Intent Charterby Verisum
Programme management for design-led projects

Keep the design you agreed, all the way to handover.

Intent Charter is programme management built on design intent. The studio writes the intent down once. Every change, order, drawing and decision on the project is then checked against it, by everyone working on it, in one place.

For interior design studios, and for the owners, developers and programme leads who hire them.

CR-045 · Harbour House · raised by the contractor Lobby ceiling lowered 300mm for services
Cost effect
£0
Programme
14 days saved
Status
With the client
Intent reviewHigh impact

A lower ceiling compresses the frame of the first sea view. The programme benefit is real.

Touches M2 The first view of the sea: ceiling height frames the view from the lobby.

Option A. Lower the ceiling only over the reception desk, keeping full height on the view axis. +£8k, low intent impact.

Decision right: ClientClaude recommends. The client decides.
The problem

On every project someone owns time, cost and the build. Nobody owns the design intent.

It is lost one decision at a time

A cheaper lamp, a lower ceiling, a substitute tile. Each saving looks small on its own, and nobody adds them up against what the design was meant to do.

It lives in too many places

The specification in one tool, RFIs in another, decisions in email and meeting notes. No single place says what was agreed and what has changed since.

Owners see cost and dates, not the result

Reports cover the budget and the programme. They rarely tell the client whether they are still getting the place they paid for.

The intent primitive

Design intent, written down so it can be checked

A Charter turns the studio's narrative into parts that a contractor, a supplier and a client can all work to. Everything else in the product hangs off it.

Guest moments and principles

What must survive delivery, in the studio's own words.

M2 · Moment · CoreThe first view of the sea, framed from the lobby.

Non-negotiables

What must not change, whoever proposes it, with a tolerance where there is one.

NN2 · Lighting2700K, plus or minus 100K, in all guest areas.

Tolerances

Where the design may flex, and by how much, so a sensible saving needs no debate.

T2 · Guest room furnitureOff-the-shelf for up to 30% of pieces.

Decision rights

Who decides which change, by its intent impact and cost. Anything bigger goes up.

Decision rightsLow impact: the programme lead. Medium: the studio. High: the client.

Charters are versioned and signed off. Each property can vary only where the Charter allows, and every decision is kept against the version it was made under. Examples are from the demo project.

How it works

Declare, check, decide, prove

  1. Declare

    The studio writes the Charter, or drafts it from the brief with AI and edits it. The client signs it off, and it becomes the reference for the whole project.

  2. Check

    Changes, RFIs, substitutions, submittals, FF&E items and drawing revisions that carry a bound are reviewed against the Charter as they arrive: what they touch, whether they are inside tolerance, and the options.

  3. Decide

    Decision rights send each change to whoever may decide it: the programme lead, the studio, or the client in their portal. Nothing is approved automatically.

  4. Prove

    Conformance is scored for each property and the whole portfolio, with a monthly intent report and a decisions log. At close-out the client receives a handover pack with the final account.

The product

One project, every party, one record

The studio, the programme lead, the client, contractors and suppliers each see their part of the same project, and nothing that is not theirs.

The dashboard: what needs you across every project you work on, with each project's conformance, open decisions and high risks.
The dashboard: what needs you across every project you work on, with each project's conformance, open decisions and high risks. Example data from the demo project; names and figures are fictional.
A change reviewed against the Charter: the intent it touches, whether it is inside tolerance, the options and who decides.
A change reviewed against the Charter: the intent it touches, whether it is inside tolerance, the options and who decides. Example data from the demo project; names and figures are fictional.
The Charter: guest moments, principles, non-negotiables and tolerances, versioned and signed off.
The Charter: guest moments, principles, non-negotiables and tolerances, versioned and signed off. Example data from the demo project; names and figures are fictional.
The FF&E schedule, checked item by item against the Charter, with order-by dates from the programme and client approvals.
The FF&E schedule, checked item by item against the Charter, with order-by dates from the programme and client approvals. Example data from the demo project; names and figures are fictional.
The programme: the studio's own tasks and imported contractor programmes, with slippage between versions.
The programme: the studio's own tasks and imported contractor programmes, with slippage between versions. Example data from the demo project; names and figures are fictional.
The client portal: the decisions waiting for the client, conformance by property, and documents and invoices once issued.
The client portal: the decisions waiting for the client, conformance by property, and documents and invoices once issued. Example data from the demo project; names and figures are fictional.
Close-out: what is still open, the final account at the client's prices, lessons learned and the handover pack.
Close-out: what is still open, the final account at the client's prices, lessons learned and the handover pack. Example data from the demo project; names and figures are fictional.
AI that recommends

Claude recommends. People decide.

AI does the reading and the first draft. Every result records the model and prompt behind it, and nothing it proposes is applied until a person accepts it.

Choose Claude or ChatGPT for your studio. Your studio's AI work goes only to the engine you choose, and image tools you connect receive only the prompt you send them. Without an engine, built-in rules cover the main jobs more plainly. Your table of authority, set by the studio lead, decides who signs off what. Nothing is approved automatically.

  • Reviews every change against the CharterWhat it touches, whether it is inside tolerance, the options with less impact, and who should decide.
  • Drafts the Charter from your briefIt is told to use only your words, and lists the gaps as questions.
  • Turns meetings into minutesSummary, decisions, actions and risks proposed from the transcript; each one confirmed by a person.
  • Reads supplier quotes and site findingsPrices and lead times from a quote, findings from site photos and notes, ready for someone to check.
  • Connects the facts across a projectA late order, a slipping task and an open change on the same item, raised as one insight with the next step.
Works alongside

Keeps the tools your project already uses

Intent Charter reads what tells it about the intent, and only ever writes back an intent view.

ProgramaFF&E schedules brought in from an export
Autodesk FormaRFIs and issues brought in for intent review
Microsoft Project and ExcelContractor programmes, with slippage between versions
XeroInvoices sent as drafts; payments read back
Google WorkspaceStudio calendar, Drive and meeting transcripts
Notion and SlackThe decisions log and alerts where the team works
Claude and ChatGPTA read-only connector to ask about your projects
SpreadsheetsAny FF&E schedule or programme, mapped column by column
Who makes it

Built with a design studio, by Verisum

Verisum

Verisum builds governance software around one idea: declare intent, bind decisions to it, watch for drift and prove conformance. Intent Charter applies it to design and delivery.

These White Walls

The interior design studio These White Walls is the founding studio. The product is shaped by how their projects actually run, from the first brief to the handover.

Request access

Bring your next project

We are opening Intent Charter to a small number of studios and owners. Tell us about your practice or programme and we will be in touch.