What is Project Consulting?
Project consultants are individuals that offer their expertise on a project to their clients to help them achieve their goals. Project Consulting services offered by The Project Management Office are:
IV&V Health Assessment
- A review of your current project management processes and capabilities
- An overview of weaknesses in your current processes and/or controls
- Recommendations for better processes and/or controls
- Support in the implementation of new tools, processes, and procedures
Organizational Change Management (OCM)
A methodology designed to analyze and planning to provide the emotional support employees need through the change phases as a project progresses. While training plans are critical, they do not address the emotional side of change; this is where a focus and formal OCM is valuable.
For further detail of the OCM methodology, please refer to the PMO's OCM service offering.
Business Transformation Management
Transformation Management identifies, clarifies and maximizes opportunities for improvements to programs and services and creates structures and processes to continually improve toward those opportunities through the idea to implementation. Transformation Managers do things for clients like facilitate meetings, WBS, Charters, business process mapping, and S.M.A.R.T objective workshops. Transformation Management leads organizations through intake, 1st contact, initiative description meetings, S.M.A.R.T workshops and project steering to prepare for the change and to provide guidance and clarity to project stakeholders.
Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder management is a critical component to the successful delivery of any project or program. A stakeholder is any individual, group or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a project or program.
Risk Management
A well-defined and integrated risk management process maximizes value through judicious use of time and money. Good risk management practices identify and evaluate project risks, manage risk registers, facilitate qualitative risk assessments, conduct quantitative risk analyses, and develop risk mitigation strategies. In nearly all cases, a good risk mitigation strategy will require an accommodation to your project's timeline or resource needs.
MaineIT PMO will provide consultant services to educate and support your Project Manager in PMI risk management processes and tools that can help your project from "surprises" that impact your cost, schedule, and quality.
Communication Management
Project Communications Management includes the processes that are required to ensure timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information. Project Managers spend most of their time communicating with team members and other project stakeholders, whether they are internal (at all organizational levels) or external to the organization. Effective communication creates a bridge between diverse stakeholders who may have different organizational backgrounds, different levels of expertise, and different perspectives and interests, which impact or have an influence upon the project execution or outcome.
The MaineIT PMO will provide consultant services to educate and support your Project Manager in planning, creating, and storage of project communication assets. Whereas this is a core requirement for every project, The PMO has an established communications process and tools/templates.
Project Planning
Project planning as a process is output oriented. It is concerned with deciding in advance what, when, how, and who will take the necessary actions to accomplish established objectives. In this context planning is a pervasive management function which is accomplished by all levels in the project hierarchy, the difference being scope, detail, and the magnitude of the effort. Planning forms the foundation for future actions, using the past as a guide.
What is the difference between a Project Manager and a Project Consultant?
There is a key difference between a project management consultant and a project management contractor (a "Project Manager"). A consultant's job is to consult. They offer advice or support but are not in charge of execution or responsible for project success.
How to Engage and Enroll for Project Consulting?
Email: engageIT@maine.gov.
Steps to get you signed up: First contact, MOU with statement of work, establish a budget, length of engagement TBD based on project scope. Rate of $107 an hour.