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Aims of Course
CSC 40037
Problem Solving Skills for
Consultants
Introduction

• To provide you with the basic skills you need to undertake a consultancy role
• To provide an opportunity for you to practise and improve these skills
• To provide you the opportunity to apply these skills within a real-life project

Teaching team

Why do I want to be a Consultant?

• Mrs Susan Linkman – module coordinator,
CR122, office hours Monday 1 – 4 pm
s.linkman@keele.ac.uk

• Almost all development projects involve consultancy in some form
• Many of the skills that consultants possess overlap with the soft skills needed for successful developments • Mr Steve Linkman - module tutor,
CR23, please contact for appointments
• And special guests….

What is a Consultant?
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area or specialised field
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consultant)

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People management
Requirements capture
Project Management
Problem solving and Solution generation
Ethical Behaviour

What is a professional?
Skilful
Self-improving
Articulate
Committed
Lone and Team Player
Paid a fee for services

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Types of Consultant
• Internal
– Working for a company or organisation
– Skills available to all departments
– Set terms and conditions of employment

• External
– Employed by company for specific task
– Will have multiple clients
– Fee paid by clients for each job undertaken

What Is a Project?
• A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result” (PMBOK® Guide,
Third Edition, 2004, p. 5)
• Projects end when their objectives have been reached or the project has been terminated
• Projects can be large or small and take a short or long time to complete
• Successful projects follow set procedures and are well managed • Operations is work done to sustain the business
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Project Attributes
• A project:
–Should have a primary customer or sponsor
–Has a unique purpose
–Is temporary – has a beginning and an end
–Is developed using progressive elaboration
–Requires resources, often from various areas
–Involves uncertainty or risk
–It is not part of normal business

Project Sponsor
The project sponsor
• provides the direction and funding for the project
– Determines the size and scope of the project
– Will work with the consultant/team to ensure progression of project is still in line with the business goals – provides the budget

• has an interest in the system’s success
• serves as the primary point of contact for the consultant. 9

Is this a Project?
Anne Roberts, director of a project management office, has asked for an IT collaboration project to develop a list, and initial analysis of, potential IT projects to improve operations for her company.
She needs this information for a finance meeting in 1 months time.

Over to You
Have a look at the case study in your handout
•Do you think this a project?
– Underline all the attributes of a project
– Add descriptions of attributes

Look at the list of events
•Which of these are projects?
– If an activity is not project, why not?

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Types of Consultancy

Consultancy Procedures (1)
• Set up initial meeting with client

2 main types:
Process Improvement
– What needs changing?
– How is change to be managed?

Specialist task
– What specific task?
– Planning, execution, closure

Consultancy Procedures (2)
• Planning
Gathering Information
• Different methods o interviews, observation, surveys etc

Evaluating data
Using PS techniques to determine o What needs doing o How to do it

Using SLR’s to find out what is already happening

– Establish goals of project

• Agree:
– What needs to be done
– When it needs completing by
– Who is responsible for what
– Any budgetary constraints
– Who are the