Operations & business systems
I build software around the business data you already have. Find the records you need and trace figures back to their sources. Give your team practical tools for the work your existing systems leave uncovered.
Bonita Springs, Florida · Remote across the USSet up in accounts your business controls, with your data remaining yours.
A report says materials cost more in August than the estimates allowed. Where did the difference come from, and what should happen next? Work it through with invented records for a fictional contractor. Nothing you do here is sent anywhere.
$48,910.50
Materials allowed in the approved estimates for the same jobs: $46,250.00+$2,660.50
A difference is a reason to look, not a verdict. The nightly checks below name where to start.
The brief builder needs JavaScript. The records below are complete without it, and the links between them work as plain links.
| Item | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 in. PVC schedule 40, per ft | 120 | $6.25 | $750.00 |
| 2 in. PVC ball valve | 12 | $38.50 | $462.00 |
| Rotor head, 4 in. pop-up | 60 | $34.00 | $2,040.00 |
| Delivery | 1 | $160.50 | $160.50 |
| Total | $3,412.50 | ||
| Item | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 in. PVC schedule 40, per ft | 100 | $6.25 | $625.00 |
| 2 in. PVC ball valve | 10 | $38.50 | $385.00 |
| Rotor head, 4 in. pop-up | 60 | $27.25 | $1,635.00 |
| Total | $2,645.00 | ||
| Item | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Variable-speed pool pump, 1 hp | 1 | $1,184.00 | $1,184.00 |
| Total | $1,184.00 | ||
| Item | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Variable-speed pool pump, 1 hp | 1 | $1,184.00 | $1,184.00 |
| Total | $1,184.00 | ||
| Item | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backflow preventer, 1.5 in. | 1 | $915.00 | $915.00 |
| Total | $915.00 | ||
| Item | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backflow preventer, 1.5 in. | 1 | $915.00 | $915.00 |
| Total | $915.00 | ||
Tidewater Irrigation & Pools, its vendors, people, jobs, amounts and dates were written for this page and match no real business. The checks in this demonstration follow the shape of the nightly ruled checks described in the data-hygiene entry. Each check applies one rule, changes nothing on its own, and declines when it cannot read its source rather than reporting a clean result. Read-only ERP checks with explicit missing-source results.
Five pieces of work, each with the date its source was last reviewed and a plain statement of what is deployed, what is used and what has not been measured. The collection holds every entry.
I audited four months of vendor invoices and spend, then introduced an approval pipeline, receiving controls and documented procedures. The account describes use; no savings figure is published.
The September release record includes 35 read-only checks and an executed run. Missing sources produce an explicit refusal. Findings and approved corrections are separate steps.
I led a three-person team handling order flow, billing and reconciliation across NetSuite, Cleartrack and SPS Commerce. This is my confirmed career account.
Fifteen reporting pages passed authenticated checks in the September release. Definitions, source dates and missing-data reasons help a reader investigate a figure. Business effect has not been measured.
I specified and directed a workspace connecting private records, search, documents and personal workflows. The release record contains authenticated interface checks and data-import receipts; time saved has not been measured.
A payment question came in by email. Finding the invoice references, the company and contact relationship behind them and the right posting procedure, then writing the reply, took 30 minutes; the recipient confirmed the payment was posted. The demonstration above is modelled on that kind of investigation, with invented records.
Start with a problem your team recognizes. The scope can be a useful assessment, a reporting handoff, training, a process check or the software the work needs.
Bring the relevant instructions, checked records and history together. Show the sources, what remains uncertain and the next step someone is authorized to take.
A useful first result: A checked set of representative questions, with source-backed answers and clear refusals where the material is insufficient.
Connect a recurring report to its source records, definitions and refresh process, with visible gaps and a way to investigate a figure.
A useful first result: A repeatable source-to-report handoff whose totals, freshness and exceptions a reviewer can check.
Turn an agreed role or workflow into practical instructions, authorized demonstrations and exercises that a learner can try.
A useful first result: A role-specific guide and practice task that a representative learner can follow and a process owner can maintain.
Follow a real workflow through its people and records. Identify exceptions, agree the governing rules and give each finding an owner and a correction path.
A useful first result: A documented workflow, a checked exception list and an action plan the responsible people can use.
Make better use of existing settings, connect a handoff, or build the application or website people need to complete a defined task.
A useful first result: A scoped configuration change, connected handoff, application or website with tested behavior and an operating handover.
Purchasing came first. The approval path, receiving controls and the three-way match across order, receipt and bill are described in the purchasing entry. Rebuilding purchasing controls during an ERP migration.
The system is set up in accounts your business controls. Your data remains yours, and so does the installation.
After the first build, monthly care keeps the agreed system running. It covers monitoring imports, scheduled jobs and data freshness, investigating findings, maintaining existing integrations and correcting defects. It includes one review each month of findings and recommendations, and up to four hours of planned improvements, with testing and documentation included in those hours.
Larger features, new integrations, substantial historical investigations and integration rebuilds after a major upstream change are scoped and quoted separately before work begins. Correcting work that never met the original agreement is maintenance, never a new feature.
The monthly price itemises the agreed AI subscriptions and any hosting or server costs, with a usage budget set in the proposal. Price, usage budget, support hours and response expectations are set per proposal.
| Request | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Repair an existing invoice import | Maintenance, within the agreed support scope |
| Add a missing-invoice validation rule | Planned-improvement hours, if it fits |
| Build an invoice approval application | Separate scope and quote |
| Connect another CRM or accounting system | Separate scope and quote |
| Adjust an existing report or screen | Planned-improvement hours, if it fits |
| Investigate a flagged anomaly | Monthly investigation, within the agreed support scope |
| Reconcile several years of history | Separate scope and quote |
Operations first, then the systems the work runs on. The full record, with dates, scope and what is still awaiting confirmation, is on the about page.
Purchasing and operations
Purchasing and operations across a 285-vendor base, starting during an ERP migration.
Distribution logistics
Led a three-person order logistics team serving 12 manufacturers and 23 national retail distributors.
Service operations
Ran operations for a 15-person staff and 500 active members.
Tell me what is slowing the work down, who it affects and which systems are involved. If those systems already hold the data, that is usually where the work starts.
Calls any day, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern.
gage@ngagemartin.comEmail opens a draft in your mail program.