Consulting

The consulting services have a common feature that they are generally performed in direct contact with the members of the client's project team. Even though that this is also true of training services, those have been covered in a separate category due to their importance for the success of the business solution implementation.

We have divided the consulting services offered by our company into the:

·         project management services,

·         business data preparation consulting, and

·         organizational and business process consulting.

Much more than in other service categories, the scope of consulting services is strongly influenced by the existing level of organization in a client company and also the state of their business processes and data.

For example, if the business processes in the client company are well defined and the organizational structure allows for efficient execution of project tasks, the consulting services can be kept at a minimum despite the large number of users or the wide scope of solution functionality included in the project.

On the other hand, when the client's business proceses and organizational structure are being defined for the first time as a part of the implementation project, the scope and share of the consulting services can be significant even on apparently small implementations.

Project management

For the project of implementing the business solution to be sucessful it is necessary to carry out some of the same steps as for the success of any other project. That means that it's necessary to:

·         define the project objectives,

·         determine the steps required for achieving those objectives,

·         prepare the plan for executing the determined steps, define assignments and responibilities, and identify the required resources,

·         recognize the assumptions on which the project plan relies on,

·         recognize the issues and the risks related to the execution of the plan,

·         plan the procedures for mitigation of project risks, but also for dealing with the consequences if a risk actually occurs,

·         track and monitor the execution of project steps and tasks,

·         control the assumptions,

·         manage the identified and watch out for new issues and risks.

Regardless of your industry, the successful execution of these activities can provide your endavour or project a good chance for success.

Project management encompasses the planning and management of all project activities and coordination of efforts between the members of the project team. It provides the constant oversight that the project decisions are made and the project results are measured in accordance with the defined project objectives. The effective project management ensures that the project tasks get executed on schedule and on budget.

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Project management services

Based on our previous experience in business solution implementation projects we have completely streamlined our services for a simpler project management, allowing our clients to have a clear insight in the phase of defining the project scope, and simple control during the project execution.

Despite our innovative approach the business reach and complexity of tasks included in business solution implementation makes it impossible to ensure the success of the project without effective project management.

All of the project management services we offer during the implementation of the business solution are subject to strict criteria regarding their purpose and efficiency. This way we can keep their amount at a minimum and still achieve the desired effects. These services include:

·         preparation of the project plan,

·         setup and administration of the project website,

·         preparation and execution of project meetings.

The project plan

After determining the scope of the services required for the implementation of the business solution we prepare the plan for their execution. The plan determines the deadlines and the schedule of project activities and also the assignments and responsibilities of the project team members.

It is common that the members of the client's project team are employees with the deepest understanding of client's business, and that their absence from the normal business activities presents both the cost and the risk for the client company. Because of that we prepare the project plan in such manner that the time they spend on the project disturbs the regular business acivity as little as possible.

The project plan is prepared in Microsoft Office Project, and the client must approve it before any of the project activities are executed.

The project website

At the very beginning of the project we set up a project website on our server. The project website is accessible to all project team members for the duration of the project and represents the main platform for project communication and documentation. The project website contains the:

·         contact information of all team members,

·         project callendar,

·         overview of project tasks and assignments,

·         overview of project issues and risks,

·         important project documents.

Project meetings

From the beginning to the end of the project it is necessary to coordinate the activities of the project team, to monitor the execution of project tasks, to resolve the project issues and manage the project risks. All this is done through the regular project meetings that normally take place once a week, but always in accordance with the requirements of a specific project or a project phase.

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Preparation of business data

One of the project tasks that harbors numerous project risks is the preparation of business data and the transfer of that data to the new business solution. Some of the possible risk sources are:

·         securing the cooperation of the provider of an existing business solution,

·         underestimating the quantity and overestimating the quality of business data by the client,

·         ability of client's employees to manage data in Microsoft Excel,

·         the readiness of important classification data required for business reporting etc.

The consequences of these risks may be:

·         exceeding the project deadlines and budget,

·         problems in using the solution due to incomplete or incorrect business data,

·         erroneous business reports,

·         additional unforseen costs of correcting the eroneous data.

Through consulting in business data preparation we can ensure that the necessary business data gets successfuly transfered to the new business solution on time.

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Organizational and business process consulting

An implementation of a new business solution into company's business often introduces minor or major changes into the existing organizational structure and the way the business activities are performed.

These changes are primarily resulting from the new manner in which the business information is managed and used, which often leads to establishment of new communication and decision making patterns in the business process.

To help our clients recognize and adopt those changes that will be useful for their business we provide them with the required consulting services during the implementation project. These services are strongly focused on the organizational and business process change and are most obvious during the:

·         identification of business requirements,

·         workshops for analyzing the fit between the capabilities of a standard solution and the identified business requirements,

·         workshops for modelling the necessary customizations of the standard solution,

·         workshops for adopting the new communication, decision making or workflow models introduced by the implementation of the business solution.

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Identifying the business requirements

We perform the identification of client's business requirements through meetings with the client and through presentations of the business solution.

The uniqueness of our approach is that we regularly only perform screening of the client's business requirements against the capabilities of the offered business solution, and document in detail only those requirements for which gaps are identified. This greatly increases the efficiency of the provided services and reduces the overall cost of the project.

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Workshops

In our experience, the best way to:

·         perform an in depth analysis of the solution against the client's business needs,

·         model the necessary solution customizations, or

·         adopt the changes introduced into the business activities by the new business solution,

is to carry out the actual business activities using the business solution, under the same conditions that are encountered in the client's day-to-day business environment.

For that purpose we perform the workshops in which all business process participants touched by the workshop content are included. Sucessful workshops provide the solutions for numerous issues encountered in the course of the project, and also help the mitigation of risks arrising from incorrect project assumptions or poorly managed client expectations.

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Some clarifications regarding the business consulting

The implementation of the ERP class business solution, including Microsoft Dynamics NAV, or the design and implementation of the business intelligence solution, requires of us more than just technical expertise. A very good understanding of the business processes that we aim to support or improve by these solutions is a must.

Even during the process of learning about the business solution, and achieving the mandatory, conditionally speaking, technical certifications, one begins to gather certain knowledge about the business processes.

But far more important is the experiance and knowledge gathered during the years of our work in business solution design and implementation. The very nature of the implementation project regularly imposes our involvment, direct or indirect, in resolving the client's organizational or business process issues. Even when we were no more than a mere observer on a project, we still gathered invaluable insights.

We are certain that you can recognize how your business may benefit from such knowledge and experience.

However, to prevent potential missunderstanding, we emphasize that we are not formally trained experts for business consulting, nor do we approach it in the same manner as the companies, organizations or consultants specialized in this field do. Our business consulting services are always and exclusively provided as part of the implementation of a business or a business intelligence solution.

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