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Project10X helps clients discover new possibilities, diagnose problems, analyze needs, and map solutions that deliver substantial ROI. Solution consulting services are rapid, high-value engagements that result in sound action recommendations.
Our solution consulting process is flexible and efficient. We tailor the approach to our client’s specific business circumstances. Most often, it takes just a few days to develop a valid diagnosis, roadmap, and action plan. The recommended level of effort is approximately 1 person-week for a client organization with one business location. This covers 1-day of preparation, 1-2 days on site, and 1-2 days to prepare analyses, and 1-day to present final recommendations. Where the client has multiple locations, add an additional 2 days per location for conducting the site visit and preparing the analysis.
Solution consulting services include the following categories of activities: vision, diagnosis, strategy roadmap, business ROI, and action plan.
At the beginning of the discovery process, we meet with client decision-makers to review the discovery process and set mutual expectations. Project10X presents an executive vision exploring what is possible today and what this could mean for the client’s business. Together, we discuss stakeholder concerns and priorities, agree as to the scope of the discovery service, and establish a joint schedule for the engagement.
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The next activity is to gather facts, diagnose the current situation, and analyze gaps between “what-is” and what is “to-be”.
- Fact gathering. To gather facts, we prepare a fact-gathering guide, review documentation, survey site(s), interview key people, and conduct workshops. This provides a picture of the current situation.
- Situation assessment. A situation assessment examines "what-is," how the world is changing, where we are relative to where we need to be, and what we need to do about it. The situation assessment has both external and internal dimensions. External scans probe trends and drivers in the business environment from the perspective of customers, providers, competitors, technology vendor, and industry groups. Internal diagnostic audits examine operating units and corporate systems to help identify strengths and weaknesses, isolate the primary problems and discern the root causes. We audit existing business practices, production workflow, and infrastructure.
The situation assessment diagnoses problems and opportunities. It takes stock of the goals of the business, its customer’s priorities, the limits of IT and communications infrastructure, service quality, gaps and disconnects between processes and departments, and staff capabilities as well as external business constraints.
A key focus during situation assessment is to reach agreement about basic concepts and terms that different groups (of stakeholders) use. Semantic models are inherently multi-perspectival and can generate different controlled vocabularies and taxonomies as needed by different business lines, functional units, or communities of practice within the enterprise as well as across the supply chain.
- Gap analysis. A gap analysis compares findings about “what-is” with stated business goals and performance measures as well as with the vision of what is “to-be.” It draws on results from previous activities including vision maps, situation assessments, and audits. It identifies problems, dysfunctions, and process gaps by function, plant, group, enterprise, including: technology, process, practices, organization, and personnel. It ranks problems & opportunities by: benefit & value; dependencies; life cycle costs (to acquire, develop, deploy, operate, maintain); difficulty, risk, time-to return. The gap analysis supports a targeted improvement process by mapping and prioritizing changes that are needed. This may involve changes to organization, staffing, practices, processes, systems, and infrastructure.
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Based on the diagnosis, the next activity is to identify the business solution that best meets client’s needs and chart the right course for achieving it. Key steps include:
- Align decision criteria. We meet with the client to make sure criteria reflect stated business goals and priorities, expectations of stakeholders, the vision of what is “to-be”, findings of audits and situation assessments, and the ranking problems and opportunities from the gap analysis.
- Identify the portfolio of projects. Even if there is only one project, we prepare a brief that sets forth the purpose, scope, benefit, cost, task plan, schedule, resources, and milestone decisions. We estimate lifecycle benefits, savings vs. time, resources to acquire, develop, deploy and maintain.
- Develop the roadmap. We perform a critical path analysis. We identify pre-requisites and building blocks. We prepare migration scenarios and conduct trade-off analyses. The result is a phased sequence of projects in order of priority with rationale.
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From the strategy roadmap, we prepare a business case and ROI. We analyze the return-on-investment and total cost of ownership of:
- Individual projects contributing to the whole solution
- Desirable enhancements beyond a core solution
- Alternative build strategies — Solution building blocks may include commercial products and services, existing private (legacy) applications, and/or custom developed applications and interfaces.
- Lifecycle benefits of the application — Alternative approaches have differing economic implications during discovery, solution delivery, operation and maintenance, and growth stages.
We model costs, benefits and risks. The ROI analysis projects realistic internal hard and soft returns, benefits to customers, and both economic and developmental risk. Using this data, we prepare capital authorization documentation. If the results meet the client’s criteria for economic return, net present value, internal rate of return, and other investment tests, then the client can proceed with the capital authorization request having laid a strong foundation for successful implementation. If investment criteria are not met by the solution, then our client better understands the reasons why it must explore other options.
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The final step of the process is to prepare an action plan. We communicate and discuss the findings and recommendations of the engagement with client decision-makers. As appropriate, we prepare a proposal for solution delivery.
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