Glossary

We explain
every word we use.

We use twenty-two words in our proposals and on our calls. We explain each word here the way we would explain the word across a table.

The first call is free

The model

We start with the job and the skills.

An AI employee holds a real job in your business. These five words cover what the job is and how we put a role together.

AI employee: An AI employee holds one job in your business, against a real job description. The AI employee works to a weekly rhythm and delivers named outputs. Struan runs the AI employee as a managed service.
Single-tenant: Single-tenant means we build an AI employee for one business only. Every Struan AI employee works from a dedicated email address and a dedicated Microsoft Teams identity, for one client. What the AI employee learns in one business is never shared with another business.
Skill: A skill is one piece of work an AI employee can do, proven on live client work before the skill reaches your business. Working out the VAT class on a receipt is a skill. Chasing five years of references is a skill. Our library holds 59, and every role uses up to 10.
Composition: Composition is how we build a role. We pick skills already in the library and tune each skill to your rules, rather than starting from scratch. Composition is the reason a role goes live in 15 working days.
Managed AI service: A managed AI service means someone else runs the AI employee and answers for the work. Struan runs the role, owns the outcome and signs the weekly report. You buy finished work, and you buy no software.

We build a different role for every client
from the same library.

The controls

A person stays in charge of every big decision. These five words name the controls that keep a person in charge.

Approval gate: An approval gate is a limit you set that your AI employee cannot cross without a person's decision. Any expense over £500 is a common gate. The software holds the work at the gate every time, and the audit trail records the hold.
Supervised mode: In supervised mode, every significant action your AI employee takes waits for a person to decide. The gate holds the work, a person approves or rejects the work, and the audit trail records the hold and the decision. Where you gate outbound email, the draft waits until a person releases the draft.
Tenure / earned autonomy: An AI employee earns more freedom to act by proving the work first. We raise a threshold only after a track record of gated, audited work, and only when you agree to the change.
The stop procedure: You can ask Struan to stop your AI employee mid-task at any time, while a person looks into the work. Struan follows a written stop procedure. Every Struan client holds that right from day one.
Weekly human-signed report: A named person at Struan reads and signs the week's work before you ever see the report. The report covers the output, the exceptions, the accuracy and every time the work stopped at a gate.

A named person at Struan stands behind every gate
and behind the stop procedure.

The engagement

We agree every engagement on paper first. These four words name the documents and the rhythm the work runs to.

Job description (JD): The job description is the document we agree before the build starts. The job description names the role, the rhythm the work runs to, the outputs we commit to and the approval gates. You agree every line.
Scoped role: A scoped role is a role written down in a job description before the build starts. Every Struan engagement is agreed against a scoped role, and every weekly report is measured against the same scoped role.
Cadence: Cadence is the fixed rhythm a role works to, without anyone sending a reminder. Daily reconciliation, weekly reporting and a monthly pack are all cadences.
Wiring: Wiring is the step where we connect a finished role to the tools you already run: Microsoft 365, Xero, Pipedrive and SharePoint. The access covers the role and nothing else, every use is logged, and you can withdraw the access at any time.

You agree the job description
before a single task runs.

Growth · Hyper

Hyper is our growth engine. Hyper finds your buyers and starts the sales conversations, and these three words explain how.

Hyper: Hyper is our growth engine. Hyper works out which companies fit your offer, writes a personalised page for every buyer, and reaches each buyer by email, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. Interested replies come straight to your team.
Personalised page: A personalised page is a web page written for one buyer. The page names that buyer's situation and shows the proof that fits the situation. Hyper writes a page for every buyer Hyper contacts.
Exit lane / Grow lane: Replies sort into two lanes. An owner who wants growth becomes a client. An owner who is winding the business down opens a conversation about succession instead.

Hyper finds the buyer
and your AI employee keeps the desk clear.

The fine print

These last five words cover the contract, the audit trail and the way we work inside your business. Each word turns up in a Struan proposal.

Data processing agreement (DPA): The data processing agreement is the contract that says how we handle your data. We sign the agreement before any AI employee goes live. Your data stays your property, always.
Audit trail: The audit trail is the full log of every action your AI employee takes. The log includes every stop at a gate and every decision a person made. Every role carries an audit trail as standard.
Proof-of-concept (POC): A proof-of-concept is a small paid first step for bespoke work. The proof-of-concept shows the role works before you commit to anything larger.
Drift: Drift is the slow change in quality that any AI system can develop over time. We catch drift through monitoring and the weekly human review, then put the work right.
Forward-deployed engineer: A forward-deployed engineer works inside your business rather than at arm's length, putting AI into the work your business already runs. Struan delivers every engagement this way.

Every action your AI employee takes
leaves a line in the audit trail.

The first call is free