subject: Consulting Procurement Best Practice - Market Research Reports On Aarkstore Enterprise [print this page] Introduction Introduction
Research from Orbys has revealed that organizations approach consulting procurement in an inconsistent and fragmented manner. Available data are not used to best effect, diverse practices and non-standard processes are implemented simultaneously, and value is not measured, leading to budget overruns and poor project scoping. There is considerable opportunity for improvement in all areas.
Scope
*Analysis of the recent trends observed regarding the ways in which organizations set about hiring and managing third-party management consultants.
*This guide outlines Orbys own consulting procurement best-practice methodology that it uses with its clients.
Highlights
Consulting projects tend to be ad hoc, and tailored specifically to a unique problem that an organization is facing. The first question to ask is whether using a third-party consultant is the right way to solve your specific problem. In addition, try to plan any spend you intend to make on third-party consultants well in advance.
Reasons to Purchase
*Provides advice on how to plan spend on consulting projects, which regularly overrun their budget allocations, costing millions of dollars each year.
*Planning engagements effectively across an organization can create further savings by enabling strategic leverage during the negotiation phase.
*Managing consultants properly enables "win-win" realtionships that create more value from engagagements in the long-term.
Table of Contents :
Overview 1
Introduction 1
About the co-author 1
Summary 1
Methodology 1
Executive Summary 2
Seven best-practice considerations 2
Table of Contents 3
Table of figures 3
Table of tables 3
Consulting Procurement Best Practice 4
Proper procurement saves money 4
Select the optimum sourcing approach 4
Define the scope of the engagement to be delivered 5
Enroll and align your stakeholders 7
Select the right candidate consultancies 8
Competitively tender the engagement and execute the right contract 10
Be clear on what you are buying and how you are paying 13
Manage the consultant and realize the value you wanted 15
APPENDIX 18
Further reading 18
Ask the analyst 18
Orbys Consulting 18
Disclaimer 18
List of Tables
Table 1: Good reasons for using a third-party management consultant 5
Table 2: Bad reasons for using a third-party management consultant 5
Table 3: The key consideration is specifying the scope of an engagement 7
Table 4: Key issues in stakeholder management 8
Table 5: Characteristics of the right consultancy and the right contract 12
Table 6: Key commercial considerations 14
Table 7: Key factors in successful engagement management 17
List of Figures
Figure 1: Engagements with a pre-agreed scope of work 6
Figure 2: Use of market intelligence (MI) in consultancy procurement 9
Figure 3: Use of standard information systems 10
Figure 4: Engagements that have underdone competitive tendering 11
Figure 5: Use of a standard contract format 12
Figure 6: Pricing basis for over half of total spend 14
Figure 7: Engagements managed in a standardized way 15
Figure 8: Engagements in which the value is measured 16
