IS Consulting Process IS 6005

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IS Consulting Process (IS 6005)

• Masters in Business Information Systems 2006 /
  2007
• Programme in Professional Information System
  Practices

Fergal Carton Business Information Systems
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(No Transcript)
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Opposing views of IT function

• Business Executives view of IT
• Apprehensive
• Technocracy
• New feature focus
• Little relevance to real world

• IT executives view of Business
• Short-sighted
• Lacking in vision
• Unwilling to exploit IT

Increasingly complex IT, rapidly changing economy
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CEO view of IT function

• Black hole of Calcutta
• Whats all the fuss about?
• IT operations

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2 basic questions

• How to plan and prioritise ICT investments?
• How to manage ICT operations?

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Why is planning important?

• IT tends to evolve, not follow a plan
• Difficult to align IT to corporate goals
• Perception of poor value from IT
• IT considered too operational
• IT can constrain as well as enable
• IT considered a major driver of cost

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Consulting Practice

• Typical consulting assignments
• Select and justify investment in new s/w
• Improve IT planning process
• Advise on IT cost reduction costs
• Develop requirements for new system
• Build business case for new system

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Why look to consultants?

• Experience lacking internally
• Unable to resolve an issue
• Havent got the resources
• Need an unbiased opinion
• Organisational gridlock

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IS the symptoms

• Overspending need to rationalise
• Control need to centralise
• Efficiency need to standardise
• Unable to see return on investment
• Outage risk too reliant on IT?
• IS organisation not performing

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Do you know more than the client?

• No, youre not in their business
• Organisations are large and complex
• In discovery phase, you are unique
• Cross functional focus
• Up to date
• Neutral
• Actual process (not Head Office version)
• Internalise what you are hearing
• Dealing with the What do you think trap

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What do consultants do?

• Tell you what you already know?
• Guarantee project completion?
• Take ownership of issues?
• Energise an existing project team?
• Cost you a lot of money?

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What do consultants not do?

• Give the answer up front
• Give their services for free
• Make a client look bad
• Replace clients own staff
• Get involved in politics

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Information Systems

• Types of assistance
• High level strategy
• Feasibility study
• Requirements specification
• Package selection
• Understanding costs of IS operations
• Know-how that you bring to the table
• Frameworks to present and prioritise requirements
• Trading off requirements when you cant do
  everything
• Technology and business awareness best practice
• Project management skills
• Communication skills

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Consulting process

• Process of consulting
• Understand the requirement
• Why is client using a consultant?
• What is the value you can bring to project?
• Writing a proposal
• Estimating FTEs
• Project management
• Project phases and tasks
• Project resources
• Deliverables
• Profitability of contract
• Communication with client

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PPARS project

• Process of consulting
• Understand the requirement
• Why did HSE use a consultant?
• What was the value brought by Deloitte Touche?
• Project management
• Task definition?
• Project resources?
• Deliverables?
• Profitability of contract?
• Communication with client?

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Topics covered

• The IS Consulting Business
• What does the IS Consultant do?
• Why do organizations engage consultants?
• Managing Client Engagements
• Making the sales pitch, writing a good proposal
• Requirements analysis and understanding the
  client goals
• Task definition and project resources
• Preparing and presenting the solution options
• Making the most of Client Relationships
• Communication and selling on
• Building long-term client relationships
• Working your client base

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Case study approach

• Work in groups or individually
• Simulates consulting assignments
• Facilitates presentation / debate of findings
• Practical evaluations will be partly case based

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Marking scheme (draft)

• A group consulting assignment next term
• Worth 20
• With presentation
• An individual assignment this term
• Worth 20
• With presentation
• Written exam, May / June
• (worth 60)

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Recommended text

• Rick Freedman (2000). The IT Consultant A
  Commonsense Framework for Managing the Client
  Relationship.

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Reading for 2nd Oct

• Peter Keen, BPM, Future of IT
• http//www.actiontech.com/library/Documents/Prote
  ctedDocuments/BPMFutureofIT.pdf