What Specforge does, end to end.

Specforge sits on the customer's side of an SAP engagement. Customers paste their scope, the platform tells them what's standard, what's truly custom, and where the system integrator is over-quoting. Every line is reviewed by senior SAP architects before delivery. This page walks through the platform from a customer's first login to the artefacts they receive.

Why Specforge exists

SAP transformations cost between $500k and $50M+. The customer hires a system integrator, the SI scopes the work, the SI has every incentive to lean toward billable hours, and the customer lacks the SAP depth to push back on inflated estimates. The asymmetry has been quietly profitable for thirty years.

Specforge is the first tool that sits on the customer's side of that conversation. We benchmark every line in a SOW against a corpus of real S/4HANA implementations, classify what's standard configuration, what's true custom development, and what's over-scoping. The output is a board-defensible artefact a CIO can take into a contract negotiation. More on the gap and the moat →

The four sides of the platform

1. Customers

SAP customers — typically a CIO, CTO, IT director, or finance transformation lead. They define a workspace, validate scope through the four-step wizard, generate artefacts from validated requirements, and (soon) compare implementation paths. Each customer's workspace is private; only their architects see the full content.

2. Creators

Independent SAP practitioners, ex-consultants, and senior in-house engineers who contribute artefacts to the corpus. Six levels (C1–C6) earned through approved contributions. Creators accept open work the architects identify, or proactively offer artefacts they've already authored. Full roles handbook →

3. Architects (verifiers)

Senior SAP architects who classify customer requirements and verify creator submissions. Three levels (A1 / A2 / A3 Expert). A3 onwards is equity-eligible.

4. Process Architects

Coordinators who collate parallel submissions on the same requirement, sign off on consolidated outputs, and deliver to the customer. PA and CW-PA tiers are equity-eligible.

The customer journey

Step 1 — Sign in and name your workspace

Specforge is allowlist-gated during private beta. Approved emails sign in via Supabase Auth — no password, no inbox round-trip; type your email and you're in if you're on the access list. Once signed in, name a workspace (the client / project / program you're scoping), and land on the forge home where you choose Validate, Generate, or Decide.

Step 2 — Validate your scope

A four-step wizard captures the project context and the requirements:

1. System — pick the central ERP(s) and any boundary systems (CRM, HCM, T&E, BI). Multi-select supported.
2. Deployment — RISE Private Cloud, S/4 Cloud Public Edition, on-premise, or hybrid.
3. Version & timeline — S/4 release year and expected go-live window.
4. Scenarios — group requirements under free-form scenario names (e.g., Period-end close, Order to Cash). Add outcomes one at a time, or upload an Excel sheet using the downloadable template.

As requirements come in, the engine classifies each by workstream and sub-workstream in real time. On submit, a corpus-grounded LLM vet reads each requirement against architect-vetted reference cases, returning a suggested verdict (STANDARD SAP, PARTIALLY STANDARD, or CUSTOM), short reasoning, an effort estimate in hours, and the specific corpus entries that informed the call. A senior architect reviews every suggestion and confirms or overrides before delivery. The captured panel summarises ERP context, vetting outcomes, the architect's final verdict, and any cross-requirement interactions detected.

Step 3 — Forge artefacts from your scope

After Validate, the Generate flow shows your validated requirements grouped by scenario, each with its vetting badge. Standard-matched items are forge-ready; custom items continue with our expert creators in parallel.

Pick the requirements you want artefacts for, click Open artifact forge, and the engine renders the topics as a hexagonal cloud. Tap a topic to see three implementation paths side by side (Standard / Light / Custom), pick a path, and forge any of the connected artefacts: Workshop Deck, RICEFW Inventory, Functional Spec, Configuration Objects, Configuration Guide, Configuration Unit Test Scenarios, Controls, Controls Testing Scenarios, Functional Unit Test, Technical Spec, Technical Unit Test, Integration Testing Scenarios, or Training Docs.

Each artefact is generated by the corpus-grounded engine and reviewed by a senior architect before delivery.

Step 4 — Decide and track (planned)

The Decide module compares implementation paths across topics, captures the rationale for each choice, and becomes your institutional memory. In active development.

Behind the scenes — the studio

The customer-facing flow rests on a contributor studio that customers don't usually see:

• Architect Studio — verification queues at L1, L2, and L3 levels. L2+ vote on point values for new no-match work and creator offerings. Promotion candidates surface for higher-level architects to vote in.
• Creator Studio — open work queue (point-valued items needing artefacts), offerings (proactively pitched contributions), active uploads (3-step submission flow mirroring Validate→Generate), and a personal library of approved contributions.
• Process Architect Studio — collation queue showing parallel submissions on the same requirement. The PA picks the lead version, folds in the best parts of the others, signs off, and delivers to the customer.

Every accepted artefact credits its creators and verifiers in the points ledger. How points are earned →

Cross-cutting systems

Blogs

Senior architects co-write thought-leadership blogs with senior creators. Same vetting chain as artefacts; both authors get credit and points. Discovery layer for the platform — clients searching for SAP scope advice land here.

Rework

Approved artefacts get reopened when new requirements arrive that need extension, when SAP versions evolve, or when customer feedback warrants. Today, an architect flags the artefact for rework with a reason, the original creator resubmits a new version, and architect approval archives the old version while chaining the new one via predecessor pointer. The full lifecycle adds a first-right-of-refusal window for the original creator and a 15% legacy share whenever a new author builds on prior work — these mechanics roll in as the platform opens to broader claim. Full rework lifecycle →

Engagement (planned)

Process Architects and CW-PAs can opt into a client-facing certification — workshops, architecture review calls, escalations directly with the customer. Engagement points carry 3× weight in the contributor compensation pool.

What's live, what's in flight, what's planned

Product overview v0.2 · 2026-05-10. Send questions or corrections to hello@specforge.io. For the contributor governance side — points, equity, compensation, terms — see the Handbook. For the day-in-the-life walkthroughs per role, see Operating procedures. For common questions, see the FAQ.