Use this article to prepare for scoping, phase 1 of your Ingrid Promise implementation: what happens during scoping, what you bring, what Ingrid does, and what scoping produces.
This article is for retailers starting an Ingrid Promise implementation, especially project leads and technical leads. Ingrid leads scoping. The purpose of scoping is to write down what your delivery experience needs to do, so that configuration and integration have something firm to build against. Scoping ends with a dated plan owned by both teams.
The statement of work and the planning workshop
Two things shape Ingrid Promise scoping, and they do different jobs:
Your statement of work (SoW) sets the high-level scope and the boundaries of the project: what is in, and what is not. The SoW is the reference point whenever a scope question comes up later.
The planning workshop works through the finer detail: who does what, in what sequence, and what depends on what. The planning workshop is where the scope becomes a dated plan with named owners on both sides.
If you are implementing more than one Ingrid product, the sequence matters and is rarely arbitrary. A contract renewal with an existing provider, a peak trading period or a replatforming date can all force one Ingrid product to go live before another. Bring those dates to the planning workshop: they are usually the strongest constraint in the room, and they are much cheaper to plan around than to discover.
What happens during Ingrid Promise scoping
Ingrid runs a kick-off, then the planning workshop with your leads. Between them, Ingrid gathers your requirements, reviews what is feasible, and agrees the shape and timing of the project with you.
What you bring to Ingrid Promise scoping
Bring the following to scoping:
Business requirements: your delivery strategy, the markets you serve, and the delivery offerings you want shoppers to see. You receive a requirements template from your Ingrid implementation consultant.
Your delivery offerings and carrier products: which carriers and services, in which markets. Check the Ingrid carrier library to see what is already integrated.
A systems overview (see the next section).
Any fixed dates: contract renewals, peak periods, replatforming milestones.
Your project team: named, with owners. See The team you'll need. Your project team is the single biggest predictor of your go-live date.
The systems overview Ingrid needs for scoping
The systems overview tells Ingrid which Ingrid Promise integration route fits your setup, so bring it to the kick-off rather than discovering it later. The systems overview covers:
E-commerce platform: Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Centra, Norce, Prestashop, or custom and headless
Who builds your site: your own development team, or an agency
Logistics systems, where they apply: WMS (warehouse management system), ERP (enterprise resource planning), 3PL (third-party logistics provider), TMS (transportation management system)
What Ingrid does during Ingrid Promise scoping
During scoping, Ingrid:
Explains how Ingrid works and how Ingrid runs the project with you
Reviews your delivery offerings and flags anything that needs a different approach
Provisions your accounts, with API (application programming interface) keys for each environment. See Promise implementation.
Confirms, per carrier, whether your own carrier credentials are needed or unified Ingrid credentials can be used
Start on carrier credentials now. Carrier credentials are the most common critical path in an Ingrid implementation, and they are often held by your 3PL or logistics team rather than your e-commerce team. Finding out who owns your carrier credentials is a scoping task, not a later one. See Carrier credentials.
What Ingrid Promise scoping produces
At the end of scoping, you and Ingrid have:
A shared, written set of goals for the delivery experience
A dated implementation plan, owned jointly by your team and Ingrid
Named owners on both sides
An agreed Ingrid Promise integration route, and a view of how much build work it involves
Where several Ingrid products are in scope, an agreed order to implement them in