How an engagement runs, from objective to deliverable

An engagement is one project, from its objective or question to its deliverable. Your team frames it and acts on the result. AI agents and models carry out the Tacitude Method inside your data room, and four quality gates check the work before it reaches your team.

Exhibit 1Four stages, one method, and your team at both ends

  1. 1Framing

    Your team
    Sets the objective and the criteria for a good answer.
    Tacitude
    Structures the problem and proposes the hypotheses to test.
    What you hold
    An agreed engagement brief

  2. 2Data

    Your team
    Uploads the data the engagement needs.
    Tacitude
    Classifies every file and redacts personal data.
    What you hold
    An isolated data room

  3. 3Analysis

    Your team
    Follows the work and answers questions.
    Tacitude
    Researches, models and tests each hypothesis against the evidence.
    What you hold
    An evidence trail

  4. 4Deliverable

    Your team
    Acts on the deliverable, with the evidence in front of it.
    Tacitude
    Delivers the result, with its reasoning, evidence and confidence.
    What you hold
    A deliverable your team can audit

The four stages of the Tacitude Method. Your team owns the result.

Every engagement starts with a brief your team agrees

Before work starts, your team and Tacitude agree the engagement brief: the objective or question, the scope, the criteria for a good answer and the data the engagement needs.

The brief sets the terms of the work. The deliverable answers the objective it states, within the scope it draws, against the criteria it fixes.

Exhibit 2The engagement brief fixes four things before work starts
Engagement briefIllustrative
Question
Should we enter the Portuguese market in 2027, and through which route?
Scope
Mid-sized retail customers. Organic entry against the acquisition of a regional distributor. A three-year horizon.
Criteria
A go or no-go, with the route, the investment range and the year the business breaks even.
Data needed
Sales and margin by region, the cost structure, current price lists, and the shortlist of acquisition candidates.

An illustrative brief. The figures and names are synthetic.

Six layers carry every conclusion from data to deliverable

Each engagement runs on six layers, from the isolated data room at the base to the deliverable your team reads at the top. The method's rules sit in the middle of the stack and govern every layer above the data.

Exhibit 3Six layers, from the data room to the deliverable

  1. Delivery

    The engagement portal and each engagement's deliverable.

    web app, document renderer

  2. Control and quality

    The method's rules and the four quality gates. The decision stays with you.

    evaluation pipeline, policy engine

  3. Reasoning

    A lead agent coordinates specialist agents.

    multi-agent orchestration, model gateway

  4. Knowledge

    A strategy ontology, with every piece of evidence linked to its source.

    knowledge graph, document index

  5. Governed data

    Classification, redaction of personal data, and lineage for every figure.

    data pipeline, lineage

  6. Isolated infrastructure

    A separate data room for each client.

    tenant isolation, per-client keys

Reference architecture: the design every engagement runs on.

Specialist agents work as an engagement team

A lead agent plans the work with the method and assigns it, as a partner would. Specialist agents research, model, write and challenge. Your team receives only what has passed the quality gates, and the decision stays with your team.

Exhibit 4The agents divide the work like a project team
  1. Engagement brief

  2. Lead agent

    The partner's role

    Plans the work with the method and assigns it.

    • Research

      The market team's role

      Search and sources

    • Analysis and models

      The analysts' role

      Calculation and models

    • Synthesis

      The engagement manager's role

      Pyramid writing

    • Challenger

      A review committee's role

      Hypothesis tests

  4. Quality gates

    Source, figure, challenge, confidence.

  5. Engagement deliverable

Reference architecture. Each agent follows the Tacitude Method.

Your data room holds only what the engagement needs

The data room is your company's isolated private space for its data. Your team uploads what an engagement needs, and every file then follows the same path.

Exhibit 5Every file has an origin, a purpose and an expiry

Your data room

  1. 1

    Upload

    Only what the engagement needs.

  2. 2

    Classification

    By type and sensitivity.

  3. 3

    Redaction

    Personal data, before analysis.

  4. 4

    Lineage

    Each figure with its file, cell and date.

Reference design of the data room.

Four checks stand between the analysis and your team

Exhibit 6A deliverable reaches your team only after four quality gates
  1. 1

    Source

    Every claim carries its source.

    “Where does this come from?”

  2. 2

    Figure

    Every number is recalculated from its origin.

    “Does this number add up?”

  3. 3

    Challenge

    Every hypothesis faces a challenger.

    “What would overturn it?”

  4. 4

    Confidence

    Every conclusion states its confidence.

    “How far can we rely on it?”

What passes all four reaches your team.