The short answer
Start with one workflow, the people responsible for it, the systems it touches and the evidence that would show an improvement. Bring examples of the current process and its exceptions. You do not need a complete technical specification to begin a discovery conversation.
Manufacturing: follow one production or maintenance task
Choose a bounded task such as recording a stoppage, completing an inspection or handing a maintenance issue to the next shift. Identify who records the information, who uses it and where it currently lives.
Bring equipment and interface information that you are permitted to share. Explain connectivity restrictions, manual checks and what operators do when data is missing. Agree how any proposed connection would be tested without disrupting production.
Healthcare operations: define people, permissions and hand-offs
Start with an administrative or operational workflow and its responsible owner. Describe the roles that need access, the existing systems and the points at which staff must review or approve a change.
Use synthetic or appropriately de-identified examples for early discussions. Identify the organisation’s data-governance and security reviewers before considering access to production records. A general project enquiry is not a place to submit patient information.
Digital government: map the service and its exceptions
Describe what a person is trying to complete, which teams handle the request and what happens when an application is incomplete. Include assisted and offline channels where they exist.
Bring the applicable service requirements, approval responsibilities and accessibility expectations. Separate a proposed improvement from commitments that require policy, procurement or security approval.
Smart cities: connect a signal to an accountable action
Name the operational decision a sensor, dashboard or alert should support. Identify the team responsible for responding, the service area and the existing information sources.
List power, network, maintenance and equipment-access constraints. Define what happens when a signal is delayed or unavailable, and how the team will distinguish an actionable event from a false alarm.
Retail and F&B: follow an order across systems
Map one journey from order or booking to fulfilment, payment reconciliation and reporting. Include cancellations, refunds, substitutions and other exceptions that create manual work.
Identify the current POS, inventory and accounting systems, their owners and available integration options. Describe peak periods and any requirement to keep operating during a network interruption.
Immersive experiences: define the interaction and the venue
Describe the audience, what they should be able to do and how staff will operate the experience. Identify the devices, physical space, content sources and accessibility needs.
Plan for setup, calibration, supervision and recovery when equipment or connectivity fails. Separate a visual concept demonstration from the acceptance criteria for an installation that will run in the venue.
Bring evidence, then agree a first step
Across all six industries, a useful starting pack includes a workflow sketch, representative non-sensitive examples, a list of system owners, known constraints and a named decision-maker.
Choose a small set of observable outcomes, such as successful task completion, fewer manual hand-offs or a clearer exception queue. Agree the baseline and evaluation method before presenting a target as a promised result. VIGOR can use this context to discuss discovery, a bounded pilot, implementation or ongoing support.
Your planning checklist
- One workflow and its users
- Existing systems and their owners
- Representative non-sensitive examples
- Exceptions and operating constraints
- Outcome measures and a baseline
- A decision-maker and review process