| Date | 9 June 2026 |
| Scope | Enterprise Analytics Platform — Full Deployment |
| Contact | James Whitfield, VP Client Operations |
| Project Ref | MRD-2026-HP-004 |
| Validity | 30 days from date of issue |
An honest accounting of what manual reporting and fragmented tooling cost Hargrove today — in time, in headcount, and in delayed decisions.
Three purpose-built modules addressing Hargrove's specific workflow pain points. Each scoped to your data environment and team structure.
A transparent, line-by-line ROI model built on Hargrove's own estimates. Payback period, 3-year NPV, and validated benchmarks from similar firms.
Straightforward pricing tiers, implementation timeline, payment terms, and the five concrete actions required to get to contract signature by end of June.
| Cost Item | Current Annual Cost | With Meridian | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual reporting — analyst hours (est. 280 hrs/yr × $95/hr) | $26,600 | $4,100 | −85% |
| Legacy BI tooling (Tableau server license + maintenance) | $41,200 | $0 | −100% |
| Data cleaning & normalisation (outsourced, quarterly) | $18,400 | $2,200 | −88% |
| Senior analyst headcount — reporting overhead (1.2 FTE) | $98,000 | $49,000 | −50% |
| Ad hoc data consultancy (4 engagements × avg. $8,500) | $34,000 | $8,500 | −75% |
| Compliance reporting rework (errors, re-runs, delays) | $12,800 | $1,200 | −91% |
| Meridian Analytics platform licence (annual) | $0 | $48,000 | New |
| Total Annual Cost | $231,000 | $113,000 | −51% |
| # | Phase | Description | Timeline | Deliverables | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Discovery | Structured interviews with Hargrove finance, IT, and partner leads. Data source audit covering practice management, ERP, and billing systems. Definition of reporting requirements and KPI taxonomy. | Weeks 1–2 | Requirements document, data source map, stakeholder sign-off, technical access credentials | 2 Weeks |
| 02 | Setup & Build | Secure cloud environment provisioning. Data connectors configured and validated. Report templates built to Hargrove specifications. Dashboard layouts reviewed by practice leads before UAT. | Weeks 3–7 | Live staging environment, 3 modules deployed, test data loaded, security review complete | 5 Weeks |
| 03 | Training | Role-based training sessions: partner users (2 hrs), analyst power users (4 hrs), IT admin (2 hrs). Video library and written documentation provided. Dedicated Slack channel with Meridian support team. | Weeks 8–9 | Training completion records, admin guide, user handbook, support channel live | 10 Days |
| 04 | Go-Live | Parallel run against legacy systems for first two weeks post-launch. Dedicated Meridian contact monitoring data quality. First monthly report pack generated and validated with Hargrove CFO. Formal handover. | Week 10 | Go-live sign-off, first report pack, 30-day health check scheduled, SLA contract active | Go-Live |
| # | Pain Point | Module | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Partners wait 3–5 days for monthly billing summaries, leading to delayed decisions on matter resourcing and fee negotiations. | Module B — Client Intelligence Dashboard | Billing data available in real time. Partners self-serve within seconds; no analyst queue. |
| 02 | Quarterly board packs require two analysts working full-time for one week, displacing higher-value advisory work. | Module A — Automated Reporting Engine | Board pack auto-generated from live data in under 4 hours. Analyst time freed for analysis, not assembly. |
| 03 | Revenue forecasting is done in Excel with manual inputs, resulting in wide confidence bands and frequent reforecast cycles. | Module C — Pipeline & Revenue Forecasting | ML-driven rolling 12-month forecast with ±8% accuracy; reforecast cycle reduced from 3 days to 2 hours. |
| 04 | No single view of client health — at-risk accounts are identified reactively, after billing has already deteriorated. | Module B — Client Intelligence Dashboard | Automated health scoring with configurable alert thresholds. At-risk accounts surfaced 6–8 weeks earlier. |
| 05 | Compliance reporting errors require rework averaging 3 cycles per quarter, each adding 2–3 days of delay and audit exposure. | Module A — Automated Reporting Engine | Validated data lineage and automated cross-checks reduce error rate by >90%. Audit trail built in. |
| 06 | Utilisation and realization rates are calculated inconsistently across practice groups, preventing firm-wide comparison. | Module B & Module C | Single calculation methodology applied firm-wide. Comparable metrics across all 6 practice groups from Day 1. |
"Before Meridian, our CFO was spending two days a week chasing numbers from four different systems. Within six weeks of go-live we had a single source of truth that partners actually trusted. The first quarterly board pack that ran automatically — without a single analyst touching it — was the moment the firm understood what it had bought."
Mid-size regional professional services firm. 180 fee earners across legal, financial advisory, and management consulting practices. Legacy Tableau implementation, manual Excel forecasting, and a 2.5-person reporting function. Deployed Modules A and B in Q3 2025.