Playbooks in DigitalCore
What Are Playbooks?
Operational Response Guides for Service Management
Playbooks are structured response guides for common service management challenges. Each playbook addresses a specific situation — declining margins, capacity imbalance, client churn risk, scope creep — and provides a step-by-step framework for diagnosis and response.
DigitalCore includes 29 playbooks covering the full range of service economics challenges. Each playbook follows a consistent structure: warning signs, confirmed issue indicators, diagnostic questions, recommended actions, and expected outcomes.
When to Activate — Warning Signs, Confirmed Issues, Diagnostics
Each playbook defines when to activate it:
- Warning Signs — Early indicators that something may be developing (e.g., margin declining for 2 consecutive months)
- Confirmed Issues — Definitive evidence the problem exists (e.g., margin below 20% for a quarter)
- Diagnostics — Questions to ask and data to examine before deciding on a response
How Each Playbook Connects to Your Data in DigitalCore
Playbooks reference specific data you track in DigitalCore: finance actuals, KPI results, capacity utilisation, and health scores. When a playbook says “check cost variance,” you can go directly to the engagement’s finance grid and see the relevant numbers.
Browse All Playbooks
The full collection of 29 playbooks is published on the main site with detailed content for each:
→ Browse all playbooks at digitalcore.app/learn/playbooks
Categories Overview
Margin & Profitability
Protecting and improving engagement margins: gross margin erosion, cost overruns, pricing misalignment.
Pricing & Revenue
Rate reviews, revenue leakage, contract pricing optimisation, and discount management.
Capacity & Staffing
Resource planning, utilisation optimisation, bench management, and skills gap analysis.
Client & Renewal Risk
Churn prevention, account health monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and renewal preparation.
Operational Efficiency
Process optimisation, SLA improvement, automation opportunities, and delivery acceleration.
Scope & Contract Management
Scope creep identification, change order processes, vendor management, and contract compliance.
Crisis & Escalation
Delivery recovery plans, escalation frameworks, incident response, and crisis communication.
Using Playbooks with the Platform
How Check-in Data Triggers Playbook Recommendations
As you enter check-in data, DigitalCore’s health scoring and AI capabilities can identify situations that match playbook activation criteria. The AI assistant can recommend relevant playbooks based on your engagement’s current performance.
Connecting Playbook Actions to Scenarios
Many playbooks recommend modelling the response before implementing it. Use Scenario Intelligence to create what-if models of the playbook’s recommended actions — test the financial impact of a rate review, a staffing change, or a service redesign before committing.
Tracking Playbook Outcomes in Your Dashboard
After implementing a playbook’s recommendations, track the results through your regular check-in process. Compare pre-intervention and post-intervention metrics to measure effectiveness.
Access via MCP
Playbooks are also available through the free MCP server tools:
list_playbooks— Returns the full directory of all 29 playbooksget_playbook— Retrieves a specific playbook by slug with full content
See Free MCP Server Setup for configuration instructions.
Contributing playbooks
Have a playbook to share? Contact us at playbooks@digitalcore.app.