Discovery Recap · Spring 2026

Discovery recap.

What we heard, how the work flows, and the approach we're scoping. Mark up anything that's off.

Prepared for
Clark Fork Group
Prepared by
H2
Date
April 29, 2026
Discovery Recap · Clark Fork Group 01 · What We Heard
In your own words

The work that's pulling you in.

"I figured out where our pinch points were. Where am I involved in this process where it's a simple answer that, if I plugged it in at the start, they wouldn't be asking me? I want to create a 'leave us alone' platform — turn it over to the project managers and let them work."

The Money Lives in Too Many Places

"We're dependent on Google Drive and a lot of cooks in the kitchen tracking how much funds are available."

Project budgets, funder contributions, vendor lists, and remaining-spend numbers live in different files, owned by different people, with no single place to see the whole picture.

Invoices Should Draw Against the Top Line

"I want them to plug in invoices and draw against that top line number. Sometimes we have $100K to start, but then we get another $100K."

When an invoice comes in, the budget should update automatically. Today, that math happens by hand — or doesn't happen until someone asks.

"What Did I Pay For?" Is Hard to Answer

"Funders call me and say, 'what did I pay for?' I don't have a good answer. I have to wait."

Funder questions deserve instant answers. Right now they wait, and you scramble.

Invoices Tie Back to Communications

"We paid invoice 1017, digital advertising supporting Tommy Johnson. I want to tie those invoices back to the communications produced."

Every dollar spent supports a piece of public communication. The system should remember which invoice paid for which piece.

Legal Review and Compliance Reporting Are Separate

"Every project has legal requirements. Not every project has compliance. We want to toggle on or off whether we have compliance or just legal."

Legal is lawyers reviewing communications before they go out — every project has it. Compliance is reporting expenditures to a regulator (FEC, state ethics, secretary of state, IRS) — only some projects need it. Two workflows on the same project, with compliance as a per-project toggle.

Permissions, Including Opposite Sides of a Race

"Sometimes we're on two sides of the same race. Tom and I are the only ones who can update permissions."

Project managers see only their own work. Only the principals grant access. Strict separation when the work demands it.

The bigger picture: "We're too key to the business. We need a process that, if we decide to hand it off, we can say: this is how it's handled." The system isn't just operational — it's the foundation of a firm with transferable value.

H2 · Discovery Recap · Clark Fork Group Page 02
Discovery Recap · Clark Fork Group 02 · The Workflow We Mapped
Start of project to close

How a project moves through the firm.

How the work flows, start to close. Anything misordered or missing, flag it.

Phase
01

Project Acquisition & Setup

A candidate or issue project comes in. Joel or Tom owns it, assigns one or two PMs, and the foundational data gets entered.

Project acquired Assign 1-2 PMs Set total budget cap Add funder contributions Tag for / against candidate or issue
Phase
02

Vendor Identification

Identify the vendor (or vendors) who'll execute the work. Capture contact info and engagement scope for each.

Select vendor(s) Confirm scope & contacts Designate legal counsel
Phase
03

Compliance Configuration

Determine what regulatory rules apply. Legal review is always required. Regulatory compliance toggles on per project depending on the engagement type.

Legal review required (always) Regulatory compliance toggle: on / off If on: identify reporting authority (FEC, state ethics, SOS, IRS) If on: configure reporting cadence
Gate
✓

Compliance Gate Clears

Vendor work cannot begin until compliance setup is complete. Hard gate. Once cleared, the project moves to active production.

All required compliance items confirmed Project status flips to In Production
Phase
04

Active Production (loop)

Vendor executes the work. Communications get produced, reviewed by legal, and shipped. Invoices flow in throughout.

Vendor produces communications Communications submitted for legal review Approved → Sent / Distributed Each communication tagged to its funding invoice(s)
Phase
05

Invoice Subroutine (per invoice)

When a vendor invoices for work on this project, the invoice flows through three states. Budget deduction happens automatically on payment.

Vendor invoices → flag "Invoice Received" PM verifies, attaches PDF, captures metadata Invoice paid → flag "Invoice Paid" Auto-deduct from remaining budget Audit log entry created If reportable: deadline calculated & surfaced
Phase
06

Project Close

Final reporting filed (if applicable), all invoices reconciled, project archived without deletion. Records remain queryable for funder questions and audits.

Final compliance reports filed All invoices reconciled Project archived (records preserved)
H2 · Discovery Recap · Clark Fork Group Page 03
Discovery Recap · Clark Fork Group 03 · The Path We're Scoping
How we'd build this

License a platform. Layer intelligence on top.

Two paths to get there. We're going with the second one.

Path 1

Custom-built from scratch

Design and write the whole system. Database, interface, workflows, integrations, the works.

  • Perfectly tailored to the firm
  • Significantly higher cost
  • Longer timeline before anything is usable
  • Ongoing maintenance burden — every change is dev work
  • Higher risk of stalled rollout or scope creep
Path 2 — Recommended

Licensed platform + intelligence layer

Pick a proven project management platform. Add a focused automation layer on top to handle the firm-specific work.

  • Platform handles ~80% of the requirements out of the box
  • Intelligence layer handles the firm-specific logic
  • Faster to launch (an estimated ~60 days)
  • Lower upfront cost; lower ongoing maintenance
  • Easy to evolve as the firm grows

What the intelligence layer does

The platform gives you the data structure, the user interface, the basic workflows, and the file handling. The intelligence layer is what makes the system specifically yours — handling the work the platform doesn't know how to do natively.

01

Budget math & drawdown

Every paid invoice deducts from the project's remaining budget automatically. Always accurate, always live.

02

Audit trail & record integrity

Every change to a financial record is captured in an external append-only log. Defensible under audit or subpoena.

03

Reporting deadline calculator

When an invoice flags reportable, the system calculates the deadline based on the regulator's rules and surfaces it.

04

Daily principal digest

Each morning, Joel and Tom get a one-glance summary of what changed yesterday across every visible project.

05

Funder Q&A view

"What did I pay for?" answered in seconds. Filterable by funder, project, and date range.

06

Backup & subpoena export

Daily encrypted backup of every record and PDF. On-demand bundle of any project's full history for legal or audit response.

What's next

Push back where we got it wrong.

Once the problems and workflow above land, we move into platform recommendation and implementation scope. No platform commitment yet — that's the next document.

H2 · Discovery Recap · Clark Fork Group Page 04