Our approach
Four stages, and a gate at the end of each.
A firm this new earns trust by publishing its method in enough detail for you to judge it directly. What follows is that method, stage by stage.
The sequence
What happens, in order.
Scope and question
We write down the exact question the work has to answer, the evidence that would settle it, and where the scope ends.
You receive a signed scope with the deliverable list and the dates, and the work begins the moment you approve it.
Evidence
We collect it. Desk research where desk research answers the question, fieldwork where the answer needs new data.
You receive the raw data, the cross tabulated tables, and a source register listing every citation with its publication date.
Analysis and options
We turn the evidence into two or three decisions you could actually make, with what each one costs and what each one assumes.
You receive the analysis and the options before we recommend one of them.
Handover
We hand over the finished documents, walk your team through them, and record every decision made and the reason behind it.
You receive the final deliverables and the decision log.
Principles
Six rules we hold ourselves to.
The question is written down first
Every engagement opens with the exact question the work has to answer, the evidence that would settle it, and the scope the answer covers. Work starts once that question reads as one sentence carrying a number, a unit, a geography and a date.
Every figure carries its source
Every external number in an Orvant deliverable carries its publisher and its publication date, in the document, next to the number. The source register lists all of them. A number earns its place in a deliverable by carrying both.
The denominator is reconciled before the model is built
The strength of a sizing model rests on the base it divides by. Population, device and account bases are published on different footings by different bodies, so we reconcile those bases first and print the one the model uses.
You see the options before we recommend one
Analysis produces two or three decisions you could actually take, each with what it costs and what it assumes. You see that full set first, then the one we would pick and the reason. The alternatives stay in the document, so you can weigh the recommendation against them.
You can stop at any gate and keep what you have
Each of the four stages ends in a gate. At every gate the work done so far is a finished, usable document, delivered in full and yours to keep. The stop condition for each stage is agreed before that stage begins.
The method follows the question
When desk research can settle a question in three weeks, that is the scope we write. When the answer needs primary fieldwork, the proposal names what the published evidence leaves open and what fieldwork would add, so the method is a decision you can check.
Evidence standard
What every document has to carry.
Each line below is a check a deliverable has to pass before it leaves, and you can hold an engagement to every one of them.
- Every citation carries its publisher and its publication date.
- Every rate and every percentage names the base it divides by.
- Every model assumption sits on its own row, with its source and the confidence we attach to it.
- Every fieldwork document prints its sampling plan and the languages it was fielded in.
- Every deliverable is named in the scope before work starts, with its format and its extent.
- Every decision taken in the engagement is recorded in the decision log, with the date it was taken.
Stopping
You can stop at any gate and keep what you have.
Every stage ends in a finished, usable document that is yours to keep. The stop condition for each gate is written down before that stage starts, so stopping is a decision you planned in advance.
This is a transfer of risk from you to us, and it is deliberate. A firm confident in the work lets the client decide whether the next phase happens.
Tell us the question.
If desk research answers your question in three weeks, we will tell you that in writing. Send us the question and we will scope the work it takes to answer it properly.
Office No. 1101-393
The Offices at Ibn Battuta Gate
Jabal Ali First, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
We reply within one UAE business day.