A relationship becomes an accountable project
An independent firm reopens a dormant customer conversation. The customer chooses Intent as prime for one defined workflow deployment.
- Buyer / budget holder
- An operations leader with a bounded workflow problem
- Who pays this invoice
- The customer pays Intent under this project’s agreement
- Ledger boundary
- Intent as the selected project prime
- Period covered
- One eight-week delivery engagement, including authorized pursuit work
Customer value: One accountable delivery lead, acceptance evidence and an operating handover. The budget buys specified work; it does not prove a dollar return for the customer.
The baseline assumption
Example · USD · not an offerStandalone example
Example · USD · not an offerStandalone example
- Fees less listed costs
- $20,240
- After a proposed $4,000 cash designation
- $16,240
Reserve is not an expense or an extra payment to a participant. A negative remainder means this model cannot fund that reserve from its contribution. Fees do not establish accounting recognition or cash collection.
Show the full fee and cost ledger
| Scope | Quantity × rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Defined workflow deployment | 1 scope × $80,000 | $80,000 |
| Work / recipient | Quantity × rate | Business invoice / cost | Earned when | Payment trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relationship development and stewardship Independent steward business | 24 hours × $100 | $2,400 | Authorized account work completed | Approved monthly invoice |
| Qualified opportunity success event Independent steward business | 1 event × $400 | $400 | Agreed opportunity closes and first customer payment clears | Within agreed period after that event |
| Discovery and business case Discovery specialist business | 24 hours × $110 | $2,640 | Accepted discovery evidence | Milestone invoice |
| Presales architecture and proof Architecture specialist business | 32 hours × $130 | $4,160 | Authorized proof delivered | Milestone invoice, whether or not a later expansion sells |
| Procurement and commercial close Commercial specialist business | 16 hours × $100 | $1,600 | Authorized procurement work completed | Approved invoice |
| Accountable engagement lead Delivery lead business | 48 hours × $120 | $5,760 | Accepted delivery-management work | Monthly invoice |
| Engineering execution Engineering firm | 360 hours × $80 | $28,800 | Agreed implementation milestones accepted | Milestone invoices |
| Independent assurance Assurance specialist business | 64 hours × $75 | $4,800 | Review and test evidence delivered | Milestone invoices |
| Operations, adoption and handover Operations specialist business | 40 hours × $90 | $3,600 | Runbook and adoption work accepted | Handover invoice |
| Model, cloud and project tools Technology vendors | 1 project allowance × $1,800 | $1,800 | Metered consumption or licensed period | Vendor billing cycle |
| Permitted reusable component maintenance Component maintainer business | 1 package × $2,000 | $2,000 | Agreed maintenance and usage rights supplied | Agreed milestone |
| Project administration allocation Project administration function | 24 hours × $75 | $1,800 | Project-specific administration performed | Budgeted as incurred |
Unpriced rework plus a disputed final scope
A negotiated fee reduction and additional unpaid implementation/assurance effort consume the margin. The reserve does not make the loss disappear.
Example · USD · not an offerStandalone example
- Fees less listed costs
- -$2,960
- After a proposed $4,000 cash designation
- -$6,960
Reserve is not an expense or an extra payment to a participant. A negative remainder means this model cannot fund that reserve from its contribution. Fees do not establish accounting recognition or cash collection.
Show the full fee and cost ledger
| Scope | Quantity × rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Defined workflow deployment | 1 scope × $72,000 | $72,000 |
| Work / recipient | Quantity × rate | Business invoice / cost | Earned when | Payment trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relationship development and stewardship Independent steward business | 24 hours × $100 | $2,400 | Authorized account work completed | Approved monthly invoice |
| Qualified opportunity success event Independent steward business | 1 event × $400 | $400 | Agreed opportunity closes and first customer payment clears | Within agreed period after that event |
| Discovery and business case Discovery specialist business | 24 hours × $110 | $2,640 | Accepted discovery evidence | Milestone invoice |
| Presales architecture and proof Architecture specialist business | 32 hours × $130 | $4,160 | Authorized proof delivered | Milestone invoice, whether or not a later expansion sells |
| Procurement and commercial close Commercial specialist business | 16 hours × $100 | $1,600 | Authorized procurement work completed | Approved invoice |
| Accountable engagement lead Delivery lead business | 48 hours × $120 | $5,760 | Accepted delivery-management work | Monthly invoice |
| Engineering execution Engineering firm | 520 hours × $80 | $41,600 | Agreed implementation milestones accepted | Milestone invoices |
| Independent assurance Assurance specialist business | 96 hours × $75 | $7,200 | Review and test evidence delivered | Milestone invoices |
| Operations, adoption and handover Operations specialist business | 40 hours × $90 | $3,600 | Runbook and adoption work accepted | Handover invoice |
| Model, cloud and project tools Technology vendors | 1 project allowance × $1,800 | $1,800 | Metered consumption or licensed period | Vendor billing cycle |
| Permitted reusable component maintenance Component maintainer business | 1 package × $2,000 | $2,000 | Agreed maintenance and usage rights supplied | Agreed milestone |
| Project administration allocation Project administration function | 24 hours × $75 | $1,800 | Project-specific administration performed | Budgeted as incurred |
How each participant benefits—and what they owe
| Participant | Potential benefit | Condition / responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Independent relationship steward | Keeps its unrelated clients and earns for scoped relationship work plus a distinct success event. | Authorized stewardship work and the separately defined collection milestone; no perpetual account tax. |
| Specialists and independent firms | Receive defined discovery, engineering, assurance or operating work packages. | Each package has its own acceptance and invoice schedule; combining roles cannot duplicate the same work. |
| Intent as prime | Coordinates delivery, holds the customer scope and retains the project contribution shown below. | Must fund obligations, resolve defects and meet the accepted scope; contribution is not personal pay. |
Contract route, payment terms and assumptions
Independent relationship → consent and opportunity charter → customer–Intent scope → separate role work orders.
- Illustrative customer milestones: 40% mobilization, 30% accepted intermediate work and 30% accepted handover.
- Supplier due dates remain separate from customer collection. The prime must fund the gap or agree different terms before work.
- Renewal, another department and a new scope require a fresh role schedule; prior attribution alone earns nothing new.
- All rates are teaching inputs, not local or international market medians. In particular, $75–$80 contractor inputs may understate specialist pricing and nonbillable time.
- Trust and customer access can be valued through fixed fees, a negotiated success component, a retainer or role profit participation; logged hours are only this example’s budgeting convention.
- The independent keeps pre-existing IP and unrelated business. The customer consents to participating firms and the opportunity boundary.
- The scenario includes the authorized pursuit costs; it assumes no prior unpaid sales effort outside that budget.
Evidence behind this mechanism
Every amount above is a constructed teaching input. Sources explain mechanisms and constraints; they do not supply these prices, prove demand or establish Intent’s eligibility.
- Microsoft: Manage co-sell opportunities
Supports a customer-consent gate before sharing contact details in co-sell. Does not grant another firm ownership of an account, a universal commission or guaranteed seller help.