In early 2008, Info-Tech conducted interviews with clients engaged in enterprise application planning. A central topic in these interviews was pre-implementation business process modeling. Not all organizations have staff that can properly facilitate and assist user work in business process mapping, and assistance may come from an internal business analyst or an outside consultant. This research note will cover:
- Why consultants shouldn't lead business process modeling and design.
- How consultants can foster a philosophy of improvement, stop silo thinking, and jump-start cross-enterprise thinking.
- How consultants can provide formal documentation.
- How to pick the right consultant, stipulate overall involvement, and recognize certain situations where such an expert may need to take over completely.
Organizations that successfully limit consultant involvement to facilitation, education, and assistance tend to have more success in process modeling.
