How you scope. How you get sign-off. How you handle their data. What you delivered last time. Shardwell runs every engagement through the Agree–Deliver–Close lifecycle, so the evidence assembles itself as you work. When a client, a procurement form or a tender asks you to prove it, you send a link instead of losing a weekend.
3-day free trial. No credit card required.
01
Lead
Log a new opportunity and track its source.
02
Discovery
Run a structured discovery session and capture notes.
03
Proposal
Write and share a branded proposal via a secure link.
04
Engagement
Agree scope, deliver work, close with a full evidence trail.
The standards most consultants have never heard of
ISO 20700
Management consulting practice
The international standard for how consulting engagements are agreed, delivered, and closed. Most consultants have never heard of it. Those who operate to it win better clients, command higher fees, and have documented protection when disputes arise.
ISO/IEC 42001
AI management
Your client asks: “Did you use AI on this project? What tools? What did you do with our data?” Most consultants have no written policy and no answer they'd put in writing. ISO/IEC 42001 is the framework. Shardwell gives you the documented stance to go with it.
Shardwell is the only practice management tool we have found that is built around both.
One platform, three jobs done
Most consultants run these across several disconnected tools. Shardwell consolidates all three — so nothing falls through the gaps.
Without Shardwell
Scope documents in Word. Evidence in email threads. ISO compliance done manually with a PDF checklist — or ignored entirely. AI governance policy? A blank page. No structured record of what was agreed, changed, or delivered.
With Shardwell
Without Shardwell
Client contacts in a CRM. Invoices in QuickBooks or Wave. The client emails for updates. Each tool holds a piece of the picture — none of them talk to each other.
With Shardwell
Without Shardwell
Leads tracked in a spreadsheet. Proposals drafted in Word and emailed as PDFs. A LinkedIn profile that says you're ISO 20700 trained — but nothing a client can actually verify.
With Shardwell
Replace your proposal tool, CRM, evidence folder, and compliance checklist — all for less than one hour of your day rate.
Every engagement follows the Agree–Deliver–Close structure. As you work through each phase, your ISO 20700 compliance evidence builds automatically — nothing separate to fill in.
At closure, your full ISO 20700 Self-Declaration compiles from the evidence you've already created. No document assembly. No retrospective file hunting. One export.
Send clients a secure, branded proposal link — with a PDF they can save. No login required on their side.
A shareable ISO Practice Statement showing your engagement portfolio, AI governance stance, and compliance record — anonymised for confidentiality. Paste the link into an RFP or procurement form.
Client check-ins, scope change logs with budget and timeline impact — scope creep documented in writing, not absorbed silently. Every decision feeds the evidence trail.
Your brand colour, value proposition, bio, and methodology — referenced automatically in proposals and close-out reports.
Keep client records and track invoices without leaving the app. Everything linked to the right engagement.
GDPR, professional indemnity, and regulatory checklists — plus ISO 42001-aligned AI governance. Record what tools you use, what you disclose to clients, and how you protect their data. Clients are starting to ask. Be ready.
Why not Bonsai, HoneyBook, or Scoro?
What generic tools do well
Bonsai, HoneyBook, and Scoro send invoices, track projects, and generate contracts. They are well-built tools for running a freelance practice. They are not built around the specific requirements of management consulting standards.
What they cannot do
Answer the questions that decide whether you get shortlisted:“Describe your delivery methodology. How is scope agreed and signed off? What is your AI governance policy? Can you evidence it?” They store your documents. They do not produce the evidence, and evidence is what the answer needs.
Shardwell is not a better project management tool. It is compliance infrastructure designed specifically for independent management consultants — so that evidence of rigour builds itself as a byproduct of normal work, and the tools to share that evidence are already built in.
Who it’s for
Whether you are building your first practice or running an established one, the problems are different. The need for rigour is not.
The four situations below are illustrative examples of the problems Shardwell is built for — not customer stories or testimonials.
Going independent after a corporate career
You have a decade of expertise. What you don't have is a way to present it with the rigour that justifies your day rate.
The first branded proposal and formal close-out report you send are the point at which the practice stops looking improvised. Clients read professionalism into the artefacts long before they are able to judge the work itself.
Knowing how to consult and looking like a consultant are two different problems. Shardwell is aimed at the second.
A few years in, after the first scope dispute
A client pushes back on scope. The work was done — but there is no written agreement, no documented sign-off, nothing to point to.
Every engagement opens with a signed Agree phase, and every decision, milestone and scope change lands in an append-only evidence trail. The next time scope is questioned, there is a record of what was agreed and when.
The evidence trail is not something you think about day to day. It matters on the one occasion you need it.
An established practice selling to enterprise clients
At senior day rates, clients expect rigour — but every consultant claims to take their work seriously. The difference has to be shown rather than asserted.
Operating demonstrably to ISO 20700 means a close-out report at the end of every engagement and a compliance record you can hand over instead of describe.
It is not only time saved. A branded ISO 20700 compliance document at handover is a differentiator, because almost no independent consultant has an equivalent.
Using AI on most engagements
A procurement form asks you to describe your AI governance policy. You use AI daily and have no policy — just a sense that you are careful about it.
The AI governance wizard captures which tools you use, how you disclose them, and how client data is handled, then generates a governance statement link you can paste straight into the form.
Once a procurement team asks formally, being sensible about it stops being an answer.
All plans include a 3-day free trial. No credit card required to start.
Essentials
Up to 3 active engagements
Most popular
Professional
Up to 10 active engagements
Advanced
Unlimited engagements
Your data, your practice
You handle confidential client engagements. Here is how Shardwell handles your data.
Who owns my data?
You do — 100%. Shardwell is a structured environment, not a data owner. Your engagement records, frameworks, and client information remain yours, always.
Can anyone else see my work?
No. Engagements and documents are private by default. Data is isolated at the row level — no other user can access your records.
Where is my data stored?
In the EU (Frankfurt, Germany). Shardwell is GDPR-compliant and you sign a Data Processing Agreement on signup.
Is my data used to train AI?
Never. Your client data is not used to train shared AI models or improve outputs for other users. You accepted a DPA that makes this explicit.
Can I export and leave?
Yes, at any time. Email privacy@shardwell.io and we will export your data and delete your account — no lock-in, no self-serve delay.
Does compliance add overhead?
No — that is the point. Compliance evidence is generated automatically as you work through each engagement. Nothing extra to fill in.
ISO 20700 and ISO 42001 compliance, an immutable evidence trail, self-declaration dossiers and branded proposals — generated automatically as you work, not after it.
3-day free trial. No credit card required.
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