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# How consultancies set up a new engagement
- URL: https://blog.jestor.com/consultancies-set-up-a-new-engagement/
- Published: 2026-09-16T18:54:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-16T18:54:53.000Z
- Author: Bruno Bannach

To **set up a consulting engagement** well, the proposal has to become a structure rather than a document that gets filed. In **Jestor**, an accepted proposal can generate the engagement record with its scope, deliverables and dates carried across, so delivery starts from what was actually sold.

## Why scope disputes start at kickoff

The proposal describes the work in prose, agreed by people who understood the context. Delivery is executed by people who were not in those conversations, reading the same prose differently.

Nobody is acting in bad faith, and yet within weeks the client expects something the team did not plan to do.

What structured setup prevents:

- Deliverables interpreted differently by each side
- Assumptions in the proposal forgotten at delivery
- No baseline against which to assess a change request
- The engagement starting before responsibilities are clear
- Reconstructing what was promised from an old document

## What the engagement record should carry

| Element                   | Why it must be structured                |
| ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Deliverables              | Each with a date and acceptance criteria |
| Explicit exclusions       | What was deliberately not included       |
| Assumptions               | What the estimate depended on            |
| Client responsibilities   | What they must provide, and when         |
| Contracted hours or value | The commercial ceiling                   |
| Change process            | Agreed before it is needed               |

## Step by step to structure it

1. **Generate the engagement** from the accepted proposal, carrying its data.
2. **Break deliverables into connected records**, each with a date.
3. **Record exclusions as explicitly as inclusions**.
4. **List client responsibilities** with their own dates, since delays often originate there.
5. **Agree the change process** at kickoff, when nobody is under pressure.
6. **Track hours against the commercial ceiling**.
7. **Review scope monthly**, using the record rather than the proposal.

## Why exclusions deserve more care than deliverables

Clients rarely dispute what was delivered. They dispute what they assumed was included. Writing exclusions with the same specificity as deliverables is uncomfortable during a sale and is the single thing that prevents most scope disputes.

## Why choose Jestor

In **Jestor**, an accepted proposal can generate the engagement through automation, deliverables and client responsibilities become connected records with their own dates, hours accumulate against the contracted ceiling with the balance visible, and change requests can run through the same approval logic used elsewhere.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What causes most scope disputes?

Assumptions about what was included, rather than disagreement about what was delivered. See [jestor.com](https://www.jestor.com/?ref=blog.jestor.com).

### When should the change process be agreed?

At kickoff, before anyone needs it.

### Should client responsibilities have dates?

Yes. Client delays are a common cause of engagement overruns.

## Video Tutorial: Step by Step

With **Jestor**, you can automate workflows, connect teams, and build internal systems your way, all without code and powered by **AI**. Discover Jestor at [jestor.com](https://www.jestor.com/?ref=blog.jestor.com) and see how to take your company's operations to a new level of efficiency and control.