01
The vendor writes your requirements
When the specification comes from the integrator, the scoring grid rewards what they already sell. The requirements become a description of their product.
Technology specification for Quebec manufacturers
You do not digitize waste.
Before choosing a system, you need to know what actually constrains production, what your available data can measure, and how much change the organization can absorb. Cogni6 produces the technology specification that makes that decision defensible to your leadership and to your vendors.
Up to $5,000 in funding may be available
toward producing your technology specification. We check your eligibility at the framing step, before any expense is committed.
The number of specifications available this period is limited. First come, first served.
01
The value stream before the system choice.
02
Traceable requirements before you call vendors.
03
Stop criteria before the first dollar is committed.
The wrong system is expensive. The right system aimed at the wrong problem costs more.
A manufacturing project is rarely decided on technology. It is decided on the quality of the diagnosis that preceded it. Three failures recur, and all three are fixed before signing rather than after.
02
The pilot that never ends
Without continue and stop criteria written in advance, a project carries on by inertia. Nobody holds the mandate to call it off.
03
The data discovered too late
Feasibility rests on data nobody verified before signing. The gap surfaces at integration, once the budget is committed.
What you receive
The deliverable is not a document, it is a set. Each piece targets one audience and one decision, and none repeats another.
Executive summary
Executive team, board
Problem, target architecture, roadmap and recommendation, gathered so the decision takes five minutes of reading. Nothing appears there that is not developed in the specification.
The specification
Project committee, vendors
The document that specifies and convinces. It carries the diagnosis, the architecture, requirements by role, the measurement plan and decision governance.
Operational annexes
Project team, integrators
Prioritized requirements matrix, weighted scoring grid, demonstration scripts to put in front of vendors, wave-based rollout plan and risk register.
Return model
Executive team, finance
Editable assumptions, a confidence level shown per assumption, and scenarios. You can argue with it, which is exactly the point.
An ordinary specification describes what to build. This one says why, how to measure it, and what to do when it fails.
Nine elements separate it from a technical spec. They are not appended at the end: they structure the document from the start.
01
Where the project lands, in one page: why now, which objectives, which guiding principles.
02
The current-state diagnosis: flow mapping, named bottlenecks, data you have and data you lack.
03
Strategic guardrails, including the one that refuses to digitize waste instead of removing it.
04
The target architecture and the digital thread that ties the order to the shipment.
05
Requirements by role, with acceptance criteria, written from the point of view of whoever uses them.
06
The measurement plan: indicators with their formula, their baseline and their target.
07
The weighted vendor scoring matrix, with the demonstration scenarios to put in front of them.
08
The roadmap in waves: quick wins, pilot, industrialization.
09
The pre-mortem: the most likely causes of failure in your specific context, never a generic list, and the counter to each.
How it runs
Four steps, from framing to arbitration. Duration depends on scope and the number of sites.
Framing
One meeting to bound the scope, name the stakeholders and check eligibility for financial assistance before any expense is committed.
Diagnosis
On the floor and in the systems. Value streams, bottlenecks, actual digital maturity and the state of the data.
Writing
The specification, its annexes and the return model. One review pass with your team before the final version.
Handover and arbitration
The presentation to your leadership, the hard questions, and the decision. The document is yours, including to hand to vendors.
Your initiative may qualify for government financial assistance.
Some digital assessment, feasibility or technology planning engagements may qualify for federal or provincial financial assistance. Eligibility depends on your organization, project scope, planned expenses, region and the terms in force. We check it at the framing step.
The administering agency alone decides eligibility. Confirm your eligibility and applicable dates before incurring the targeted expenses. Cogni6 does not guarantee eligibility or funding.
Want to go further with AI?
A specification frames one project. If you would rather survey your AI opportunities with your leadership team, Cogni6 runs half-day and full-day strategy sessions.
A free 20-minute meeting.
We look at your situation together, what is constraining you, and whether your project qualifies for the funding. You leave with a clear answer, whether or not you continue with us.
No commitment. If your need does not warrant a specification, we will say so.