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Rung 1b of the engagement ladder

Cost-to-Serve Baseline

An agreed baseline: the defensible end-to-end cost of a unit of work, as the reference point all later benefit claims are measured against.

Discuss this workflow
Typical elapsed duration
3–4 weeks
Commercial basis
Fixed-scope proposal — scoped and priced after qualification.
Entry condition
The Workflow Evidence Sprint has produced the Pilot Blueprint for the workflow in scope, and operating data is available to agree the baseline on a stated basis.
Where this sits
  1. Pilot Blueprint
  2. agreed baseline — this page
  3. build with assurance
  4. verified value

After the Pilot Blueprint. The Evidence Sprint measures the workflow; this rung agrees that baseline with finance before a pilot starts, so the pilot’s value can be verified against a reference point finance already accepts.

Start with the Workflow Evidence Sprint →

Scope

Inputs, deliverables and boundaries

Cost-to-Serve Baseline

Quantify the credible addressable economic opportunity with every assumption stated: cost-to-serve, released capacity, exception handling and rework. Calculated results stay separate from assumptions.

Fixed-scope proposal — scoped and priced after qualification.

  • Unit cost-to-serve model
  • Agreed baseline document
  • Decomposition of cost
  • Measurement rules
Decision

Is the addressable value pool credible enough to justify change?

Value model
  1. Volume (cases per year)
  2. Affected share (%)
  3. Reduction (%)
  4. Adoption (%)
  5. Time (hours per case)
  6. Rate (£ per hour)
  7. £ value pool
This is the arithmetic behind a value pool, with every input stated separately so finance can challenge any one of them.Every term carries its unit. Time is hours per case, not minutes, and Rate is per hour, so the result is money per year. The capacity calculation states the same demand and coverage in hours, before any rate is applied.
You provide
Cost-to-Serve Baseline

You provide

  • The Workflow Evidence Sprint pack for the workflow in scope, including the Pilot Blueprint and the measured baseline behind it.
  • Cost and staffing data sufficient to build the unit economics of the workflow on a stated basis, with a named finance contact able to agree it.
  • Volume history across the agreed measurement window, including seasonal cycles where they exist.
  • Access to the exception and rework queues, so their cost can be separated from first-time-right work.
We produce
£ value pool

We produce

  • A unit cost-to-serve model for the workflow with every input, allocation and assumption stated and traceable.
  • An agreed baseline document: the defensible end-to-end cost of a unit of work, agreed with the client as the reference point later benefit claims are measured against.
  • A decomposition of cost between first-time-right work, rework, exception handling and review.
  • The measurement rules that later verification will apply, fixed before any change is made.
Your effort
Cost-to-Serve Baseline

Your effort

  • Provide finance data and a named contact with authority to agree the baseline.
  • Agree the allocation and assumption choices where more than one defensible treatment exists.
  • Record changes to volume mix or staffing during measurement rather than smoothing them into the baseline.
Five stages, each ending in a decision rather than a commitment to continue.
The boundary

Scope exclusions

  • No actuarial, underwriting, tax-technical, legal or audit advice.
  • No audit opinion; no certification of accounts.
  • Where technical build is required, it is delivered by the client's existing technology team or vetted specialist delivery partners against Leania's requirements, acceptance criteria and quality controls.
  • No guarantee of a unit-cost outcome that depends on client adoption, volume mix, staffing decisions, data quality or third-party delivery outside our control.
  • The baseline states cost on the agreed basis; it is not an audit, an opinion on the accounts, or a valuation.
  • No redesign or build is performed at this rung; the baseline exists so those decisions can be measured.
The principle

Start with the problem. Earn the technology.

Six ways to remove capacity loss. Each is assessed on the evidence; none is the default.

  1. Stop
    Use when

    The activity adds no value to the client, the firm or a control.

  2. Simplify
    Use when

    Steps, approvals or hand-offs exist that the outcome doesn’t need.

  3. Standardise
    Use when

    Teams or offices do the same work in materially different ways.

  4. Workflow
    Use when

    Work is lost in queues, inboxes and hand-offs between people.

  5. Automate
    Use when

    Rules are stable and volume is repeatable.

  6. AI
    Use when

    Unstructured information or variable interpretation is materially constraining the process.

    Don’t when

    Deterministic rules solve the problem reliably.

The preferred intervention is the simplest one that reliably achieves the outcome and clears the economic and control threshold.

How the capacity number is built

Every input stated separately, so finance can challenge any one of them

  1. Observed demand (cases per year)
  2. Recoverable effort (minutes per case)
  3. Coverage (%)
  4. Adoption (%)
  5. 60 (minutes per hour)
  6. Recoverable capacity (hours per year)

Every term carries its unit. This calculation yields hours per year, not money: the value model applies the rate that converts those hours into a value pool.

Each input carries how it was established
  • Measured
  • Client-supplied
  • Derived
  • Assumption

Adoption is shown as a variable, not an assumption made on your behalf: capacity is only released if the redesigned way of working is actually adopted.

Where the capacity goes
  • Cashable

    Cost that leaves the business.

  • Capacity release

    Hours returned to fee-earning or absorbed volume, not cash.

  • Cost avoidance

    Cost that would otherwise have been incurred.

Each branch is shown three ways
  • Conservative
  • Expected
  • Upper

The three branches are never blended into one number, and the sensitivity range travels with the figure.

The arithmetic

How the baseline is built

Annual volume × touches × minutes × loaded rate + rework + exception handling + relevant supplier and system cost = agreed current cost-to-serve.

What agreed means

Agreed is a recorded state, not a feeling

"Agreed" means the scope, source data, allocation rules, assumptions and known gaps are recorded and accepted as the reference point. It is not an audit opinion.

How it ends

The decision this rung produces

Completion decision

Whether to commission redesign against the agreed baseline, and which parts of the workflow justify it first.

How we deliver

Delivery model

Senior-led, specialist-delivered: Leania specifies the work, sets acceptance criteria and signs off quality, independent of any build supplier.

Proprietary internal tooling may be used to structure workshop evidence into a reviewable current-state process, and to support the baseline and the assessment.

Proprietary internal tooling helps structure operational evidence into a reviewable current state. Practitioners validate the output.

The tooling supports the assessment. It does not autonomously validate root causes, approve recommendations or replace practitioner judgement.

Senior practitioners remain accountable for scope, interpretation, validation and decisions.

You bring one workflow. No data pack and no technology decision are required.

A sensible next decision, including no further action.

One workflow, a named owner and a live trigger is enough to start.

Discuss a workflow