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SSLM
The SSLM Light App

Run a whole project in one place, free, with an AI assistant if you want one.

SSLM Light is a single web page that carries a project from Business Case to Closure across six connected screens. You populate the essentials once, and the app propagates and reconciles them for you. It works offline, keeps your data on your own device, and adds an optional AI assistant, Lumen, on your own Claude key.

Download the app

One self-contained file. Save it, open it in Chrome or Edge, and you are running. No install, no account, no sign-up.

Download the app (single file) Open it in your browser
Free to use, and it runs entirely in your browser.
⚠ Please read first — caveats, liability & ownership

On this page

Features & how it works How it aligns to SSLM What it will and won't do Download & set up Try the demo How to use it Screen by screen Set up the AI key Tips Please read: caveats & ownership
What it is

Key features, and how it works

SSLM Light holds the whole project as one shared record, then derives every screen from it. You enter the essentials once, and the app keeps the rest in step.

Six connected screens carry a project through its life. Each one reads from the same single record, so a fact you enter on one screen shows up, correctly, everywhere it belongs. You do not retype the project name, the reference, the Go-Live date or a milestone across documents; you set it once and the app propagates it.

The flow, at a high level

Business CaseState the purpose, scope, benefits and cost. Approving it is the Green Light that baselines the project.
Project Plan & ScheduleLay out the milestone spine along the critical path, with the resources against it.
RAID + Decision logTrack risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies, decisions and actions in one place.
Weekly ReportReport the real colour each week, a RAG and a trend, drawn from what the project actually holds.
Change Request + logAfter baseline, changes to scope, time, cost or benefits run through a controlled request.
Closure & HandoverAcquit every baseline, confirm the RAID is closed, capture lessons and hand over.
Closure reconciles back to the Business Case, so the project ends against the promise it began with. The whole journey reads as one connected story, threaded by a single Project Reference.

Lumen, the SSLM Light assistantThe assistant, Lumen

Lumen is an optional assistant that sits as a slide-in panel on every screen. In its free, offline mode it runs deterministic checks across the whole project and quietly counts the things worth your attention, for example a benefit with no measure or owner, a Weekly status of green while a high risk sits open, or a change request awaiting a decision. Switch on the AI layer with your own Claude key and Lumen can also explain a screen or field, draft a value for you to accept or edit, and add the judgement a fixed rule cannot make. Lumen never writes anything silently; every suggestion is shown for you to accept or dismiss.

Why it fits

How the app aligns to SSLM

The app is the SSLM framework made runnable. It carries the same principles into software, so using it teaches the method as you go.

New to the framework itself? Start with the SSLM Principles and the Getting Started guide, then let the app carry the structure while you focus on the people and the outcome.
Set your expectations

What the app will do, and what it won't

Light is deliberately light. It does one thing well: run a single project, end to end, with almost no overhead. Here is where the line sits.

What it does

  • Runs one project from Business Case to Closure across six connected screens.
  • Holds the whole project as one record, and propagates shared facts so you enter them once.
  • Baselines at Green Light and controls change through a request and log after that.
  • Derives a weekly RAG and trend, and reconciles Closure back to the Business Case.
  • Runs free, deterministic assurance checks offline, with no key and no cost.
  • Adds an optional AI assistant on your own Claude key, for guidance, drafting and judgement.
  • Keeps your data on your device, saves to a folder you choose, and exports a portable file.
  • Can be installed as an app on your machine, and still works with no internet.

What it deliberately leaves out

  • Portfolio and program roll-ups across many projects. Light runs one project at a time.
  • Multi-user editing, permissions and real-time collaboration. It is a single-person tool.
  • A full SteerCo pack or monthly board report generator. It feeds them, it does not print them.
  • Deep resource management, timesheets, cost accounting or financial integration.
  • Cloud accounts, hosted storage or a server. There is nothing to sign up for.
  • Certified or audited governance tooling. It is a teaching and working aid, not a system of record.
The point of Light. These are not gaps to apologise for. Leaving them out is what keeps the app simple, portable and free. When a project genuinely outgrows Light, that is a signal to step up to the fuller SSLM instruments on the Scale page, not to bolt weight onto a tool built to stay light.
Getting it running

Download and set up

The app is a single web page. There is no installer and no account. The whole setup is a download, a folder, and a double-click.

1. Download the file

Use the Download the app button at the top of this page. You will get one HTML file. That single file is the entire app.

2. Use a supported browser

Open it in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on a desktop or laptop. These support the save-to-folder feature that lets the app write your project files straight to a folder you choose. The app still runs in other browsers, but that convenience needs Chrome or Edge.

3. Make a simple folder structure

Create one home folder for your project work, so everything lives together and is easy to back up. A simple structure works well:

When you first save a project, the app asks which folder to use. Point it at Project files and it will keep your work there from then on.

4. Open the app

Double-click the file, or open the hosted version from this site. Either way it loads instantly and runs in your browser.

5. Optional: install it as an app

In Chrome or Edge you can install the page as an app, so it gets its own window and icon and opens like any other program, still running fully offline. Look for the install icon in the browser address bar, or the Install option in the browser menu.

Backups. The app autosaves to your browser and, if you allow it, to your chosen folder. It is still wise to export a .json copy at milestones. That file is portable, so you can move a project between machines or keep a dated backup.
See it working

Try the demo first

The app opens with a worked demonstration project already loaded, so you can see a real, populated project before you start your own. The best way to learn the app is to explore it.

No harm done. The demo lives only in your browser. Explore it freely, change anything you like, and remove it when you are ready. Nothing you do to the demo touches your own projects.
Using the app

Running a project, end to end

The whole method is populate once, propagate, reconcile. You give the app the essentials of your project, mostly on the Business Case, and it carries those facts into every screen that needs them. Your job from then on is to keep the project honest and current, not to retype it.

Start on the Business Case. Set the project's reference and name, state the purpose and the scope, name the benefits with a baseline and an owner, and set the Go-Live date. This screen is the foundation the rest of the app builds on, so it is worth filling in carefully. When the Sponsor approves it, that is your Green Light: the app baselines the project, and from that point changes are controlled rather than quietly edited.

Move to the Project Plan & Schedule and lay out the milestone spine, the handful of milestones from today to done, in the order they must happen, with the resources against them. Open the RAID + Decision log and capture your first risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies, each with an owner. Send a Weekly Report from your first week, in the real colour, even if it only says mobilising. As delivery proceeds, raise a Change Request whenever scope, time, cost or a benefit needs to move from the baseline, so the change is visible and decided, not lost.

At the end, the Closure & Handover screen is the bookend to the Business Case. It walks you through acquitting every baseline, confirming the RAID is closed, capturing lessons, and handing the benefits tracking to the business. Because Closure reconciles back to the Business Case, the project finishes against the very promise it started with.

Throughout, Lumen is your second pair of eyes. Its free checks run constantly and quietly; open the panel whenever the attention count invites you to, and it will point you to the screen that needs a look.

The detail

Screen by screen, field by field

What each screen is for, and what the key fields on it mean. The app also carries short inline help beside the fields as you work.

Projects home

The front door. It lists every project you hold in this browser and lets you open, create, import or remove one. Each project is a self-contained record you can save to a folder or export as a file.

On this screen
  • Project list — every project you have, with its reference, name and when it was last edited. Click one to open it.
  • New project — starts a clean project and takes you to a fresh Business Case.
  • Import — loads a project from a .json file, for example a backup or one shared with you.
  • Demo — the worked example project, there to explore and safe to remove.

Business Case

Steps 1–4, 9

The foundation and the baseline. Everything the rest of the app relies on is set here. Approving it is the Green Light that baselines the project.

Key fields
  • Project reference — the single identifier (format YYYY-NNN) that threads every screen into one story.
  • Project name — the plain name the project is known by; it propagates to every screen and export.
  • Purpose and background — why the project exists and the problem it solves, in a few plain sentences.
  • Objectives — what the project must achieve, stated so you can tell whether it did.
  • Scope, in and out — what the project will deliver and, just as important, what it explicitly will not.
  • Benefits — the outcomes the business will gain, each with a baseline (the number you start from), a measure, and an owner who will be accountable for it.
  • Cost — the estimated cost to deliver, against which the benefits are weighed.
  • Go-Live date — the single target date the app mirrors onto the schedule's Go-Live milestone, so the two never drift apart.
  • Key risks and assumptions — the few that genuinely bear on the decision to proceed.
  • Approval and baseline — the sign-off that records the Green Light and freezes the baseline the project delivers against.

Project Plan & Schedule

Steps 5–6

The milestone spine and the resources against it. Not a giant task list, just the few milestones that drive the date, sequenced along the critical path.

Key fields
  • Milestones — each with a name, a level, a due date and an owner. Add the handful that matter, in the order they must happen.
  • Go-Live milestone — mirrors the Go-Live date from the Business Case, so changing one changes both.
  • Dependencies and sequence — which milestone must finish before the next can start; this is what defines the critical path.
  • Resources — the people and suppliers against the work, and how much of them you actually have.
  • Status — where each milestone stands, which feeds the schedule's contribution to the weekly colour.

RAID + Decision log

Step 7

The project's working memory. One place for Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies, plus the decisions and actions that come out of running the project.

Key fields
  • Risks — what could go wrong, with a likelihood and impact, an owner, and a response.
  • Assumptions — what you have taken as true to get moving, each with an owner and a date to confirm it.
  • Issues — what has already gone wrong and needs managing now, with an owner and an action.
  • Dependencies — what you rely on from others, with the owner and the date it is needed.
  • Decisions — significant decisions, who made them and when, so the trail stays clear.
  • Actions — the tasks arising, with an owner and a due date, tracked to done.

Weekly Report

Step 8

Your honest weekly status, and the base of the reporting chain. Report the real colour: an honest amber is worth more than a hopeful green.

Key fields
  • RAG status — red, amber or green, the single headline colour for the week.
  • Trend — improved, stable or declined since last week, so the direction is clear at a glance.
  • Narrative — a short, honest summary of where the project is, curated from what it actually holds.
  • Highlights and lowlights — what went well and what did not, in a line or two each.
  • Look-ahead — the few things coming up that matter, so the reader knows what to watch.

Change Request + log

After baseline

Control after the Green Light. Once the project is baselined, a change to scope, time, cost, benefits or a deliverable runs through a request that is raised, decided and logged, not a quiet edit.

Key fields
  • Change reference — the identifier (CR-NN) that ties the change to the baseline it affects.
  • Description — what is changing and why, stated plainly.
  • Impact — the effect on scope, time, cost or benefits, so the decision is made with eyes open.
  • Status — where the request stands: drafted, submitted, approved or rejected.
  • Decision and date — who decided and when, which the log keeps for the record.
  • Change log — the running history of every request, so the baseline's movement is fully traceable.

Closure & Handover

End

The bookend to the Business Case. It reconciles the project back to the promise it began with, then hands over cleanly.

Key fields
  • Baseline acquittal — each baselined benefit, cost and date, shown against what was actually delivered.
  • RAID close-out — confirmation that every open risk, issue, action and dependency is closed or handed on.
  • Lessons learned — what worked and what to do differently, captured for the next project.
  • Handover to the business — who takes ownership of the outcome and the ongoing benefits tracking.
  • Closure sign-off — the final approval that retires the Project Reference and closes the project.
Lumen

Lumen, the assistant

The slide-in panel on every screen. Free and offline by default, with an optional AI layer on your own Claude key. It never changes your data on its own.

What you can do
  • Check my project — runs the free, deterministic checks across every screen and lists what it finds.
  • What needs my attention — sorts those findings so the most pressing sit at the top; click one to jump to its screen.
  • Explain this screen or field — with a key set, Lumen teaches as you go, in plain language.
  • Help me fill this in — with a key set, Lumen drafts a value from what it knows and any context you attach, for you to accept or edit.
  • Attach context — paste a brief or note for Lumen to use, held with the project and sent only to Anthropic on your own key.
  • Set up your key — a gentle wizard adds your Claude key, tests it, and can remove it in one click. You can skip it entirely; the app works without AI.
Optional

Setting up the AI assistant (your Claude key)

The app is fully usable with no key: the free checks and the attention count work offline, forever. The steps below are only for switching on Lumen's AI help, and they take about two minutes.

Lumen's AI layer runs on your own Claude API key, so there is no cost to SSLM and nothing is sent to us. You create a key once in your Anthropic account, then add it to the app.

Claude only, for now. Lumen currently supports the Claude API from Anthropic only. Keys from other assistants, such as ChatGPT (OpenAI), Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini, will not work, because each uses a different connection. Support for other providers may come later. The free, offline checks need no key or provider at all.

Step 1 — Create a Claude API key

  1. Go to console.anthropic.com → API keys and sign in, or create an account.
  2. Click Create Key, give it a name (for example "SSLM Light"), and copy the key. It begins with sk-ant-.
  3. Copy it straight away, as the console shows the full key only once.
Important: API keys need pre-paid credits. A Claude API key draws on pre-paid credits in your Anthropic account, which are separate from any Claude.ai subscription. If the account has no credits, add a small amount under Billing in the console. This is the most common reason a first connection test fails. Usage for this app is very light.

Step 2 — Add the key to the app

  1. Open the app and open a project (or the demo).
  2. Click the Lumen tab docked on the right edge to open the panel.
  3. Start any AI action (for example Explain this screen), or choose Set up your key. Lumen opens a short wizard.
  4. Paste the key, click Test & save, and wait for the confirmation. Once the test passes, the AI features switch on.

Good to know

Getting the most from it

A few tips

Ready to start?
Download the app
Please read first

Caveats, liability and ownership

The app is free, and it comes with a few plain conditions. In short: use it, enjoy it, but check its output, keep your own backups, and know that it stays owned by SSLM.

In one line. A free helper, offered with no promises and no liability. Check its output, keep backups, take real advice where it counts, and remember it stays owned by SSLM. This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice; the formal Terms of Use apply.