Code of Conduct

This is what we hold ourselves to, and what you can hold us to. It is written as commitments rather than values, because a commitment can be checked.

Honesty about capability

We tell you when something is outside our competence, and we say so before taking the work rather than during it. We do not present a guess as a finding. When we are uncertain we say how uncertain, and what would resolve it.

Honesty about cost

We recommend the cheaper option when it is the better one, including when it earns us less, and including when the answer is that you do not need the thing you asked for. We do not create dependence on us as a commercial strategy: documentation is written as we go and handed over, and credentials live in your accounts.

Care with access

Access to a client’s systems is a serious privilege. We take the least access that does the job, we use individually attributable accounts so any action can be traced to a person, and we do not look at data we have no reason to look at. When an engagement ends, our access ends with it.

Care with change

Changes happen in agreed windows, with a rollback prepared, and we test the thing that was supposed to improve. Untested is the same as broken.

Owning mistakes

When we break something, we say so promptly, in plain language, without waiting to be asked. We explain what happened, what we did about it, and what stops it happening again. We do not quietly absorb an incident and hope it goes unnoticed.

Respect

We work with your people, including the ones who set up the thing we are now replacing. We do not belittle previous work or previous suppliers; there is usually a reason a system looks the way it does. We expect the same courtesy in return, and we will end an engagement over sustained abuse of our staff.

Independence

Where we receive a commission, margin, or partner benefit from a vendor we recommend, we tell you. If we cannot recommend something impartially, we say so and you can get a second opinion.

Holding us to this

If we fall short of anything above, tell us: contact [at] data-solutions.global. It reaches the people doing the work, not a complaints queue. We would rather hear it from you than not hear it at all.