Skip to content

Custom Business Software

Operations platforms: one model of the business, every role's view of it

The jobs are in one tool, the parts in a spreadsheet, the trucks on a whiteboard and the exceptions in your head. So the questions that need all of them get answered by phone the night before. An operations platform holds the whole operation in one model. Each role sees its own slice, and the cross-department questions are answered before anyone has to ask. We model the operation with you and keep the tools that already work.
Talk through your operationSee the questions it answers ↓
Tomorrow · 6 jobs · 3 trucksJobAreaTruckNeedsOn truckJ-601NorthsideTruck 1filter set4✓J-602RiversideTruck 1thermocouple2✓J-603NorthsideTruck 3condensate pump1✓J-604EastsideTruck 2ignitor IGN-40✕✓J-605RiversideTruck 2capacitor3✓J-606EastsideTruck 3ignitor IGN-41✓pickIGN-4 elsewhereTruck 3 · 1 · needed for J-606Warehouse · 5 · freeproposalWarehouse pick · IGN-4 × 1for Truck 2 · by 7:30approved · dispatcher6 of 6 jobs ready

The business, spread across five places

Jobs live in the field-service tool. Parts live in a spreadsheet the warehouse updates when it remembers. Trucks are on a whiteboard, certifications in a folder, and what a job really cost is worked out at the end of the month. Each tool answers its own question. None can answer one that needs two of them.

An operations platform puts the business's real things in one model: customers, sites, jobs, technicians, trucks, parts, and how they relate. Screens for each role read from it, automations act on it, and reports agree because there's only one version of each fact.

Today, and with an operations platform

Today

  1. 01The dispatcher builds tomorrow's schedule in the field-service tool.
  2. 02Technicians are texted to check their trucks for parts.
  3. 03Missing parts are found at 7 a.m., in the yard.
  4. 04Job costs are rebuilt in a spreadsheet at month end.

The first job of the day starts late, and nobody knows a job's margin until it's too late to matter.

With an operations platform

  1. 01The schedule, the trucks and the stock are one model.
  2. 02Every job's parts are checked against its truck as soon as it's scheduled.
  3. 03Shortfalls come with a proposal: transfer, or pick from the warehouse.
  4. 04Each job's cost builds up as parts and hours are recorded.

The questions that took a phone round are answered on the screen.

The questions that cross departments

Each needs records that today live in different places. In one model they're a query.
Can tomorrow's jobs be done with what's on the trucks?Schedule, trucks, stock, parts per jobTexts to technicians the night before
What did J-512 actually cost?Job, parts used, hours, permit feeA month-end spreadsheet
Who can take a commercial boiler call in Eastside?Technicians, certifications, areas, scheduleThe owner's memory
Which warranty credits are we owed?Jobs, parts, serials, claimsThe claims spreadsheet

One model, four views

Everyone works from the same records. What each role sees, and can change, is set by the role.

Dispatcher

Sees
schedule, trucks, stock per truck, technician areas
Can change
assignments, transfers, warehouse picks
Doesn't see
job margins, payroll

The parts it's built from

Each part is built and tested on its own, so you can start with one and add the rest.

  1. Model

    Operations Platforms

    Jobs, sites, technicians, trucks, parts and how they relate.

  2. Views

    Internal Tools

    • the model
    • the role
    • the day

    a shortfall → proposal for a person to approve

  3. Events

    Backend Architecture

    A part used updates the truck, the job's cost and the reorder list.

  4. Connect

    API Services

    The field-service tool, accounting and suppliers stay connected.

Underneath every stepSolution ArchitectureWhich system owns each fact, decided once.

What changes from one business to the next

The modelWhich things your business runs on, and how they relate
RolesWho sees and changes what
What stays boughtWhich tools remain the source for their own facts (accounting, payroll)
QuestionsThe cross-department questions answered first

A common starting point is a Postgres database for the model, a Next.js application for the role views, n8n or a job queue for events, and API connections to accounting and your field-service tool. These are starting candidates, not requirements.

Is an operations platform the right system?

Good fit

  • The business runs across several tools and a lot of memory.
  • The expensive mistakes happen between departments.
  • You've outgrown what a field-service product can be configured to do.

Avoid when

  • One off-the-shelf product covers your operation well. Configure it.
  • You need one process fixed first. Start with a workflow application.

How we'd approach it

Most of the early work is agreeing the model, the roles and their views, what stays as bought software and which questions it must answer.

  1. 01

    Understand

    As much as the problem needs

    We map how the work runs today: who does what, which systems hold the records, and where it breaks.

  2. 02

    Design

    Decided before it's built

    Ownership, rules, integrations and exceptions, agreed with you and written down with acceptance criteria.

  3. 03

    Build

    Connected to what you use

    We build the scoped system, connect it to the tools you already run, and test it on the cases that matter.

Related systems

The capabilities underneath

For your industry

Questions about operations platforms

Do we have to replace everything at once?

No. The platform usually starts with one model and one or two views, connected to the tools you keep. More moves over as each part proves itself.

What stays in the tools we bought?

Whatever they do well: accounting, payroll, payments. The platform reads from them and writes to them through their APIs.

Isn't this what an ERP does?

An ERP gives you its model of a business. An operations platform is built on yours, with the trucks, parts and rules you actually have.

How do technicians use it in the field?

Through a phone view of the same platform, showing their jobs, the site history and what's on their truck.

Run the whole operation from one model

Tell us which tools hold your jobs, parts and people today. We'll show you which questions one model would answer before anyone asks.

Start a project