Prototype instead of
a spec document
Instead of describing requirements, we make them usable. A working prototype of your core workflows — real software with login, roles and a data model on a test URL. In 2–3 weeks, at a fixed price.
Steps · gears · outputNobody can use a document.
Described or usable.
Both routes answer the same question: what must the system do? They differ in when you can verify the answer.
Five things you can work with.
Your implementation partner gets a working reference instead of a description. That is the difference between “roughly like this” and “exactly this”.
Working prototype on a test URL
Your staff, customers or members work with it and tell you what is missing.
A data model played through
The basis for the main project’s database architecture — tested on real cases, not on a whiteboard.
Documented core workflows
Replaces pages of prose in the spec. Nobody needs to describe what the prototype already does.
A list of open questions
The points that must be settled before the project starts — building surfaces them inevitably.
A defensible effort estimate
A negotiating basis with your implementation partner or your bidders.
When you are the one quoting a fixed price.
Some of these prototypes are not built for end clients but for firms that are bidding themselves. I work as a subcontractor — you remain the client’s contractual partner.
Cover for your estimate
Before the bid: a prototype of the critical workflows, before you put a fixed price on a spec you do not trust.
A rescue in week one
When it turns out mid-project that the client meant something else, a prototype settles it faster than a change-request round.
A clean subcontract
A discrete deliverable, fixed sum, fixed duration. No conflict of interest: I do not bid for the main project.
Focused on usability
Frontend and user experience — precisely the layer that decides whether a prototype is understood.
Two scopes, both at a fixed price.
The fixed price is set after the first conversation — no hourly top-ups. All amounts exclude VAT. For context: the sum is usually in the low single-digit percentage of the budget the prototype is meant to de-risk.
A real application covering your 2–3 core workflows on a test URL — ahead of a large project.
Prototyping for more complex line-of-business applications and portals, with milestone check-ins.
Understand. Build. Sharpen.
One session at the start, one check-in in the middle, one handover at the end. A pre-stage needs no more process than that.
Understand and set up
A joint session of 2–3 hours: who works with the system, what roles exist, which workflow burns the most time today. The data model and scaffolding follow.
Build
The core workflows get built: login, roles, the central screens and forms. A check-in at the halfway mark so course corrections happen early.
Sharpen and hand over
Fold in feedback from your organisation, add a further core workflow, hand over with documentation and an effort estimate.
What is not included.
This scoping is part of the concept, not fine print. It is the reason the risk stays contained.
Can the prototype go live later?
How is data protection handled?
Does this lock us into a technology stack?
Why are two to three weeks realistic?
Are you bidding for the main project with this?
Do we have to run a tender for this?
More on the topic.
Fixed-price logic, MVP strategy, and what a system change actually costs.
Transparent IT Consulting: Our Packages & Pricing
Fixed prices for audits, prototyping and migrations — and why a prototype beats a specification document.
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IT for Startups: MVP Development & Strategy 2026
From the first code snippet to a market-ready product: why speed and technical excellence are not a contradiction.
Read more
WordPress Migration: The Ultimate ROI Guide
Costs, time investment and ROI of a system change made transparent for decision makers.
Read moreUsually awardable without a tender.
A focus prototype at €4,900 sits below the direct-award threshold in almost every German federal state. For municipalities, special-purpose associations, chambers and public bodies that means: award on the basis of a quote, with no tender procedure and no suitability evidence.
| Level | Direct award up to |
|---|---|
| Bavaria | 250.000 € |
| Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt | 100.000 € |
| North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony | 50.000 € |
| Thuringia | 30.000 € |
| Federal level (§ 14 UVgO) | 15.000 € |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 10.000 € |
| Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin | 3.000 – 10.000 € |
The applicable threshold depends on the federal state, its budgetary rules and your own organisation’s policy, and changes regularly — please verify it for your case. The federal states’ public-procurement advisory offices provide free guidance. Overview by the procurement advisory offices
Which workflow is the right candidate?
A 20-minute call is enough to work out whether this fits your project — and which workflow a prototype would make the biggest difference to.