Eight tips for working with a consultant: top consultants offer suggestions for identifying, hiring, and working with consultants to produce a successful experience and end result for all involved.

• Author: Gable, Julie

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New regulations, changes in legal discovery, and the productivity drain of uncontrolled records all compel businesses and government to seek outside assistance from records and information management (RIM) consultants, content management experts, and others who offer fee-based services. Faced with an accelerating transition from paper to electronic recordkeeping, organizations want help in plotting their present course and positioning themselves for the future--areas in which consultants excel.

Yet, many entrusted with finding and using consulting talent don't make the best use of their budget dollars, usually because they have only vague ideas about how consultants--and the consulting business--work. Here, then, is the best advice culled from several consultants (see sidebar, "Contributors to this Article") whose organizations offer a cross-section of RIM consulting services. Knowing what to watch for (and what to watch out for) can make the experience of identifying, hiring, and collaborating with consultants more productive and rewarding for everyone involved.

1 Understand What Consultants Do

The most common reason to hire a consultant is to get expertise not available in-house. Consultants provide analyses based on data and facts they gather from various sources within the client's organization. Consultants review this data and bring insights to it based on their knowledge and experience. The resulting deliverables may include:

* Strategic planning and direction what to do in what order to move from the current situation to a desired situation. For example, a consultant might develop an enterprise strategy for managing electronic records in phases.

* Advice, guidance, and work plans- a set of recommendations for how to solve particular problems along with estimated resources, time frame, and costs to do so. For example, a consultant may advise what must be done to replace existing RIM software.

* Tangible work product--this may include such things as retention schedules, file plans, taxonomies, software specifications, and other tools needed to advance organizations' information management efforts.

Typical consulting projects include a mix of services delivered in phases to achieve an objective. Common projects include:

* Developing or revising records management program components--retention schedules, policies, procedures, training materials, or auditing

* Identifying functional and technical specifications for technology to be acquired

* Developing integrated information management strategies for how content will be captured, stored, shared, and managed

Sometimes, consultants are sought to validate internally developed opinions or approaches. Smaller firms may want the consultant to act as a "coach" for their own do-it-yourself effort, where internal personnel will do most of the work.

What consultants deliver depends on how the project is defined. This is principally done in writing through a documented scope of work.

2 Define the Project's Scope

Consultants unanimously agree that a scope of work statement is essential for any project. The scope document shows what the project's objectives are, what is included (and what is not), as well as what the client expects to have at the end of the engagement. For example, a project described as "an assessment of the current records management program" can be a request for:

(1) An opinion regarding the RIM program's adaptability for use with electronic records

(2) A comparison of the RIM program to other companies' RIM practices in a specific industry

(3) A review of whether the program has adequate staffing levels

(4) An examination of whether the RIM program's workflows are efficient

Any of these could factor into the review of a records management program, but the potential disconnect is where the client expected item (1) but got (4) or, worse, where the client thought it would get not just a RIM program assessment and recommendations for change, but the actual remedial work--the new policies, procedures, and retention schedules, too.

"Scope should focus on achievable goals. Understanding clearly what RIM consultants offer and what the organization needs are important," explained Priscilla Emery of e-Nterprise Advisors.

Scope is not a description of the current situation, but a clear definition of what the client wants to have accomplished at the end of the project.

Recognize that the scope of work many require input from many sources, including IT, the legal department, and others.

For firms without prior experience in scoping information...