Frequently asked questions
Answers on pricing, implementation, technology and security. Questions specific to your environment are covered in the walkthrough.
Commercial
How is Fable Systems priced?
Decision Engines are priced for each engagement, after a paid opportunity assessment. Horizon and our applications have published prices on the pricing page.
Is the opportunity assessment free?
No. It is a paid, fixed-fee piece of work scoped to the decision and the systems involved. It tests the opportunity on your own records and ends in a projected uplift and a recommendation to proceed, change scope or stop.
How is the uplift calculated?
The opportunity assessment sets out a conservative projected uplift, which your finance team reviews. Before the pilot, your finance team and ours agree the baseline and how value will be counted. We then compare the outcomes of completed actions with that baseline, and your finance team checks the result against its own records.
When does the pricing model not make sense?
When the decision controls a relatively small amount of money. We will say so early, and the opportunity assessment settles it.
Who do we contract with?
Fable Systems Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. We work with companies in the UK, the US, the EU and the GCC.
Engagement
What size organisation is Fable Systems built for?
Upper-mid-market and enterprise organisations in the UK, the US, the EU and the GCC, where a recurring decision carries real financial weight. That could be pricing, spend, supply, workforce, operations or risk.
How long does implementation take?
An opportunity assessment and pilot take a few weeks. Full rollout depends on how many systems are involved and the state of their data, so we plan it once the pilot result is in.
What do you need from our team?
A named owner for the decision, an executive sponsor, read access to the historical records and some time from the engineers who run your source systems.
Can we start with one decision?
Yes. Every engagement starts with one decision and one Decision Engine. More follow once the first has proved its value.
What happens if the pilot does not improve the decision?
We stop or change the scope. Every stage ends with a decision point, and the pilot result against the agreed baseline decides whether we go to production.
Product and technology
What is a Decision Engine?
Software that recommends a specific action for one recurring decision. It combines machine learning, evidence joined across your systems, your business constraints and a financial measure of each outcome.
How do Decision Engines, Horizon and applications differ?
A Decision Engine handles one recurring decision. Horizon is a forecasting and research subscription. An application, such as Correl for CRM, holds the records themselves.
Do we need to replace our systems of record?
No. Fable Systems reads from the ERP, CRM, billing, workforce, supply and operational systems you already run, and sends approved actions back to them.
Which systems do you connect to?
The major ERP, CRM, project, workforce, supply chain, procurement and data platforms, using each vendor’s published API or scheduled exports. We map and test each connection against your setup during implementation.
Does Fable Systems take actions without approval?
No. Any change to your systems needs a named permission and a person’s approval, and duplicate changes are blocked. Every recommendation, approval and action is recorded.
How do we know a recommendation can be trusted?
Every recommendation shows the records behind it, the model version, the options considered, the constraints applied and the expected effect. A model can only influence decisions once it beats simpler rules-based and statistical methods on data it has never seen.
What happens when a model is uncertain or fails?
The engine falls back to fixed rules. Models are versioned, used only where they have been tested, monitored in use and retired when the evidence stops supporting them.
Security and data
Where is our data hosted?
A Fable Systems-managed deployment runs in its own AWS account, in the region you choose. For UK clients that is London by default. We can also deploy into your own infrastructure.
How is our data protected?
Data is encrypted at rest with keys used only for your deployment, and in transit over TLS 1.2 or 1.3. Database-level controls keep every record inside your deployment, and decisions, approvals and admin actions go into an audit trail that cannot be edited.
How long does a security review take?
It usually adds two to three weeks to onboarding. We supply the architecture, data flows and control documentation your reviewers will ask for.
Discuss your environment with us.
We will answer questions about your systems, controls and commercial case in the walkthrough.
Book a live walkthrough