Mergers and acquisitions
Passage, a four‑stage method for M&A integration.
Passage is the method I use for the technology, change and people side of a merger or acquisition. It runs in four stages, from a read of the target before you sign to a report on the value after you close.
Sound and Bearings are fixed price. Transit and Harbour run on my day rate, pro rata. How pricing works
What Passage is for
I run a digital PMO, and M&A integration is part of that work. Passage keeps the technology, change and people work in one method with one set of records, from the first read to the value report, so the people who assess the deal and the people who integrate it work from the same documents.
The four stages, in order
Each stage has its own working documents and ends with a named deliverable. The baseline set in Pilot is what Harbour measures against, so the stages are designed to run as one sequence.
Stage 1 · Before the deal
Sound, Risk and Readiness Profile
A read of the target's technology, change, people and readiness position before you commit. The price and the legal position stay with the deal team.
- Score the target across the five Passage dimensions
- Surface red flags, key-person risk and integration complexity
- Size the integration effort and cost before signing
- Flag conditions worth reflecting in the terms and any earn-out
Working documents. The Sound assessment and costing engine.
Stage 2 · Planning the integration
Pilot, Integration Plan
Turns the read into a sequenced integration plan, with a Day 1 and 100 day design owned by an Integration Management Office (IMO).
- Stand up the IMO and the workstream charters
- Sequence the roadmap and map the dependencies between workstreams
- Design Day 1 and the 30, 60 and 100 day milestones
- Set the baseline and measures that value is tracked against
Working documents. The Pilot playbook, covering the IMO, the charters and the Day 1 design.
Stage 3 · Running the integration
Transit, Live Portfolio Control
Runs the integration as a managed portfolio: delivering the workstreams, driving adoption and holding to the plan while managing risk and change.
- Run portfolio governance across all workstreams
- Track risks, issues, dependencies and milestones in one place
- Lead change, communications and adoption through to the front line
- Re-plan when the facts change, and protect the value case
Working documents. The Transit playbook and live portfolio tracker, and the stakeholder register and engagement kit.
Stage 4 · Measuring the value
Harbour, Value Realisation Report
Confirms whether the value the deal promised was realised, closes the integration and records what was learned for the next deal.
- Measure benefits against the baseline set in Pilot
- Confirm adoption and operational stability
- Run the lessons learned review and close the IMO
- Hand over to business as usual with a value report
Working documents. The Harbour playbook, the value report and the board read-out.
Instead of stage 1 · After the deal has closed
Bearings, Bearings Brief
When I am brought in after close and there is no Sound read to work from, Bearings rebuilds the position that read would have given, in one to three weeks. It lists what is still unknown, and the integration then picks up at Pilot.
Working documents. The Bearings orientation guide.
Five dimensions, scored the same way at every stage
Each dimension is scored 1 to 5: absent, emerging, defined, integrated, leading. Any dimension can be marked not applicable, so the same method works for a small bolt-on acquisition and for a multi-entity integration.
- Digital and technology
- Systems, data, AI, architecture, cyber security and technical debt.
- Change
- How much is changing, communications, adoption and ways of working.
- People
- Key-person risk, capability, culture and retention.
- Readiness
- The ability to operate, absorb the change, sustain it and go live.
- Value and outcomes
- What the integration must deliver, and how that is measured.
Twelve technology domains, each assessed or marked not applicable.
AI and automation is a domain in its own right because in a modern deal it can be both a source of value and a source of risk. It is also checked inside every other domain.
- Applications and ERP
- Data and analytics
- AI and automation
- Infrastructure and cloud
- Cyber security
- Integration and middleware
- Networks and end-user computing
- Digital products and customer
- Licensing and vendor contracts
- IT operating model
- Technical debt
- Compliance and sovereignty
Where AI fits in Passage
AI as something to assess
What you are buying and integrating
- Whether the target's AI is real capability or a thin wrapper
- Who owns the models, the training data and the IP
- Data provenance, consent and sovereignty
- AI risk posture, against NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001
- Key-person dependency around the AI that matters
AI as a working tool
How I run Passage faster
- Draft red-flag and diligence summaries from the data room
- Map workstreams and surface dependencies
- Generate first drafts of charters, plans and communications
- Summarise status and exceptions across the portfolio
- Test the value case against different scenarios
Everything is grounded in the source documents, and a person reviews every judgement. AI drafts; I decide.
How Passage is priced
The reads are fixed price. Running the integration is billed on the same day rate as my fractional work.
Sound and Bearings
Fixed price
The Risk and Readiness Profile and the Bearings Brief are defined outputs at a fixed fee. You know the cost before you commit, and the read is yours whatever you decide about the deal.
Transit and Harbour
$1,850 + GST a day, pro rata
Running the integration and measuring the value are billed on my fractional day rate, for the hours I put in. Invoiced fortnightly in arrears on fourteen-day payment terms, with an hours breakdown on every invoice. Where the baseline set in Pilot can be measured, we can instead agree a base fee plus a share of the synergies realised against it.
Pilot is scoped and priced once the read is done. Every fee is set for the deal, and you have it in writing before you commit to anything.
Questions about Passage
How is Passage priced?
Sound and Bearings are fixed price. Pilot is scoped and priced once the read is done. Transit and Harbour are billed on my fractional day rate, pro rata on the hours I put in. Where the baseline set in Pilot can be measured, we can instead agree a base fee plus a share of the synergies realised against it.
Can you be brought in after the deal has closed?
Yes. Bearings takes one to three weeks and rebuilds the position a Sound read would have given, listing what is still unknown. The integration then picks up at Pilot.
Tell me where the deal is up to.
Book a 30-minute call, or email me a paragraph about the deal.
Or email me directly.