Sample, for a fictional organisation
Discovery Sprint pack: Brindlecombe Neighbourhood Aid / Volunteer and hardship grants system
A complete sample Discovery Sprint pack for a fictional charity: process map, requirements, approach, data protection note and a fixed price.
Sample, written for a fictional organisation. Names, figures and dates are illustrative.
Prepared by Tibyan Labs, end of Sprint week 2. Version 1.0. The price in section 6 is valid for 30 days from the readout.
Summary for trustees
Brindlecombe Neighbourhood Aid (34 staff, about 290 active volunteers) runs a food bank, befriending, an advice drop-in and a hardship fund of about 520 grant applications a year (£50 to £400 each).
Its records live in five spreadsheets, two shared inboxes and paper forms. Staff estimate the admin at about 17 hours a week, plus two days a quarter. The bigger concern is control: three copies of the volunteer spreadsheet disagree, DBS renewal dates are not tracked in one place, and panel decisions are recorded on paper.
We recommend one web system for volunteers and grants, with four user roles: a Portal Core build at a fixed price of £18,000, in 10 weeks, running in accounts in the charity’s name. Rotas, volunteer sign-in and bank payments are deliberately left out (section 3). After launch we recommend Care Systems at £549 a month.
Decision for the board: approve the build and budget, or ask us to narrow it.
1. Process and data map
People and roles
Sources: five interviews (the Sprint limit), the forms, the spreadsheets and the last funder report.
| Role | Part in the process |
|---|---|
| Operations Manager | Budget holder and project sponsor |
| Volunteer Coordinator | Recruits and places volunteers |
| Volunteer Administrator (3 days a week) | Records, references, DBS status |
| Grants Officer (part time) | Logs applications, prepares panel packs |
| Grants panel (two staff and one trustee, weekly) | Decides applications |
| Finance Officer | Pays approved grants |
| Referral partners (about 40 external bodies) | Apply on behalf of households |
Volunteer process as found
- An enquiry arrives by email or paper form at reception (about 25 a month).
- The Coordinator emails a Word application form, returned by email or on paper.
- The Administrator types it into the master spreadsheet (project leads still use two older copies).
- Two references are requested by email and chased by hand, tracked by cell colour.
- Befriending roles need a DBS check, tracked on a separate sheet.
- Induction is booked by email; attendance goes on a paper sign-in sheet.
Where time is lost: retyping, chasing references, and checking three sources for “is this person cleared?”. Where errors happen: 7 of 50 records we compared across the three copies differed. Policy is to renew DBS checks every three years; 11 befriending volunteers had no renewal date recorded.
Grant process as found
- A referral partner emails a PDF form, or a household brings a paper one to the drop-in.
- The Grants Officer saves attachments to a shared drive and logs the application in a spreadsheet.
- About one in three is incomplete and is chased by email or phone.
- Each week the Officer prints a panel pack. The panel decides on paper; the Officer types decisions back.
- Finance receives an emailed list, pays by bank transfer or voucher, and marks it paid in a separate sheet.
- Each quarter the Officer reconciles the two sheets for the funder report.
Where errors happen: the policy allows one grant per household in six months. Finance found 9 repeat grants last year, all after payment.
The pain, estimated
| Item | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteer admin and chasing | 9 hours a week | Administrator’s estimate |
| Grant logging, chasing and panel packs | 8 hours a week | Grants Officer’s estimate |
| Quarterly funder reconciliation | 2 days a quarter | Grants Officer’s estimate |
| Records that disagree | 7 of 50 checked | Our check during the Sprint |
| Repeat grants against policy | 9 in 12 months | Finance Officer’s records |
These describe the current position. They are not a forecast of what a new system would change.
Data held
| Data | Where now | Records | Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteer details, references | Spreadsheets, inbox | About 290 active, 640 past | Personal |
| DBS status and dates | Separate sheet | About 120 | Criminal offence data (status only) |
| Grant applications | Spreadsheet, shared drive, paper | About 1,500 (three years) | Special category (health), hardship, children’s ages |
| Payments made | Finance sheet | About 1,350 | Personal, financial |
2. Requirements
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| R1 | One volunteer record, with status from enquiry to active | Must |
| R2 | Online volunteer application form; staff entry of paper forms | Must |
| R3 | Reference tracking, with overdue reminders | Must |
| R4 | DBS level, date and outcome recorded, with a renewal alert | Must |
| R5 | Referral partners submit and track applications online | Must |
| R6 | Staff entry of paper applications, with attachments | Must |
| R7 | Warning when a household has had a grant in the last six months | Must |
| R8 | Panel decisions recorded, with who and when | Must |
| R9 | Finance exports approved grants and marks them paid | Must |
| R10 | Quarterly funder report as a spreadsheet export | Must |
| R11 | Access by role; data protection export and delete | Must |
| R12 | Move existing records across | Must |
| R13 | Email to the referral partner when a decision is made | Should |
| R14 | Induction attendance recorded against the volunteer | Should |
| R15 | Rotas and shift booking | Later |
| R16 | Volunteers sign in to update their own details | Later |
| R17 | Payments sent directly from the system to the bank | Later |
3. Recommendation and technical approach
Recommended: R1 to R14, as a Portal Core build.
Deliberately left out, and why:
- Rotas (R15). Each project runs rotas differently, and a low-cost rota product may suit better. Review after six months.
- Volunteer sign-in (R16). It adds 290 accounts to support and a fifth role.
- Bank payments (R17). Paying from a new system adds financial risk. Finance keeps its bank process, using the export.
The solution in plain English. One secure website for computers, tablets and phones, where each person sees only what their role needs.
How an application moves:
- A referral partner (or staff, for paper forms) submits it.
- The system warns if the household had a grant in the last six months.
- The Grants Officer marks it complete or asks for what is missing.
- The panel decides on screen; decision, reason, names and date are recorded.
- Finance exports approved grants, pays through the bank as now, and marks them paid.
- The referral partner is emailed the decision.
User roles:
| Role | Can see and do |
|---|---|
| Administrator | Everything, including accounts and reports |
| Panel member | Applications awaiting decision; record decisions |
| Finance | Approved grants; export and mark paid |
| Referral partner | Submit applications and see their own |
Administrators see volunteers and grants. Separating those staff would be a fifth role and moves the price.
Hosting and integrations. Supabase (database), Vercel (website) and Resend (email), in the charity’s own accounts, regions set to London where the provider allows. About £35 to £45 a month at current prices, paid by the charity directly. No integrations: payments and the funder report use spreadsheet exports.
4. Data protection and risk note
| Topic | Position |
|---|---|
| Roles | Charity is controller; Tibyan Labs is processor, under a data processing agreement signed before personal data is handled. |
| Special category data | Yes: health and disability details in applications. |
| Children’s data | Ages of children in a household only, no names. |
| DBS | Level, date and outcome only. No certificate copies are stored. |
| AI use | No AI features. AI tools used in building see only made-up demo data. |
| Sub-processors | Supabase, Vercel, Resend. Final list in the data processing agreement. |
| Needs the charity’s own advice | Data protection impact assessment; retention period for grant records; safeguarding lead sign-off on DBS fields. |
This note is not legal advice.
Risks
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old records conflict | High | Medium | Charity sets import rules in week 1; import rehearsed on a copy |
| Referral partners keep emailing PDFs | Medium | Medium | Staff entry stays available; partner guide supplied |
| No staff time for testing | Medium | High | Testing dates agreed at kickoff |
Assumptions: the charity supplies form wording; one named contact answers questions within 2 working days; existing records total under 5,000.
5. Wireframes
Clickable wireframes of five screens (application form, application list, panel decision, finance export, volunteer record), supplied as a link. Not reproduced in this sample.
6. Fixed price, milestones and timeline
Portal Core, fixed price £18,000, as the scope above fits the package. 10 weeks from the deposit. Six weeks of fixes after go-live for defects against the signed scope. £1,000 of the Sprint fee comes off the final payment if the build is signed within 30 days of the readout.
| Week | Milestone | Payment |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Statement of work and data processing agreement signed | £5,400 (30%) |
| 1 | Kickoff, migration rules agreed | |
| 5 | Working preview: volunteer records and application flow | £7,200 (40%) |
| 8 | Import rehearsed on a copy, staff testing | |
| 10 | Go-live, walk-through for staff | £5,400 (30%), or £4,400 with the credit |
Invoices are due in 14 days. Two feedback rounds per milestone are included. Changes are quoted in writing first.
Excluded: rotas, volunteer sign-in, bank payments, data cleaning beyond the import rules, writing form text, hosting costs, changes to other systems.
7. Care after launch
Care Systems, £549 a month: 5 hours a month (unused hours roll over one month), first response within 1 working day, fix target 2 working days if the service is down and 3 otherwise, monthly report and review call. Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00; times are targets, not guarantees. 6 months minimum from go-live, then rolling quarterly, billed quarterly in advance. Alternative: the Handover Pack at £750.
8. Next steps
- 60 minute readout with the Operations Manager and a trustee; a note of decisions follows within 2 working days.
- If the board approves, we send the statement of work and data processing agreement.
- If any listed output in this pack is missing, tell us within 14 days of the readout. If we do not supply it within 10 working days, we refund the Sprint fee.
This pack is the charity’s to keep and use with any supplier.