your team, training for the people who need it, and support after go-live. The system is yours to run: your records, your accounts, in a form that can be exported.
What drives the cost
Every project is priced individually and in writing before work starts. Six things set the number.
- Scope and complexity.
- How many parts of the business the system touches, and how much they need to talk to each other.
- The condition of your data.
- Clean records in one place cost less to work with than years of paper, duplicates and three versions of the same spreadsheet.
- Timeline.
- A tight deadline compresses the work; a normal one doesn't.
- How ready your team is.
- A team that has agreed on how it wants to work moves faster than one still deciding.
- Training.
- How many people, how many roles, and whether it happens in person.
- Travel.
- On-site time where the work needs it.
Your written scope says which of these matter in your case and why.
What we'll ask of you
Time from the people who do the work, not just the people who manage it. Access to your records as they are, not cleaned up for us. One person who can make decisions. And plain honesty about what isn't working, because that is where the system has to be right.
Built ready for what comes next
Every system JAI builds keeps its data structured, its records clear, and its doors open: exports you can run yourself and, where it makes sense, a way for other software to connect. That is what makes automation and AI tools a later step instead of a rebuild. We don't bolt AI onto a mess; we fix the mess so AI has something to work with.
Questions we get asked
Do you publish prices?
No. Every project is priced individually and in writing before work starts. The six things that set the number are above.
What kinds of businesses do you work with?
Businesses that have outgrown paper, spreadsheets or a legacy database and don't have an IT department to fix it. The industry matters less than the shape of the problem.
Do we have to replace everything?
No. Often the right answer is one system for the part that is broken, connected to the tools you are keeping.
Will our team need to be technical?
No. The system is built around how your team already works, and it comes with documentation and training.
Do you work on site?
We work remotely with clients across the United States, and on site when the work calls for it. Travel is one of the cost drivers, so it is spelled out in the written scope.
Who owns the system and the data?
Your data stays yours, and the written scope spells out ownership before anything is built.
What happens after we send the form?
Jared reads it himself and replies personally.