Service 04 · Custom Decision Intelligence Operational Layer

Your processes change every month. Your ERP changes every year.

We build the missing layer on top of the systems you already run — NetSuite, Sage, QuickBooks, Business Central, Salesforce — so a new form, workflow or report takes days, not months. Inside your own IT environment, connected to your data.

Discuss your operational layer See how clients start

Executive summary

Growing businesses change how they work all the time. A new approval step. A new way to track jobs. A report the board asked for yesterday. The companies that improve their processes fastest, and keep improving them, are the ones that win.

ERP and accounting systems weren't built for that pace. NetSuite, Sage, QuickBooks are good at what they do — but every customisation is slow and expensive. A new data-entry form, a simple automation, reading data out of a file, a new integration: in an ERP that's weeks of work. In the age of AI it should take days, sometimes hours.

So teams do what everyone does. They move the work into Excel. Then into more Excel.

We build a custom operational layer instead — an extension that sits on top of your ERP and CRM and covers exactly what they're missing. It starts small: one spreadsheet replaced, one dashboard, one workflow. Then it grows, module by module, until it becomes the place where your team actually runs the business — while your ERP keeps doing the accounting.

What changes is speed: how fast your systems follow your process.

When this fits

This is for you if:

Your ERP holds the data, but the real work happens in spreadsheets, emails and chats around it.
A “small change” in NetSuite or Sage comes back as a six-week project with a five-figure quote.
Your teams track things the ERP simply has no place for: project progress, utilisation, handovers, contracts, approvals.
Reporting means someone exporting data and building the same spreadsheet every month.
You tried Power Apps or a low-code tool and hit its limits — or you're not sure which way to go.
You want AI to read documents, fill in forms or flag problems — and your ERP has no sensible place for it.

This is probably not for you if:

Your ERP fits your processes and they rarely change. Then keep it as it is.
You're choosing an ERP from scratch. Pick the core system first; we're happy to help with what comes after.
You need a one-off report. That's a smaller job — ask us anyway.

What we build

The layer covers whatever your standard software doesn't. Most often:

What	Example
Data entry instead of spreadsheets	A proper form for job costs, site reports or purchase requests, with validation, saved straight to your data
Workflows and approvals	Purchase orders, variations, handovers, sign-offs — with owners, statuses and reminders
Tracking the ERP can't do	Project progress, cost-to-complete, team utilisation, contracts, renewals
Dashboards and signals	Live views for managers, alerts when something drifts — not a monthly export
Integrations	NetSuite, Sage, QuickBooks, Business Central, Salesforce and the other tools your team uses
Simple automations	Reading data out of files and emails, generating documents, syncing systems
AI on top	Assistants that read documents, fill in forms, answer questions about your own data

Any function can start this way: operations, finance, projects, sales, HR.

Your ERP stays. We don't rip anything out. The layer connects to your existing systems through their APIs. Over time, many clients move more and more of their daily work into the layer — and keep the ERP for what it does best: the books.

The ERP keeps the books. The layer runs the day.

Custom, low-code or in the ERP?

Customising the ERP itself

Good for: Small tweaks inside standard screens
Where it stops: Slow, expensive, specialist-only, fragile on upgrades

Excel

Good for: Getting started in an afternoon
Where it stops: No single version of the truth, no control, breaks as you grow

Power Apps, Retool and other low-code

Good for: Simple apps and internal tools, quickly
Where it stops: Gets hard once logic, data volume and users grow

Custom layer in your own environment

Good for: Processes that change often and matter to the business
Where it stops: Needs a team to build it — that's what we do

Option	Good for	Where it stops
Customising the ERP itself	Small tweaks inside standard screens	Slow, expensive, specialist-only, fragile on upgrades
Excel	Getting started in an afternoon	No single version of the truth, no control, breaks as you grow
Power Apps, Retool and other low-code	Simple apps and internal tools, quickly	Gets hard once logic, data volume and users grow
Custom layer in your own environment	Processes that change often and matter to the business	Needs a team to build it — that's what we do

We build all of these — including Power Apps and Retool where they're the right answer. For processes that run your business, we recommend custom development inside your own IT environment, for example your Microsoft tenant: your security, your data, your code.

What you get

A working operational app on top of your ERP and CRM, used by your team every day.
Built inside your environment — for example Azure in your Microsoft tenant — with your sign-in and your security rules.
Connected to your systems through their APIs, so ERP upgrades don't break it.
One place for data the ERP doesn't hold, ready for dashboards and AI.
Documentation, and a team that keeps extending it as your process changes.

How it works

1
Pick one process — week 1. The spreadsheet everyone hates, or the report that eats two days a month. We map how it works today and what it should do.
2
Prototype — 48 hours. A working prototype your team can click through, built around your process, before anything goes to production.
3
First module in use — about a week. Live in your environment, connected to your ERP, used by real people.
4
Extend module by module. Each new process is days of work, not a new project. Approvals, tracking, dashboards, integrations, AI.
5
The layer becomes your operating system. Your team runs the business in it; the ERP keeps the books.

What we need from you: a process owner who knows how the work really happens, and access to your systems.

Examples

A UK fire & security contractor on NetSuite.

A group of three companies ran its finance in NetSuite and almost everything else in spreadsheets around it. We built an operational portal on top: project tracking, cost-to-complete and cost-value reconciliation, purchase orders, revenue forecast and handover — all connected to NetSuite. Built custom in their Microsoft environment: React front end, Azure Functions, Azure SQL, NetSuite API. The first phase is live and used daily. Next: contracts, a data warehouse and AI agents on top — each one a module, not a new system.

B2B sales on Business Central — targets, enrichment and analytics.

A B2B company ran sales in Dynamics 365 Business Central with no good place for targets. We built a layer where managers set and track sales targets, an enrichment layer that adds the customer and market data the ERP doesn't hold, and detailed analytics that combine Business Central with their other systems.

Salesforce — from meeting notes to proposals.

A sales team on Salesforce needed targets, analytics and less admin. Next to goal-setting and reporting, we connected their meeting transcription tool so notes and next steps land in the CRM, and added document generation: commercial proposals drafted from the deal data in minutes. We build the same for Business Central.

One QuickBooks, many schools.

A group of schools kept each school's numbers separately. We built a layer where every school enters its financial data in one format, the group sees consolidated analytics, and the consolidated figures are loaded into a single QuickBooks.

Twenty brands, one set of books.

A company with around twenty brands had each brand reporting slightly differently. Every brand now enters its data into one database; a consolidation layer reconciles the differences and loads clean figures into QuickBooks. The same approach works on Sage.

Team utilisation where the ERP has no answer.

Consulting firms and project-based drilling companies need to know who is working on what, and how much of their time is billable. We build utilisation tracking on top of their existing HR and finance systems — planned vs actual, by person, project and client.

How clients usually start

Off Excel. A form and a simple database instead of the spreadsheet that runs a key process.
Reporting first. Live dashboards on ERP data instead of monthly exports — then the missing inputs move into the layer.
One workflow. Approvals, handovers or purchase requests with owners and statuses.
One integration. Two systems that should talk to each other, finally talking.

Tools and platforms

NetSuiteThe ERP we extend most often — reporting, data extraction, operational modules on top
Sage · QuickBooks · XeroFinance systems we connect to and build around
Dynamics 365 Business CentralMicrosoft ERP — reporting and custom apps on top
SalesforceCRM data and workflows that need to meet operations
Microsoft AzureWhere we build: Azure Functions, Azure SQL, Static Web Apps in your tenant
Power Apps / Power PlatformWhen low-code is the right answer — approvals, simple apps, automation
RetoolInternal tools and admin screens on top of your data
Claude · OpenAI · CopilotAI that reads documents, fills in forms and answers questions inside the layer

All technologies

Formats

Project. One module or a defined phase with a clear result.
Outsourced function. We keep building and running the layer month by month as your processes change.
Team extension. Our engineers join your IT team and build it with you.

Commercials: we estimate per module and agree the phase before work starts. Rates on request.

Who does the work

A product lead who understands the process, full-stack and integration engineers from our Microsoft squad, and a data engineer when the layer needs a warehouse behind it. Head office in London, engineering hubs in Barcelona and Astana.

Questions

Why not just customise NetSuite (or Sage, or QuickBooks)?

You can, for small things. For processes that change often, ERP customisation is slow, needs specialists and tends to break on upgrades. A layer on top changes in days and leaves the ERP clean.

Does this replace our ERP?

Not on day one, and not for accounting. It covers what the ERP doesn't. Over time many clients move most of their daily operations into the layer and keep the ERP for the books.

Why not Power Apps or Retool?

Sometimes they're exactly right, and we build them. For core processes with real logic, volume and many users, custom development in your own environment holds up better.

Where does it run, and who owns it?

In your environment — for example Azure in your Microsoft tenant — with your sign-in and security. The code is yours and lives in your own repository, for example your Azure DevOps.

What happens when the ERP is upgraded?

The layer talks to the ERP through its API, so upgrades rarely affect it. If an API changes, we update the connector, not your whole process.

How fast is “fast”?

A clickable prototype: 48 hours. A first module in use: about a week. A new form or a simple workflow after that: days. The point is that change stops being a project.

Can it use AI?

Yes, and it's much easier once your process and data live in one place you control: reading invoices and documents, filling in forms, flagging problems, answering questions about your own numbers.

Which spreadsheet would you replace first?

Discuss your operational layer

Bring one process. We'll tell you straight whether a layer makes sense.