Consulting service
Cross-Application Data Integration Assessment
An assessment of whether two or more of your applications can reliably exchange data: what each supports, how records can be matched, and what the failure modes are.
What you need to know first
- What problem does this solve?
- The same information is maintained in two places and they have drifted apart. Nobody is certain which system is authoritative for which field, whether the applications expose the access an integration needs, or whether records can even be matched reliably between them.
- What exactly do I receive?
- A written assessment naming the authoritative system for each piece of data, the matching rule between records, exactly what each application’s integration points support at your licence tier, the failure modes, and an effort estimate — or a clear statement that a supported route does not exist, with the alternatives.
- How is it priced?
- Fixed fee, quoted on enquiryThe fee is quoted for your requirement, because scope, systems and complexity differ in every case.Priced as a single fixed fee for two or three applications with a defined data set. No figure is published yet; the fee is confirmed in writing before work begins. A larger estate is quoted, or covered by the Multi-Application / Multi-Division Integration service.
- How long does it generally take?
- Typically 2 to 3 weeksIndicative, and dependent on access to each application being available to confirm what it genuinely supports rather than what its marketing says.
- What happens next?
- Send an enquiry describing the requirement. We confirm the scope, the fee and the timescale in writing before any work begins. An enquiry is not an order: an engagement becomes binding only when it is expressly accepted, as set out in the Terms of Service.
Deliverables
- Written assessment of integration feasibility for the applications in scope
- A data-ownership statement: exactly one authoritative system per field
- The record-matching rule, and what happens when it cannot match
- Integration-point findings per application, including licence-tier limits
- Failure modes, data-quality findings and an effort estimate
Included
- Review of the data held in each application and where it is authoritative
- Technical review of each application’s API, export, webhook or supported integration route
- Confirmation of what your current licence tier actually permits
- Record-matching analysis, including existing data quality
- Failure-mode analysis: what happens when one side is unavailable
- Effort estimate for the implementation
Not included
Stating the boundary is part of the offer. Anything here can usually be arranged separately.
- Building the integration — that is the separate Systems & Data Integration Implementation service
- Data cleansing or migration
- Software licences, subscriptions or tier upgrades
- Changes to any application
- Any commitment that the integration is possible; establishing that is what this assessment is for
Customer prerequisites
- The specific applications and the specific data to be exchanged
- Someone who can confirm licence tiers and grant review access
- Acceptance that the answer may be that no supported route exists
Information and access we need
We will ask for these. Where the work needs access to a system, access is arranged and scoped with you rather than assumed.
- The applications in scope and your licence or plan level for each
- The data or records that must be exchanged, and in which direction
- Read-only or sandbox access to each application, or its API documentation and credentials
- A sample of real records, so matching can be tested rather than assumed
- How current the data needs to be: live, hourly, daily
Expected process
Enquiry
You describe the situation and what you are trying to decide. We confirm whether this assessment is the right starting point.
Written scope
You receive the scope, the fee and the indicative timescale in writing. Nothing begins until it is agreed.
Inputs and access
We request the specific information and read-only access listed on this page. Anything unavailable is recorded as a limitation rather than guessed.
Analysis
The work itself, against a defined method rather than an ad-hoc look.
Delivery
You receive the written output, including prioritised findings and what we would and would not do next.
Meetings, revisions and scope
- Meetings
- Meeting required, during the assessment (about 60 minutes)
- Revisions
- 1 revision included. One round of correction to the written assessment.
- Scope
- Deliverables are limited to those expressly included in the agreed scope. Additional revisions, meetings, research or services outside that scope may require additional fees — see the Consulting Terms.
Frequently asked questions about this service
Can you connect applications we already use?
Often, yes — and that is the question the integration assessment answers for your specific systems rather than in general.
What determines it:
- whether each application exposes an API, an export, a webhook or a supported integration point
- whether your licence tier includes that access — this is a common blocker and is worth checking early
- whether the data in the two systems can actually be matched reliably (a shared identifier, or a rule that produces one)
- how often the data has to move, and what happens when one side is unavailable
We do not commit to an integration before those answers exist. Where a supported route does not exist, the assessment says so and sets out the alternatives, including the ones that are not software.
How do you approach cross-application data integration?
Assessment first, implementation second, and never the other way round.
- Assessment — what data exists, where it is authoritative, how records can be matched, what the integration points genuinely support, what the failure modes are, and what it will take.
- Implementation — build the integration, including what happens when it fails: retries, duplicate protection, and a record of what moved and when.
One rule shapes the design: exactly one system is authoritative for each piece of data. Two systems that both believe they own the same field will eventually disagree, and no amount of synchronisation resolves that afterwards.
Will you need access to our systems?
For most Consulting work, some access is needed — but it is scoped and agreed with you, never assumed. Each service page lists what it needs under "Information and access we need".
The principle applied is least privilege and shortest duration: read-only where reading is enough, a sandbox or test environment where one exists, access limited to the systems in scope, and removal at the end of the engagement.
The Consulting Services Terms record that the client provides reasonably necessary access and credentials, and that each party will use reasonable safeguards for confidential information received in connection with the engagement.
Is an assessment charged separately?
Yes. An assessment is its own service with its own fee and its own deliverable, and it is not a free pre-sales exercise.
That is deliberate. An assessment that is bundled into an implementation quietly pressures its own conclusion towards "yes, proceed". Paid for separately, it is free to conclude that the implementation should be smaller, different, or not done — which is frequently the most valuable thing it can tell you.
Where an assessment and a following implementation are commissioned together, any relationship between the two fees is stated in the written scope.
Next step
Reference data-integration-assessment is added to your enquiry automatically so it reaches the right place.