Maximizing the Value of Consulting

Chapter 8Aligning Projects to the Business

The previous chapter defines the objectives needed for a project to give it direction and focus. This chapter describes how to develop those objectives and align the project to business issues. Alignment occurs at three points. The first is at the beginning of the project where the project is aligned directly to the business and the consulting solution is connected directly to the business measure. The alignment is continued during the project with the business impact objectives described in the previous chapter. The alignment is validated in the follow-up to determine the extent to which the consulting project has influenced the business measure. When the project is isolated from other influences, alignment is then validated. This chapter shows how alignment is achieved through five levels of needs assessment, beginning with payoff needs and moving through to preference needs.

Introduction to the V Model

Where do objectives come from? A distinct link between objectives and needs should exist for each consulting project. Chapter 6 focuses on the five levels of evaluation and explains how they are critical to providing an overall assessment of the impact of a consulting project—particularly when a solution is implemented as part of the consulting project. Chapter 7 shows the importance of setting objectives for the consulting project at different levels. This chapter makes a further connection to the original needs assessment. Figure ...