Onboarding
Your first 30 days with SPL.
What happens after the engagement agreement is signed, what we will ask of you, and what can slow things down. Timing on this page is typical; the actual schedule is as agreed in your proposal.
Before day one
The agreement comes first.
Onboarding starts when both sides have signed the engagement agreement. Before that, we do not ask for records, and we ask you not to send any. Confidential information is handled under the terms of that signed agreement.
At the start, you name two people: a decision-maker who approves the plan and decides on urgent items, and a day-to-day contact who helps us find records and answers routine questions. In a small business, that can be the same person.
01
The initial records request
Typically in the first days after signing, you receive a written list of the records the scope calls for.
What the list usually covers
- Licenses, permits, and recent renewal or change filings
- Leases, amendments, and landlord correspondence about the premises
- Current procedures, training records, and any existing calendars or trackers
- Recent inspection or audit records and correspondence with regulators
- Key vendor agreements and insurance certificates required by a license or lease
- Who does what today, even if it is only written on one page
How exchange works
- Records move only after the engagement agreement is signed, and only through the secure method agreed with you at that point
- Please do not send records through the website form or ordinary email before then
- Send what the list asks for. If something is missing or held by someone else, tell us where it is
- An incomplete file is a normal starting point. Gaps are part of what the assessment records
02
Owner and key-staff interviews
The people who carry the work today know things no file shows. Typically in the first two weeks, we schedule conversations around your operating hours.
Who we usually speak with
- The owner or owners, about priorities, known concerns, and how decisions are made
- Site or general managers, about daily routines and where things get stuck
- Whoever handles compliance, leases, facilities, or bookkeeping today
What we are listening for
- Dates and obligations that live only in one person’s memory
- Differences between how procedures are written and how they are done
- Open issues that have not reached the owner yet
03
Issue triage
As records arrive, we sort what can wait for the findings from what cannot.
What happens to urgent items
- Anything urgent goes to the owner straight away, not into the findings report
- Examples include a license or permit close to expiry, an open notice from a regulator, or an insurance certificate a lease or license requires that has lapsed
- Where an item raises a legal question, it goes to the owner and your counsel at the same time
- SPL does not decide legal questions or speak for you to a regulator. We organize the facts and the timeline so the right person can act
04
Draft findings
Typically toward the end of the first month, you receive written findings in plain language, then we walk through them with you.
What the draft covers
- What is in order, what needs attention, and in what priority
- The recommended action and a proposed owner for each finding
- Items that need your counsel, accountant, broker, or a licensed contractor
Why it is a draft
- Interviews and records can miss context. You correct anything we have wrong before it becomes the basis of the plan
- See a sample findings summary, shown with a fictional business
05
Agreeing the plan
The findings become a management plan that you approve in writing before ongoing work begins.
What the plan sets out
- The compliance calendar, with an owner and start-by date for each item
- The procedures to write or update, and in what order
- The reporting format and cadence
- What is in scope, what is not, and who handles the rest
If the proposal covered discovery only
- You decide whether to continue into ongoing management, take on a one-time project, or keep the findings and plan and run them yourself
Your time
What you provide, and how much of your time it takes.
We work from your records and your people, so some of your time is needed. We try to keep it focused.
- The owner. A short kickoff conversation, an interview, the findings walkthrough, and prompt answers to follow-up questions. Most of what we ask of owners comes early in the month.
- Managers and key staff. An interview each, help locating records, and access for any site visit in scope.
- One day-to-day contact. Someone who can find documents and answer routine questions, so the owner is not pulled into every request.
- Decisions. A named person who can approve the plan and decide on urgent items when they come up.
What slows things down
What can delay delivery.
Most delays come from dependencies outside the assessment itself. We raise them as soon as we see them, and agree a revised timing with you in writing if the schedule needs to move.
- Records that are slow to arrive, or held by a landlord, a former manager, a previous provider, or your accountant
- Key people who are unavailable for interviews
- Access to systems, such as point-of-sale, track-and-trace, or shared drives, that has not been granted
- Urgent issues found in triage that need attention before the assessment can continue
- Decisions that are waiting on an owner, a partner, or another professional
- A change in scope partway through, such as a new location or a new license type
At the end of the month
What you typically have after 30 days.
- An inventory of the records, obligations, and dates in scope
- A list of urgent items already raised with you, and with counsel where needed
- Written draft findings with priorities
- A management plan, agreed or ready to agree
Larger scopes, more jurisdictions, or records spread across many places can take longer. The schedule in your proposal is the one that applies. To see how the full engagement is set up, read How Engagements Work.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us about your business and we will reply personally within two business days to arrange a 30-minute call.