Where business questions become understanding.
Research starts when we refuse to assume.
Some business problems need investigation before the right system, automation, information model, reliability response or technology strategy can be chosen.
Businesses are full of things that appear obvious.
But knowing that something happened is not the same as understanding how or why it happened, what it depends on, or what must happen next.
Research is the work of finding out what is actually true.
At Ithoka, research begins with the work itself.
We observe what actually happens, ask questions about it, examine the evidence, and determine what the business must establish, represent, control or change.
Understand the work before changing it.
Research gives each investigation a place.
Ithoka separates the world being studied from the investigation, the specific reality being investigated, and what that investigation establishes.
An Industry provides the business context. A Research body organises the investigation. A Research Unit gives the investigation a concrete subject. Evidence supports what we learn, and an Invariant expresses what the investigation establishes must remain true.
A world of business activity we have chosen to understand.
The body of investigation we conduct within that world.
One concrete piece of business reality being investigated.
A research object used when the work requires experimental investigation.
We study the work one meaningful piece at a time.
A business contains thousands of events, decisions, responsibilities and records. Ithoka selects a specific piece of business reality that can be observed, investigated and followed through its consequences. We call this a Research Unit.
A supplier delivers goods to a retailer.
- What has entered the business?
- Who is responsible for receiving it?
- What does the business need to record?
- What state does the stock now have?
- What happens if the goods and records disagree?
The research follows a business state from its established condition to the accountable result.
Research unitThe research follows a business state from its established condition to the accountable result.A Research Unit gives Ithoka a concrete piece of reality to investigate. From that investigation, we can gather evidence, establish what remains true, and examine how that reality is represented or controlled in systems.
A Research Unit is an atomic piece of enterprise reality that can be independently observed, researched, modelled and demonstrated.
We don't start by looking for a solution.
What is actually happening?
What do we need to understand?
What evidence do we have?
What does the evidence tell us?
What must remain true?
What could meaningfully improve what we found?
A problem is something we may discover. It is not something we assume.
What are we trying to establish?
When we investigate a Research Unit, we want to distinguish what belongs to the current way of doing the work from what the work itself requires.
People, software, workflows, tools and implementation can change.
The underlying business reality that still has to be satisfied.
The technology can change. The business requirement may not.
We call what the investigation establishes must remain true an invariant.
We need evidence, not just explanations.
What we believe about a business must remain connected to something we can observe, examine or test.
What happens in the real working environment.
What the people performing the work actually do.
Records and source material produced by the business.
What existing systems show happened.
What happens when something is tested.
What happens when reality does not behave as expected.
Evidence does not exist to prove that Ithoka is right. It exists to help us find out whether we are right.
What are we investigating?
Ithoka's research is organised by industry. Within each industry, a Research body brings related investigations together. Research Units investigate concrete pieces of business reality. Research Experiments investigate questions through experimentation. Both can produce evidence, findings and connections to technologies, systems and insights.
FMCG & Retail Research
Ithoka's FMCG research examines how businesses establish, manage and control the work involved in moving goods from supply to sale.
Enterprise Establishment
How does a business establish how it operates?
A business must establish itself before its operations can be controlled as one business.
Branch Establishment
Where do an enterprise's operations occur?
An enterprise must establish the locations in which its operations occur.
Workforce Establishment
Who is authorized to perform operational work?
An enterprise must establish who is authorized to perform its operational work and in what capacity.
Terminal Establishment
What infrastructure enables controlled work?
An enterprise must establish the operational infrastructure through which authorized people conduct controlled work.
Shift Control
How does an enterprise control an operating session?
An enterprise must control the state of its operating sessions from activation through closure and exception resolution.
Existing Product Recognition
How does an existing product become recognized by a new operating environment?
An enterprise must establish the identity of an existing product within its operating environment before that product can participate in controlled inventory operations.
Initial Stock Recognition
How does an enterprise establish the inventory state that already exists when controlled operations begin?
Investigating
Import Establishment
What must an enterprise establish when goods enter through an external import supply chain?
Investigating
Purchase
What must an enterprise establish when it acquires goods from a supplier?
Investigating
Manufacturing
What must an enterprise establish when it uses materials it already holds to make new goods?
Investigating
Repackaging
What must an enterprise establish when goods held in bulk are repackaged into another operational form?
Investigating
Branch Stock Transfer
What must change when inventory moves between operating locations?
Investigating
Retail Sale
What must an enterprise establish when a customer acquires goods?
Investigating
Identified Customer Transaction
When does a specific customer become part of a transaction's operational context?
Investigating
Customer Credit and Outstanding Obligation
What must remain represented when a customer receives value before fully settling a transaction?
Investigating
Business-to-Business Transaction
What changes when another business acts as the commercial counterparty?
Investigating
Counterparty Relationship Management
How does a business maintain usable history and context around continuing commercial relationships?
Investigating
Reverse Transaction Representation
How can an enterprise formally represent a transaction when conventional supplier documentation is unavailable?
Investigating
Transaction Reversal
What must an enterprise represent when a previously recorded commercial event is unwound?
Investigating
Enterprise State Review
How does an enterprise establish what has happened across its operating environment?
Investigating
Business-Day Closure
What must an enterprise establish before an operating period is considered closed?
Investigating
Manufacturing Research
A developing body of investigation into production, quality, inventory and operational decisions.
No Research Units published yet.
Finance & Accounting Research
Research into how financial information becomes reliable, auditable accounting records for businesses.
Security & Compliance Research
Research into controlled authority, verifiable records and compliance in business systems.
No Research Units published yet.
Agriculture Research
Research into field conditions, crop intelligence and locally useful agricultural systems.
No Research Units published yet.
Health Information & Referral Research
Research into deterministic health information, action and referral through accessible channels.
Where does this research lead?
A research finding rarely stands alone. A Research Unit belongs to a Research body within an Industry. Its evidence and findings may connect to technologies, systems and insights. Other relationships emerge as the work develops.
Find → Build → Test → Learn
Research does not have to stop when we understand something. When a finding gives us enough confidence to build, the resulting system becomes another way to learn.
Understand reality.
Make a response.
Put the response into real work.
Use what happens to refine our understanding.
What we learn can lead to another question, another Research Unit, a changed system or a new investigation.
What does this research give a business?
Research is useful when better understanding changes what a business can see, decide or control.
Understand what is actually happening inside operations.
Challenge assumptions about how work should be done.
Identify what must be established, recorded or controlled.
Choose technology based on actual requirements.
Use evidence from real operation to improve what comes next.
You don't have to know the solution before coming to Ithoka.
Bring us the situation, process, recurring difficulty or question. We start by understanding what is actually happening.
Have something in your business that doesn't make sense yet?
You don't need to arrive with a solution. Bring us the situation, process, recurring problem or question. We'll start by understanding what is actually happening.