For independent consultants

The client's file goes in. The structure stands up.

The first two weeks of most engagements go on work no client would choose to pay for — pulling their own data into a shape you can think with. WhifCal takes that stretch out of your delivery. You upload what they sent, the structure builds, and the first meeting starts where you used to arrive in week three.

Independent consultantManagement consultantFractional CFOFractional COO
Northfield Ltd — Client Decision Map YC
FROM CLIENT CSVClient revenue£4.28M FROM CLIENT CSVDelivery team34 people FROM CLIENT CSVOverheads£1.14M YOUR ASSUMPTIONUtilisation68% CALCULATIONCost to serve£3.36M CALCULATIONCapacity used4,900 hrs OUTCOMEMargin21.4% OUTCOMECash cover7 months
PathImpactCalc trace
Margin · 21.4%
Margin 21.4%
Cost to serve £3.36M
Delivery team 34
Source · payroll_q2.csv
The workflow

Four steps that used to be four weeks.

This is the delivery motion, start to finish. Everything under each step is what it replaces.

01

Client file in

Upload the exports they already have. The document builds from the columns you map, so the client's own numbers are the source from the first minute.

WasTwo weeks of cleaning and re-keying before the thinking could start.
02

Structure standing

The business sits in front of you as it actually is — what connects to what, where each cost lands, which client rests on which person. You read the shape instead of assembling it.

WasA bespoke model built by hand, out of date by the time it was finished.
03

Trace on screen

Click any number and show where it comes from, what it depends on, and what breaks if it moves. Your recommendation is auditable in the room, live, not in an appendix.

Was"We'll come back to you on that." A week of chasing, then a follow-up deck.
04

Try the change first

Duplicate the document, make the move, and watch the whole thing rearrange — the freed headcount, the gap it leaves, the cost of filling it, the dip before the return. Turn it again in front of them if they push back.

WasThree options costed overnight, two of which were never going to fly.
What changes on the engagement

The groundwork leaves. The judgment stays.

The hours a client resents paying for are the ones that never bought them anything. Those are the hours this removes — which is why the work you do keep is easier to defend.

What used to fill the hours

Groundwork

  • Getting their data into a shape anyone can work with.
  • Costing rounds of options, most of which die in the first review.
  • Weekly calls whose only purpose is getting everyone back onto the same picture.
  • Finding out late that an assumption moved, and rebuilding around it.
What the hours buy now

Judgment

  • Reading a structure that is already standing and saying what it means.
  • Bringing one or two directions you have already pressure-tested privately.
  • A shared live picture, so nobody is briefed back to where they were.
  • A changed assumption showing itself the moment it changes.
  • Due diligence on the move, and the handholding to make it real.
In the room

The document is the deliverable.

You are not presenting a snapshot of your thinking. You open the thing itself in front of the client and turn it while they watch.

02 Structure standing

Their business, as it actually is

Units, people, clients and costs sit in one connected picture, each one traceable back to the file it came from. You read the shape of the business instead of spending a fortnight assembling it.

WasA bespoke model built by hand, already out of date by the time it was finished.
Northfield Ltd — structure Y
DECISION MAPNorthfield Ltd3 units · 34 people UNIT · MARGIN 28%Managed services UNIT · MARGIN 19%Projects UNIT · MARGIN −4%Legacy support
03 Trace on screen

Every number answers for itself

Click a figure and show where it sits, what depends on it, and what is driving it. When the CFO asks why legacy support looks worse than their own reporting says, you answer by opening the trace rather than promising to come back.

Was"We'll come back to you on that." A week of chasing, then a follow-up deck.
Legacy support — impact YC
SELECTEDLegacy support−4% margin DEPENDS ON IT2 key clients DEPENDS ON IT6 delivery staff IF REMOVEDMargin +2.6 pt
PathImpactCalc trace
Legacy support · impact
Clients affected 2
People affected 6
Shared overhead £310k
Net effect +2.6 pt
04 Try the change

Show what happens if they do it

Copy the document, make the change, and everything updates — who is freed up, the gap that opens, what it costs to fill, how long before it pays back. Put the two versions side by side and the answer is obvious in the room.

WasThree options costed overnight, two of which were never going to fly.
Northfield Ltd — scenario compare YC
As it stands
Margin 21.4%
Cash cover 7 months
Utilisation 68%
People on hold 6
Close legacy support
Margin 24.0%
Cash cover 5 months
Utilisation 81%
People to redeploy 6
Pays back in 2 quarters
Three ways to answer "where did that come from?"

Nothing you present is unsourced.

Path

Where this sits

Follow a node from the root of the document down to where it lives, so the client can place any figure in their own business.

Impact

What rests on it

Show what would be affected if a node changed or went away — the clients, the people, the costs that move with it.

Calculation trace

What is driving it

Walk a number back through every calculation to the file it came from. The audit is the screen, not an appendix.

What it costs

Priced against one billable day.

One day of your time
$1,500–3,000One billable day, billed once

Roughly what an independent consultant bills for a single day — often less than the data-preparation stretch at the front of one engagement costs you to absorb.

WhifCal Professionals
$299Per seat, annually

Decision Maps, the Scenario Playground, side-by-side comparison, full traceability, and 5,000 nodes per document. Early-adopter price. Full price $599.

If it saves you one day across a whole year, it has paid for itself several times over. It will save you that in the first engagement.

Get started

Bring the next client file in and see how far it gets by lunchtime.

Upload what they sent you, watch the structure stand up, and start the engagement at the part they hired you for.