Consultancy

Consultancy skills training from AssistKD

Since the company’s foundation in 1986, AssistKD has combined providing consultancy services alongside its training offerings. AssistKD also provides a range of courses providing practical training in consultancy skills for both external and internal consultants. Some of the key competencies provided by these courses include:

a range of technical skills, including requirements elicitation, process analysis, systems modelling and business case development
well-developed interpersonal skills such as communication with all levels in the organisation
the ability quickly to absorb a brief, gain an understanding of the problem domain and select the appropriate tools and techniques to employ
‘selling’ skills.

Increasingly, organisations are establishing in-house consultancy capabilities recognising that internal consultants:

have the advantage of knowing the organisation and its culture
understand the policies, processes, systems and organisational politics within which effective business change must be implemented
provide ongoing support to managers as they adapt the organisation to an ever-changing external environment.

However, external consultants are employed by organisations for a variety of reasons including to:

supplement the in-house resources for defined-term projects
provide expertise not available in-house
provide objectivity and impartiality in addressing business problems and issues
bring business domain best practice to bear on the organisation’s processes and procedures.

Consultancy training

Courses aimed at those working in a consultancy role include:

IS Consultancy Practice – a five-day course that explores the consultancy assignment lifecycle and the techniques and skills required to undertake this effectively giving delegates the opportunity to practice their consultancy skills via a practical case study culminating in a team presentation of their findings and recommendations.
IT-enabled Business Change – a three-day Foundation course covering a lifecycle for business change and the stages and techniques within this lifecycle.
Facilitation Skills for Business Analysts – a two-day course offering structure, techniques and insights into the key skill of facilitation.

In addition to these, the following courses are relevant to those in a business analyst consultancy role:

Foundation in Business Analysis – a three-day course introducing a process model for business analysis and the stages and techniques within this model.
Business Analysis Essentials > – a three-day course covering some of the essential skills and techniques required of business analysts. These include business investigation, stakeholder relationship management, business modelling and business case development.
Requirements Engineering – a three-day course providing extensive coverage of the requirements engineering approach, including requirements elicitation, analysis and documentation. UML requirements modelling techniques are also introduced during this course.
Modelling Business Processes – a two-day course covering a hierarchical, and rigorous, approach to business process modelling and improvement.
Organisational Context – a two-day course providing training in the fundamental aspects of business and business finance.
Benefits Management and Business Acceptance > – a three-day course that offers an approach and the techniques leading to effective benefits management, plus techniques for ensuring business acceptance of a solution.

For consultants who are involved in the more technical aspects of IT systems development, the following courses are also relevant:

Foundation in Systems Development – a thee-day programme that provides a broad survey of the work of solution developers.
Systems Development Essentials with Agile – a three-day course that covers the lifecycle for IT systems development using the principles and techniques of the Agile approach.
Systems Modelling Techniques with UML – a three-day course that explains the techniques of the UML that are most relevant to business analysts: use case modelling, class modelling, activity diagrams, sequence diagrams and state machines.
Systems Design Techniques – a three-day, in-depth survey of the key techniques for designing and implementing effective IT solutions.

Consultancy skills qualifications

AssistKD’s courses are accredited or endorsed by several qualification bodies. These include:

Chartered Management Institute. The following course is accredited by CMI:

IS Consultancy Practice leading to the CMI (and Institute of Business Consulting) Certificate in Consultancy Essentials

ISEB – a division of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. The following courses lead to ISEB qualifications:

IIBA – International Institute for Business Analysts. The following related courses are endorsed by IIBA:

ACCA – Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. The following courses form part of the continuing professional development programme for ACCA: