ILTA: Building the Data Foundation for AFAs — Time Capture as Strategic Infrastructure
An ILTA analysis (July 29) by William Grady makes the operational case for investment in granular time-capture data as the prerequisite for AFA expansion. The argument: successful alternative pricing depends on knowing how work is actually performed, how much effort specific task types require, and what resources different matter categories consume — data that most firms do not currently have at t
BY FRONTIER DESK · JULY 30, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
An ILTA analysis (July 29) by William Grady makes the operational case for investment in granular time-capture data as the prerequisite for AFA expansion. The argument: successful alternative pricing depends on knowing how work is actually performed, how much effort specific task types require, and what resources different matter categories consume — data that most firms do not currently have at the level of specificity needed to price non-hourly arrangements accurately. The analysis advocates for building a data foundation that captures scope, complexity, cost, realization, margin, and risk at the matter level — enabling fixed-fee, subscription, capped-fee, and outcome-based structures that accurately reflect anticipated work and risk rather than guessing. For pricing teams and CFOs, the ILTA piece provides the operational framework that sits beneath the pricing model discussion: the firms best positioned to expand AFAs in 2026–2027 are those that built their matter-level data infrastructure in 2024–2025. Those that are just beginning the conversation now are 12–18 months behind the operational curve.