Managing outside consultants requires a specific set of skills. Among those skills are the abilities to select the right people, to clearly identify and explain the assignment, and to maintain appropriate management discipline during the length of the assignment. IT managers must recognize the need to deal with several circumstances. Consultants have to be managed so that their leaving will not create difficulties. Once consultants complete the assignment, they should be able to move on.

IT managers and consultants should work together to provide a level of value beyond the basics of the project. For example, simply completing a project may not be enough; there will be a requirement for documentation so someone in the organization can continue to manage the project. Training staff members who take over a project prior to the consultant’s leaving is another exa mple of added value.

An additional concern is selecting consultants to carry out a project. Different consulting organizations offer different sets of skills and services. Finding a consulting organization is not difficult, but it can be a challenge to find the appropriate organization that can produce professional results. Working with consultants is expensive, and it is important to make the right choice with the first choice. IT managers who thoroughly understand how to hire and manage consultants benefit the most from using consultants.

WAYS OF MANAGING CONSULTANTS

Because IT managers are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of a project, they must thoroughly document a project’s history in case the project fails. When the heat rises because of a failed IT project, facts can sometimes get lost in the scramble to place blame. Consultants have experience in dealing with projects in difficulty and they can be adroit in defending themselves. Also, consultants probably have a better set of sales skills than many IT managers and can use those selling skills to bolster their position in the event of difficulty.

Whether or not a project is in difficulty, an astute IT manager is careful to gather and document facts about consultants’ work. Gather this information as soon as consultants arrive and continue to do so throughout the life of the project.

Too often, the introduction of a consulting firm to a project is viewed as a panacea. Often, an IT organization abdicates de facto management of the project to consultants because the consultants have the required skill, the experience, and the personnel to accomplish the project. Also, many IT managers mistake the high expense of hiring consultants as an assurance of success.

Ultimately, an IT organization cannot pass off a project’s success or failure to consultants. Managing consultants is no different than any other IT management issue and, to be successful, it must be done well. Managing the relationship among consultants, members of the IT department, and business customers adds another level of complexity to the already complex issue of managing an IT department. A part of initial project planning is allocating resources for managing consultants.

REASONS FOR HIRING CONSULTANTS

Requiring the assistance of consultants can be due to a number of circumstances. Sometimes, as in the case of Y2K projects, consultants are needed because they possess a certain level of skill and experience to carry out specific work. Assignments of that type are referred to in the consulting industry as staff supplementation.

Managing supplemental staff is the most straightforward. Usually, such consultants work under the direct control of a manager, and assignments are closely monitored. Most staff supplementation assignments are completed satisfactorily. Any problems that may arise can be easily handled because the scope of the consulting assignment is limited, and the IT manager responsible for the effort thoroughly understands the project.

When an IT project grows in size and complexity, IT management often has to decide whether or not the department has the necessary resources and experience. When the answer is no, bringing in consultants is the answer. IT projects need not be large or complex to require the assistance of c onsultants. In smaller projects, an IT department may not have the required staff or skill. In such a case, bringing in a consulting firm is a sound business decision.

When an organization decides to adopt new technology, it must weigh the risk associated with that technology and how long it will be until the technology yields benefits. Both risks can be reduced by hiring consultants experienced with a particular new technology. Because consultants are involved in a variety of assignments for different clients, they often become familiar with the new technology as soon as it is introduced and thereby provide sound assistance.

When considering a consulting firm for implementing new technology, move carefully. It is easy for an unscrupulous consultant to quic kly gain superficial knowledge of a given technology. Such consultants banter about new terms associated with an emerging technology to deceive potential customers. IT managers must see beyond a consultant’s marketing approach in order to clearly determine the level of skill and experience the consultant has with the new technology.

Another word of caution: some consultants work well with the technology but lack skill in dealing with people and documenting assignments. When selecting a consultant in new areas of technology, find someone who not only can deal with the technology, but can also provide training and documentation. The goal is not only to move to a new technology, it is also to be certain that the IT organization can manage the new technology once a consultant leaves.

IT management sometimes decides to turn an entire project over to a consulting organization because of resource or skill constraints. Sometimes, giving an entire project over to consultants is done reluctantly. Sometimes, particularly in projects seen as high risk or otherwise undesirable, IT management willingly hands over an assignment to consultants.

Often, consultants are given full responsibility for legacy systems because IT organizations would rather not manage these systems, which poses processing and management challenges. Handing over legacy systems to consultants cannot be seen as a final solution to legacy-related problems. IT management must oversee them. If, in handing the work over to consultants, an IT department has not remained aware of changes made in legacy applications or in operational procedures, unfortunate surprises may arise.

If an IT function is poorly managed or is perceived to be poorly managed by senior management, consultants may be hired to manage the IT department. In such circumstances, members of the IT department are not going to be in a position to exercise control over the consultants. As such, consultants are in charge, often in spite of pronouncements from senior management that such is not the case. Dealing with this type of situation is beyond the scope of this tutorial, but it is worth noting.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE IT CUSTOMER

If the consulting assignment is to be successful, IT managers (i.e., customers) must understand what has to be done to ensure success. The first consideration has to be that the customer, despite any understanding with the consulting firm to the contrary, is the “owner” of the system and, as a result, has to accept final responsibility for the success or failure of the project. The work of the consultants, good or bad, affects the business of the organization to a greater extent than it affects the consultants. If the project fails, the organization is harmed. Consultants will also be harmed, but they will also move on to the next project. A salient question here has to be, “Who has the most to lose if things do not go well?” The answer is: the customer.

Because customers have the most to lose in a relationship with a consulting organization, they must understand the ramifications of dealing with consultants and be prepared to manage the relationship to their benefit. They must understand how to manage a consulting relationship. The following points help to make clear issues in selecting and managing IT consultants:

-   The customer must have a very clear understanding of the work to be done. As consulting organizations are considered for the assignment, the customer must be willing to devote whatever time and effort will be required to make certain the consultants understand the deliverables they will be expected to produce. Those deliverables have to be committed to writing and the document signed by all parties.

-   A search should be conducted in order to identify several consulting organizations that have the capability to do the required work. It may be that the organization has a relationship with a consulting organization, and as a result, that firm is in a favorable position; but it is always a good practice to request several bids for any work to be contracted.

-   Formal proposals should be solicited from each of the consulting organizations that have an interest in the project. Those proposals should respond to the customer’s set of project criteria. Part of this criteria is the set of project deliverables. Customers should develo p a baseline from which all responses can be judged.

-   If there is a need, the customer should hire someone to assist in developing the criteria required to prepare the proposals for the consultants. If help is required in preparing the proposal, the work should be done by a disinterested third party, who will not be involved in bidding for the project.

-   The customer must be aware of, and resist, the tendency to be swayed by well-done marketing campaigns. Being able to market services well should not be taken as assurance that the same level of competency will carry over into the technical work.

-   Resumes of individual consultants proposed for the project should be reviewed. The IT customer should also ask to meet with each person proposed for the project to make certain that he or she will be a good fit for the project and IT organization.

Establish an agreement with the consulting firm such that those candidates the customer has selected for the project are the ones who show up on the project. It does occur that people are switched. Usually, that new person is not of the same caliber as the person who was originally presented. This may cost extra, but is often worth the added expense.

- Carefully review references supplied by consulting firms. In checking those references, try to find out the names of other organizations for whom a consulting company has done work. Obviously, the consulting firm is going to provide the names of satisfied customers. A little extra digging can sometimes turn up important pieces of information. When negative information is uncovered, a customer can ask the consulting firm for answers.

- The customer should inquire about the existence of a quality assurance function within the consulting organization. Consulting organizations concerned about quality review proposals to make certain they stand a reasonable chance of successfully completing assignments. If there are doubts, such consulting firms will work with a customer to overcome any problems.

- Consulting organizations often offer a standard contract. Such an agreement may not be adequate for a customer, who should insist on adjustments. In any event, the contract must be reviewed by a customer’s legal department before it is signed.

- A contract offered by a consulting organization may provide too much protection for the consulting firm at the potential expense of a customer. A contract may be ambiguous about responsibility for performance. When a contract uses vague terms, rather than precise, concrete terms about the level of work, quality, responsibility, and support, a customer must be cautious. Customers have found, to their dismay, that when things go wrong, the responsibility of the consulting firm, as outlined in the contract, is limited.

- The financial terms of the assignment must be clearly outlined in the contract. The arrangement may be for time and materials, or it may be a fixed bid. In either event, items such as overtime, travel expenses, and other costs should be agreed upon in writing.

-   Although it may seem obvious, one of the items that the customer should pay attention to is that of having the workspace for the consultants ready for them before they arrive. It does happen that consultants show up and they do not have the hardware needed to begin work. Having the consultants sitting idle for several days while the hardware issues are being resolved is an unnecessary expense.

-   As is the case with any transaction involving legal liability, IT managers must consult an attorney.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONSULTANTS

Consulting assignments should be built on strong relationships between customers and consulting firms. A consultant’s objective is to obtain the business. This should be done on the basis of values that can be very clearly articulated. Consultants are responsible to customers for the following:

-   Taking the time and effort to clearly understand the needs of the customer

-   Honestly evaluating their ability to provide the caliber of people required to successfully complete a project

-   Clearly and accurately reporting, in a timely manner, to customers on the status of a project

-   Candidly raising issues of concern

-   Making certain that their employees have strong work ethics and provide a fair value for their expense to customers

-   Ensuring that customer expectations are met and, when possible, exceeding those expectations

The list of responsibilities is considerably longer for customers than for consultants because customers bear a heavier burden for a project’s outcome. Customers must keep in mind that consultants deal with issues that arise everyday. So, in the event of difficulty, consultants are going, de facto, to be in a stronger position.

MANAGING AN ASSIGNMENT

Most consulting firms are ethical and have the best interests of customers as their primary concern, but some firms do not hold these values. When management at a consulting firm changes, the firm’s former values may change because they no longer fit the goals of the new management.

Because consultants are brought in to do work that, for whatever reason, is beyond the capability of the customer, consultants enjoy an immediate advantage over their customers. Customers may be vulnerable if their organization does not have experience in managing large IT projects. It may be that the decision has been made to move to a new technology about which no one in the customer’s organization has any experience. It may be that the level of pressure is such within the organization that no one pays appropriate attention to the work of the consultants. In any situation where the consultants have a clear advantage, the possibility exists that the advantage may be used to the detriment of the customer.

Customers have to guard against being in a position where consultants are the only ones with knowledge about how to maintain the applications once the consultants have developed them. Examples exist of situations where consultants have been at a customer site in excess of five years, doing essentially the same work, because none of the customer’s employees understand how the system works. Falling into such a situation is a failure on the part of IT management.

If consultants fulfill their obligations to a project but do not transfer project knowledge to members of the customer’s staff, the consultants have not completed their assignment. Any consulting assignment should include a transfer of knowledge from consultants to employees of the customer.

Sometimes, consultants are assigned to handle all cutting-edge or advance technology and members of the IT staff are given more mundane work. This arrangement is not advisable. A better approach is to find a way to involve members of IT in areas of a project where they can develop new skills and gain experience. A major reason that IT employees leave an organization is because they are not given opportunities to develop new experience and skills. By allowing only consultants to gain experience with new technology, IT management may inadvertently make their personnel look for these opportunities with other organizations.

THIRD-PARTY ASSISTANCE

One way to mitigate concern about managing consultants is hiring a third-party expert, who accepts responsibility to manage the consultants. This approach can be a sound business move. Nevertheless, responsibility for project outcome still rests with the customer. Such an expert must be able to deal effectively with consultants and should be compensated on the basis of the consultant’s performance.

Although using a third-party manager may be viewed as additional overhead, it can substantially benefit a project. Because consultants are hired to provide skills that the customer does not possess, IT management may have difficulty in determining whether the consultants are delivering what they are contracted to deliver. A thirdparty expert can make this determination and judge the quality of the consultants’ work.

A third-party manager is in an excellent position to verify that project knowledge transfers from consultants to members of the IT staff. Completing that transfer should be the responsibility of a third-party manager, who should develop a plan for this transfer and present the plan to IT management for approval. A third party can also bring a higher level of objectivity to the issues that are certain to arise; as the work moves forward, it will not have a particular turf to defend.

Using a third-party manager does not have to complicate IT’s management of a project. IT managers should find someone who has the required experience and have that person serve as liaison between the customer and the consulting organization. An expert can be valuable to IT management by simply posing appropriate questions about the project to consultants. Raising these questions forces consultants to use care in providing answers. A third party can also help level the playing field between the customer and the consulting organization.

A third-party arrangement does not have to be full-time. A third party can conduct periodic reviews. When such an assignment is not full-time, a customer and the third-party manager must be specific about meeting with consultants. Although having the third party available on a full-time basis is more effective, one working part -time can also considerably benefit a project.

CONCLUSION

Many IT consulting ventures work out with both parties pleased at project’s end. No matter what the outcome may be, however, final responsibility must be borne by the IT customer. Ideally, the process should be seen as a partnership where IT and the consultants, working together, provide solutions. When the process works well, it is possible to deliver results that exceed expectations.

From the start of a project, IT and consultants must agree on a set of deliverables due at the project’s end. There also has to be agreement about the deliverable’s level of quality. From the beginning, a strong partnership must be developed between the IT organization and the consulting group. The partnership must be focused on the customer’s needs.