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# Meeting 005: Final Recommendations Preview **Date:** November 21, 2025 **Location:** ClearPath Solutions Inc., Florence office, Executive Board Room **Attendees:** Marcus Webb (Lead, Meridian Labs), Nora Chen (Co-lead, Meridian Labs), Thomas Reed (CEO, ClearPath), Priya Anand (Head of Operations, ClearPath), David Park (CTO, ClearPath) **Duration:** 75 minutes (10:00–11:15) --- [10:02] Marcus: Thank you all for making the time this morning. We've completed our comprehensive analysis, and we're here to preview the recommendations that will be in the full report going to the board. This is not the final presentation—that happens on November 20th with the full board—but I wanted to walk you through the key findings and recommendations first so there are no surprises. [10:04] Thomas: I appreciate that. Walk me through it. [10:05] Marcus: I'll start with the executive summary, and then Nora will walk through the specifics. The short version is: ClearPath has solid fundamentals, but you're operating inefficiently in a few critical areas. The good news is that these inefficiencies are largely addressable through process redesign and modest organizational changes. You don't need a massive transformation. You need targeted, strategic changes. [10:07] Thomas: Okay, that's what I want to hear. [10:08] Nora: Right. Let's go through the metrics. Current onboarding time is six to six-and-a-half weeks. Our target recommendation is four weeks total for new consultants to be fully autonomous and billing-ready. That's faster than the board's stated three-week target, but three weeks assumes significant curriculum standardization and a dedicated onboarding coordinator role. Four weeks is achievable with the existing team plus standardized curriculum. [10:10] David: Four weeks is still a big improvement. [10:11] Marcus: It is. That frees up capacity. Right now, Priya, you're dedicating roughly forty percent of Marco and Riccardo's time to onboarding and supervision. At four weeks, that drops to about twenty percent. [10:13] Priya: That's real capacity back on the table. [10:14] Nora: The second metric is audit queue. Current state is five to eight days. Our recommendation is two to three days maximum. Here's the key to that: we're recommending the restructured review process that we discussed in the workshop. Two-pass audit with peer preliminary review and senior spot-check supervision instead of serial full review. [10:16] David: That requires training people on the new process. How long? [10:17] Nora: Two to three weeks rollout. You'd start with one team as a pilot, validate the process, then scale. The assumption is that people understand the rationale and buy in. If there's resistance, it'll take longer. [10:19] Thomas: There won't be resistance. I'll make clear this is a priority. [10:20] Priya: *slight smile* That usually helps. [10:22] Nora: Okay. The third metric is new system provisioning. Current state is three to seven days depending on bottleneck. Target is one to two days. This requires three things: (1) automated notification to IT when someone is hired, (2) a defined security review SLA—and David, we recommend twenty-four hours for standard access—and (3) a small system change on your access management platform to flag what needs security review upfront versus what doesn't. [10:25] David: One to two days is aggressive. The security review is— [10:26] Nora: The twenty-four-hour SLA is the ask. That means if you get the ticket at 9 AM on Monday, the approval is done by 9 AM Tuesday. It's tight, but not impossible. [10:28] David: *long pause* I can probably commit to that. It depends on the volume. If we're onboarding five people at once, it's harder. [10:30] Priya: Onboarding volume is usually one to two people per month. There are exceptions, but it's not a constant stream. [10:31] David: Okay, then the SLA is feasible. [10:33] Marcus: Great. Now, the bigger piece. We're also recommending a dedicated operations excellence coordinator role—someone whose job is to manage the onboarding curriculum, coordinate with IT, and drive continuous process improvement. This is not a new hire necessarily. It could be a restructure of an existing role. But it's someone who owns this end-to-end. [10:35] Thomas: Who would that be? [10:36] Priya: I'd suggest either Marco or Riccardo. Probably Riccardo—he's already running the most structured process, and he's good at thinking systemically. [10:38] David: That makes sense. [10:39] Marcus: Okay. So, recommendations summary so far: restructured audit review process, standardized onboarding curriculum with dedicated coordinator, automated IT provisioning with defined SLAs, and one system improvement on the access management side. [10:41] Thomas: What's the cost? [10:42] Nora: In terms of monetary cost, minimal. The system improvement on IT is maybe five to ten thousand euros for a contractor to make the change. The curriculum development is internal time, maybe two weeks of effort across three people. The real cost is the transition—there will be a dip in productivity while people learn the new process, probably for two to three weeks. But after that, you gain capacity. [10:44] David: And the ongoing cost of the coordinator role? [10:45] Marcus: Depends on how you structure it. If Riccardo takes it on as part of his existing responsibilities, zero incremental cost. If you hire a dedicated person, salary plus benefits, probably fifty to sixty thousand euros annually. Our recommendation is to try the first approach first and evaluate after six months. [10:47] Thomas: I can work with that. What about the phased implementation? How do we prioritize between the quick wins and longer-term improvements? [10:48] Nora: That's a critical question. The current system is a drag on productivity. It's not a show-stopper, but it's inefficient. There are two approaches: replace it or retire it. If you retire it—meaning you move the data out and use a simpler tool or spreadsheet-based system—you can do that in a month or two with modest IT effort. If you replace it with a modern system, that's three to four months and maybe fifty to eighty thousand euros. [10:50] David: Neither of those is cheap or fast. [10:51] Nora: No. Which is why we recommend phasing it. In the next three months, focus on the quick wins: audit process, onboarding, IT provisioning. That buys you capacity. Then, in Q2, take on the database. You'll have better bandwidth and a clearer sense of what system you actually want. [10:53] Thomas: That's reasonable. Okay, let me ask a tough question. You mentioned the turnover among junior consultants is about eighteen percent annually. Is that something we should be addressing? [10:55] *note: This eighteen percent figure was never actually verified. Priya was supposed to pull turnover data in meeting-002, but never did. Nora is presenting this as confirmed data.* [10:56] Priya: *pauses slightly* Yuki was gathering that data, right? I don't think it was officially finalized. [10:57] Nora: We estimated it based on hiring frequency and the conversation we had with your team leads. About eighteen percent annual turnover among junior consultants, which is higher than industry average for this sector. But it's not catastrophic, and it's hard to address unless you know the root cause. Are they leaving for money? For advancement? For work-life balance? That data would help you target retention initiatives. [10:59] Thomas: So you're saying we don't have enough information? [11:00] Marcus: We're saying that retention is worth investigating, but it's separate from the process efficiency work. If you want to understand why people are leaving, that's a separate engagement or internal project. For the scope of this work, we're flagging it as a thing to pay attention to. [11:02] David: I suspect it's advancement. People come here to learn, and then they go to bigger firms with more structure and specialization. [11:04] Priya: That's probably right. We're sort of a stepping stone. [11:05] Thomas: That's not ideal, but it's better than if everyone hated working here. Alright, I'm satisfied with the direction. What about implementation? How fast can we move? [11:07] Marcus: The audit review process redesign can start immediately. We'll provide a detailed process document by early December. Onboarding curriculum can start in parallel. IT provisioning changes depend on David's bandwidth, but assuming that's available, you could have new SLAs in place by mid-December. [11:09] David: I can allocate time. [11:10] Marcus: Great. So realistically, by end of Q4, you should have the three quick wins operational. The database decision and any further changes would be Phase Two. [11:12] Priya: This is good. And do you provide implementation support? [11:13] Marcus: We do, but that's a separate engagement. We can structure a light-touch three-month support phase where we check in every two weeks, help troubleshoot issues, and make sure the changes are sticking. Or you can take the report and run with it yourself. [11:15] Thomas: Let's talk about that separately. For now, send me the written report. I want to present it to the board. When will that be ready? [11:16] Nora: December 2nd. We'll have it to you that Friday. [11:17] Thomas: Perfect. And the live board presentation is still November 20th? [11:18] Marcus: Yes, November 20th at whatever time works for your board. We'll adjust. [11:19] Thomas: Great. I think this is solid work. Thank you both. And Nora, excellent deep-dive on the metrics. [11:20] Nora: Thank you. [11:21] David: One last thing—the report will have the recommended IT system changes spelled out? Because I need to know exactly what you're asking for so I can plan the work. [11:22] Marcus: Yes. Full technical specification in the appendix. We'll walk you through it separately if you want, but the written document will have everything. [11:23] David: Good. [11:24] Priya: This has been really professional. You've listened, you've adapted based on what we told you, and you're making recommendations that feel grounded in reality, not some outside consultant playbook. [11:25] Marcus: That's the goal. You know your business. We know how to structure that knowledge into actionable recommendations. It only works if we're truly aligned. [11:26] Thomas: Alright. Priya, let's schedule the post-engagement debrief for early December. Marcus and I can circle up on next steps. [11:27] Priya: I'll calendar it. [11:28] Marcus: Sounds good. Thank you all. We'll have the full report to you Friday, and we're excited to see you implement this. [11:29] *meeting adjourns; some informal conversation about timing and logistics continues*

Meeting 005 — final recommendations preview

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