bi consultation process
TRANSCRIPT
BICONSULTANCYPROCESS
CreatedbyAlasdairThomson.
UNDERSTANDINGPROCESS&EFFORT
BICPVersion1.1
CONSULTANCY?WHATIS
“”
Anadvisoryservicecontractedfor&providedtobusinessesbyspeciallytrainedandqualifiedpersonswhoassist,inanobjecQveandindependentmanner,theclientbusinesstoidenQfyproblems,recommendsoluQonstotheseproblems,assist,whenrequested,
intheimplementaQonofsoluQons
AGENDA
PART1 THECONSULTANCYPROCESSAnoverviewoftheconsultancyprocess,thestagesinvolvedincludingtheacQons&expectaQonsinvolvedineachstep.
PART2 ENTRYAnoverviewofthesteps&acQonsrequiredtomakeasuccessfulintroducQonaswellasthecreaQon&developmentofarelaQonship.
PART3 DIAGNOSISAnoverviewofthestepsinvolvedindiagnosingtheclientsbusinessneeds&howthesecouldbeovercomeoraddressed.
PART4 INFLUENCINGAnoverviewoftheapproachtoinfluencingtheclient&takingacQonstodelivertheresults,beitareportororganisingthechangestogeneraterevenue.
PART5 CONTRACTINGAnoverviewofthedevelopmentprocess&keyexpectaQonsthatshouldbeobservedbyboththeclient&consultant.
PART6 TRANSITIONAnoverviewofthetransiQonphasealongwiththeclientexpectaQonsofhandover&support.
THECONSULTANCYPROCESS
ENTRY
DIAGNOSIS
INFLUENCING
CONTRACTING
TRANSITION
1PART
THECONSULTANCYPROCESSYouneedaclear&welldefinedasaplan,bothforyourselfandtheclient.Thishelpsyoutocreate&managetheclient
relaQonship.Thesecanbebrokendownintofivebroadstages…
Create&buildarelaQonship,scopingoutchallenges&establish
possibiliQes,whatitshouldaimtoachieve,thelikelyQmeandeffortrequired,andpossiblerisksand
difficulQes.
ENTRY
GatheringinformaQon,understandingthepeople&thebusinesstodevelopideastoarriveatpossibleopQons&defineaplanof
acQon
DIAGNOSIS
RecommendingacQons&soluQonstoaddressbusinessneedsor
challenges.Howwecandeliverdeliverresults,beit
asingleorseriesofoutput,orbusiness
changes.
INFLUENCING
Wherethebusiness&consultantagreestheworkrequired,theconsultant'srole,the
client'sroleandhowtheworkshouldbetackled
CONTRACTING
EnsuringsuccessfulimplementaQon,thattheclientbusinesscancarryonwithoutyou.Leaving
thegroundclearforfutureinvolvement&work.
TRANSITION
2PART
THECONSULTANCYPROCESS
ENTRY
DIAGNOSIS
INFLUENCING
CONTRACTING
TRANSITION
Researchtheclient&theirbusiness,IdenQfykeypeople&thedecisionmakersandtailoryourapproachtosuitthe
situaQon.
Clientsarebusy,theirQmeisshort.Beclear&conciseinwhatyousay,
highlightprevioussuccesses&saQsfied
clients.
PlanaheadquesQonsyouwanttoasktheclient&selectquesQonsthatwilladdtoyourknowledge&sQmulatetheclients
interest.
BuildrelaQonshipsslowly&useexisQngsuccessestohelplistencarefully&beopentochallenge
boundaries;ofwhatcouldbe.
ESTABLISHINGNEWCLIENTS
TAPINTOYOURNETWORK
ASKINTELLIGENTQUESTIONS
VALIDATEYOURDISCUSSION
DOYOURHOMEWORK
THOUSANDWORDSPICTURESPAINTA
DEMONSTRATEDemonstraQngservices&experQseyouofferiscrucial,enabling
theclienttounderstand&visualiseyourUniqueSellingProposiQon.ThissQmulatesinterest&willhelpclientsvisualisewhat“couldbe”whilstallowingyoutoprovideproofofthepossibiliQes&combaQnganyiniQalobjecQonsorconcerns.
INSTIGATEPotenQalclientsmayseetheneedforyourservicebutareobenwaryaboutspendingasubstanQalamountonspec.OvercomethisobjecQonbyofferingastarterservice.Forexample,offeringaone-day“RentMyBrain”strategysession,whichprovides
potenQalclientsawaytotest-driveourexperQse&servicesforanominalfee;whilegeengagreatdealofrealvalue.
OUTLINEOFSTEPSTOESTABLISHRAPPORT,BUILDONTRUST&ADDRESSCLIENTCONCERNS
ENRTY&CONTRACTINGMEETING
DEFINE&REASONDefiniQonofthebusiness
problems&clientsreasonswhyproblemneedstobeaddressed.**Watchforhiddenagendas**
ESTABLISHCRITERIACriteriathatanyoutcomemustsaQsfy,whatisthedesiredstatetheclientisaimingfor&why.
SETBOUNDARIESLimitsofclientauthority/power&ClientsexpectaQonsofyou.Theroleclientexpectyouto
fulfill?i.e.consultant/surrogatemanager.
OUTLINECONTEXTLevelofsupportyourequirefromclient,extentofconfidenQality,resourceconstraints,deadlines,budgets,accesstostakeholders.
THECONSULTANCYPROCESS
ENTRY
DIAGNOSIS
INFLUENCING
CONTRACTING
TRANSITION
3PART
DIAGNOSIS‘Youcanovercomepoor
planning;youcanovercomepoorcoding.Butnobodyhasever
succeededwithpoorrequirements.”
DTogetwhatyouwant,youmustaccuratelydefineit,goodbusinessrequirementsanalysishelpsachieve
thisobjecQve.
Itleadsyoutobejerunderstandingofthebusinessneeds&helpsbreakthemdownintodetailed,specificrequirementsthateveryoneagreeson.
IDENTIFYKEYSTAKEHOLDERSIdenQfythekeypeoplewhowillbeaffectedbytheproject.Startbyclarifyingexactlywhotheproject'ssponsoris.Thismaybeaninternalorexternalclient.Eitherway,itisessenQalthatyouknowwhohasthefinalsayonwhatwillbeincludedintheproject'sscope,andwhatwon't.
1IDENTIFYEND-USERS
STAKEHOLDERINTERVIEWS
2STAKEHOLDERREQUIREMENTSAskeachofthesekeystakeholders,orgroupsofstakeholders,fortheirrequirementsfromthenewproductorservice.Whatdotheywantandexpectfromthisproject?
JOINTINTERVIEWSORFOCUSGROUPS
“USECASES”
BUILDPROTOTYPES
CATEGORISEREQUIREMENTSGrouptherequirementsintooneoffourcategories:FuncMonal-Howaproduct/service/soluQonshouldfuncQonfromtheend-user'sperspecQve.OperaMonal-OperaQonsthatmustbecarriedoutinthebackgroundtokeeptheproductorprocessfuncQoningoveraperiodofQme.Technical-Technicalissuestobeconsideredtosuccessfullyimplementtheprocessorcreatetheproduct.TransiMonal-Stepsneededtoimplementthenewproductorprocesssmoothly.
3
IMPACTANALYSIS
SCENARIOANALYSIS
4INTERPRET&RECORDREQUIREMENTSOnceyouhavegatheredandcategorisedalloftherequirements,determinewhichrequirementsareachievable,andhowthesystemorproductcandeliverthem.
Onceyoucompleteyouranalysisawrijendocumentmustbecreated.Thisbecomesthe"contract"forcreaQngtheproductorsystemthataddressesallthe
needsofyourclient&theirbusiness.
BUSINESSREQUIREMENTSANALYSIS
WRITETITLEHERE
5CLIENTSIGNOFFONREQUIREMENTSFinally,makesureyougetthesignedagreementofkeystakeholders,orrepresentaQvesofkeystakeholdergroups,confirmingtherequirementspreciselyreflecttheirneeds.Thisformalcommitmentwillplayanimportantpartinensuringthattheprojectdoesnotsufferfromscopecreeplateron.
THECONSULTANCYPROCESS
ENTRY
DIAGNOSIS
INFLUENCING
CONTRACTING
TRANSITION
4PART
INFLUENCINGCLIENTSOBJECTIVES
Consultantsuseabroadrangeofskills&acQviQestoinfluencebutchiefamongst
themistheabilitytobuildtrust,demonstrateexperQse&provideinformaQon&soluQons
toanygivensituaQon.
AspartoftheconsulQngprocess,whengoingthroughtheinfluencingstage,thereareeight
fundamentalobjecQves,arrangedhierarchically.
ProvideRequestedInformaQon
ProvideSoluQontoGivenProblem
ConductDiagnosisthatmayRe-defineProblem
ProvideRecommendaQons
AssistImplementaQon
BuildConsensus&Commitment
FacilitateClientLearning
ImproveClientBusinessEffecQveness
ADDITIONALGOALS
TRAD
ITIONALGOALS
QUICKSTEPSTOINFLUENCECLIENTS
02 ENCOURAGEEMOTIONSListen&actonclientfeedback,aimtocreate“momentsof
truth”,youneedthehonest&opendiscussionstosQmulateideas&obtainclientbuy-in.
03 STAYNIMBLE&BEBOLDThe“learn”in“test&learn”meansdiscardingwhatisn’tworkingwhiledevisingnew,moreeffecQvemethodswhile
makingwhatISworkingevenbejer.
01 PAINTAHOLISTICPICTURESupplementdataanalyQcswithhumaninteracQon,
includingdirectclientfeedback,tocreateamorecompleteportraitofyourclient.
THECONSULTANCYPROCESS
ENTRY
DIAGNOSIS
INFLUENCING
CONTRACTING
TRANSITION
5PART
CONSULTANTSFUNDAMENTALSOF
DELIVERINGPROJECTSInconsultancyworkitiscrucialthattheconsultantsareallcapableofdesigning&deliveringprojectstoclientrequirements,theagreedbudget&milestonedates,lestitimpactsprojectfinancialsorclienttrust.
DEALINGWITHPEOPLEIfmanagingrelaQonshipsisthekeytosuccessinconsulQng,thenitisthebehaviorandinterpersonalskillsoftheconsultantthatmakethathappen.Allreallyskilledconsultantshaveexcellentinterpersonalskills.
WORKINGWITHCLIENTSEmpathy&understandingoftheclientsworld,thebusinessoperaQon,thepressurestheyface&thedependencyontheconsultantsefforts.Tothatendconstant&clearclientcommunicaQoniscrucial.
THEDEVELOPMENTLIFECYCLE
PROTOTYPINGCreaQngarudimentaryworkingmodelwhichis
reworkedunQlanacceptableprototypeisfinallyachieved.
CONCEPT&DISCOVERYIntheDiscoverystagethe
consultantconsiderstechnology,data&theapplicaQonlayers.
DESIGNINGThesourcingofdata&
creaQonofthedatamodels,reports&dashboards.
TESTINGEnsuringaccuratedatamodels,ETL,front-end
objects,useraccess&outputgeneraQngprocesses.
UPLOAD&RELEASEAcQveclienthandoverofnewlycreatedserviceor
objects,includestraining&acceptance.
ITERATIONS(AGILE)
MAINTENANCEHandoverofprocesses,
documentaQontosupportteams&integraQoninto
BAUprocesses.
CODINGTheformalintegraQonofnewdataordatamodels&
addiQonofadvancedcalculaQons&metrics
AGILEDEVELOPMENTLIFECYCLEAgiledevelopmentisagroupofdevelopmentmethodsinwhichsoluQonsevolvethroughcollaboraQonbetweenself-
organising,cross-funcQonalteams.ItpromotesadapQveplanning,evoluQonarydevelopment,earlydelivery,conQnuousimprovement,andencouragesrapidandflexibleresponsetochange.
DAILYSCRUMMEETINGS
NOCHANGESINDURATIONOFSPRINT
SPRINTBACKLOG
OUTPUTINCREMENT
CLIENTINCREMENTALREFINEMENT
DEVELOPMENTTEAM
SCRUMMASTER
THECONSULTANCYPROCESS
ENTRY
DIAGNOSIS
INFLUENCING
CONTRACTING
TRANSITION6PART
AIMEDATMEASURINGTHERESULTOFTHEWORKINTERMSOFLEARNING&BUSINESSBENEFIT,LOOKINGTODISENGAGEFROMTHECLIENTRETAININGGOODWILL.
TRANSITION&WITHDRAWAL
GENERALEVALUATION
To decide what & when to evaluate; client relationship,
project work or business benefit.
CLIENTHANDOVER
To produce any supporting documentation, data dictionaries
& provide end-user training.
SUPPORT&MAINTENANCE
To agree with the client the support expectations & over what length of period; including costs.
NEWOPPOTUNITIES
Look to generate new revenue opportunities with the client,
expanding upon the relationship.
C O N T A C T M E
ALASDAIRTHOMSON11NewhallRoadKirkSandellDoncasterSouthYorkshireDN31QQ
+447540955731
AlasdairThomson
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