Where every engagement starts
Assessment
£1,600 to £4,000 net
£1,920 to £4,800 including VAT at 20%
Review of the agreed system, documentation and evidence, with written findings, priorities and a practical route forward.
Evolve · Delta Steward
Inherited software needs evidence before any decision.
When a system matters but its history is unclear, Delta Steward starts with a paid assessment. You get evidence, practical choices and a written route forward before any further work is agreed.
The assessment comes first. Any later change or care is agreed separately.
Evolve · Delta Steward
- starts with
- a paid assessment
- covers
- software you inherited or a supplier built
- leads to
- stabilise, a defined change, or agreed care
- rebuild
- only where the evidence says so
rootdelta.net
Fit check
You do not have to have built it to be responsible for it.
Delta Steward fits software Root Delta did not build: something you inherited through an acquisition or a departing developer, or software a supplier built and now needs care.
- You already run the system, and it needs to keep working. The question is how safely, not whether to start using it.
- Nobody currently maintaining it wrote it, or the documentation is thin, missing or out of date.
- You need evidence before choosing to stabilise it, change it, or bring it into ongoing care.
If you have not taken the system on yet, and are weighing whether to buy, invest in or accept a handover of it, an Independent Software Review supports that decision instead. Once you own it, Delta Steward’s own assessment is still needed to establish what can responsibly be supported or changed, as its own separately priced engagement.
The assessment
What the assessment actually covers.
The assessment reads what the system actually does, not just what its documentation claims, before anything is recommended.
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You bring the system, whatever access and evidence already exist, and what the business depends on it for.
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The assessment separates the urgent from the merely inconvenient, and sets out what is stable, what is fragile and what needs a decision soon. It assumes nothing before the evidence is in, including whether a rebuild is the right answer.
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I lead every Delta Steward assessment personally.
Ways forward
Three ways forward, decided by evidence.
The assessment does not assume where you end up. It gives you enough to choose.
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01
No further commitment
Stabilise
Leave the system as it is, with the risks it carries made explicit and the most urgent ones addressed first.
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02
Quoted separately
Change
Agree a defined change or a small, separately scoped build once the assessment shows exactly what needs fixing.
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03
Written care terms
Ongoing care
Agree a named care route, Watch, Sustain or Advance, if the assessment shows the system needs regular attention.
Price
Every engagement starts with the paid assessment.
Every Delta Steward engagement starts with a paid assessment. Prices below are starting points; the written scope confirms the actual total before you decide.
Delta Steward
Ongoing care after assessment
Ongoing care is available only after assessment and separate agreement. The available care routes and their VAT-inclusive totals are shown below.
Watch
From £450 net per named system, per month
From £540 including VAT at 20% per named system, per month
A light, agreed care route for stable assessed software.
Sustain
From £950 net per named system, per month
From £1,140 including VAT at 20% per named system, per month
More regular planned attention for relied-on assessed software.
Advance
From £1,800 net per named system, per month
From £2,160 including VAT at 20% per named system, per month
A more active forward plan for software changing with the business.
Defined changes and small builds
from £1,600 net
From £1,920 including VAT at 20%
Quoted only after the paid assessment.
Phased modernisation
from £6,000 net
From £7,200 including VAT at 20%
Quoted only after the paid assessment.
Ongoing care and later changes are priced separately, and are agreed where the assessment supports them. If a later route is agreed, its named system, scope and price are set out separately. This is Delta Steward, inherited software assessment and care, for inherited or third-party software. Delta Care, aftercare for eligible Root Delta-built software, is separate software-only aftercare.
Get started
Describe the system you are running.
Say what you are running, who relies on it and what needs attention. We reply within two UK working days with times for a free 15-minute call.
Questions
Questions about Delta Steward.
Is the assessment mandatory?
Yes. Every Delta Steward engagement starts with a paid assessment. It is the basis for deciding whether any further work is appropriate.
Is a commitment to ongoing care required?
No. Ongoing care is optional and agreed separately, only if the assessment supports it. Paying for the assessment does not create a care commitment.
What is the difference between Watch, Sustain and Advance?
Watch is light agreed care for stable assessed software. Sustain provides more regular planned attention. Advance supports a more active forward plan as the software changes. The written care terms set the named system, scope and limits.
Can Root Delta work with a system another supplier built?
Yes. Responsibilities, access and decisions are agreed before the assessment begins, and Root Delta remains accountable for the work in its scope. The assessment is still needed to establish what can responsibly be supported or changed; replacement is not assumed.