OrigoTerra – Action-Oriented Consulting

OrigoTerra Professional Standards and Methodology

No need to follow a ten step process to change a light bulb.  However, we don’t think our customers come to us for light bulb maintenance and, if they did, we’d probably do it for free.  So for more complex problems where I customers feel they need outside expertise, we follow a traditional consulting methodology with a healthy dose of common sense and agile thinking.  The following proven methodology offers an elegant way to minimize risk and optimize the quality and value of our contributions.

1. Statement of Work – We always start a consulting engagement with a pre or post-contract Statement of Work (SOW) defining the scope of the engagement, the nature of the services, and the deliverables to the customer.  The customer’s signed approval is required to move to step 2 unless otherwise stated by customer.  For long and complex engagements the SOW can include milestone stages each with their own deliverables and client approval.
2. Discovery – The consultant(s) perform a discovery process described in the SOW to define the extent and nature of the challenges faced by the customer’s organization; as well as to define the nature and cost of the solutions existing in and outside the organization.  As defined in the SOW, the discovery process may require the participation of various internal and external client-side stakeholders.
3. Planning – When relevant, the consultant(s) define a detailed Plan of Action (POA) which takes in account the challenges and solutions discovered during Discovery.  The POA must include detailed deliverable specifications, dependencies, timing, budgets, and quality specifications.  These specifications may require the participation of internal and external project participants (IT, contractors, consultants, final users, etc.)  The POA must be approved and signed by the customer before moving to Execution.
4. Execution – The consultant(s) oversees the project and coordinates all constituents (contractors, employees, managements, clients, etc.) to make sure that the work packages are delivered on time and that the nature of the deliverables, the time, quality and budgetary constraints are respected.  The consultant develops Test Plans (TPs) to check quality at the next stage.  The consultant reports to the customer for approval after each stage is completed and for approval of the TPs
5. Quality – The consultant(s) presents the TPs and reports through the customer for approval.  After approval, the customer is given a chance to evaluate the quality of the deliverables before the solution is formally launched.  Any agreed upon deficiencies are evaluated, planned for and a solution executed, until none remains.  The customer must sign and accept the end of this step.
6. Launch – The project ends and the customer solution is launched.  A final sign-off from customer is required at which point project is considered to be fully delivered.
7. Post-Project – As agreed upon and depending on the nature of the services provided, OrigoTerra may provide customer with solution support and maintenance.  In all cases, OrigoTerra performs an internal review of the project and identifies improvements in its processes if needed.  Next customer project phases can be planned for at this stage.