Connected tools / GUIDE + WORKSHEET
Map your business tools before adding another
Inventory software by the work it owns, the data it holds, and the manual handoffs between tools.
THE STARTING POINT
List tools alongside their business purpose, accountable owner, key data, and incoming and outgoing handoffs. Look for unclear ownership and repeated manual transfers before choosing another application. A tool inventory is useful when it explains how work moves, not just what subscriptions exist.
Follow one piece of work end to end
Trace a new enquiry through qualification, delivery, invoicing, and follow-up. Include spreadsheets, shared inboxes, personal reminders, and documents that act like unofficial systems. Ask staff what they open when the official process fails. These workarounds often reveal a missing handoff or a decision that nobody has assigned to a system.
Record owners and boundaries
For each tool, identify who approves access, maintains configuration, pays for it, and knows how to recover its data. Record which information it owns and which information is copied from elsewhere. Two applications with similar features may serve different workflows; duplication of features alone is not enough reason to remove one.
Choose a specific simplification
Prioritize a repeated transfer, conflicting record, or abandoned queue that causes observable work. Decide whether it needs a better process, an existing feature, an integration, or a replacement. Before retiring a tool, account for exports, attachments, retention needs, automations, and user access. Keep an inventory owner so the map survives the next purchase.
WORKED EXAMPLE / ILLUSTRATIVE
A fictional proposal handoff
A firm discovers that its proposal tool already stores the accepted scope, but delivery starts from a manually retyped summary. The first improvement is a clear acceptance-to-project handoff, not another project application.
| Tool | Owned information | Handoff gap |
|---|---|---|
| CRM | Opportunity and owner | No delivery owner assigned |
| Proposal tool | Accepted scope | Scope retyped into project |
| Project board | Delivery tasks | Acceptance evidence missing |
MAKE IT USEFUL
Tool and handoff inventory
Use one entry per tool, including unofficial spreadsheets.
Your notes stay in this page and are not sent to Smithers. Download or copy them before leaving; refreshing clears them.
Before you put it to work
- Include unofficial systems.
- Trace the actual work.
- Check dependencies before retirement.
- Assign someone to maintain the map.
Subscription reduction is not always the right goal. Removing a useful tool can increase manual work or weaken accountability.
IF THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR
Your tools. Your particular mess.
The worksheet is yours to use. If the difficult part is making it work with the systems you already have, that's the kind of thing we help with.