Consultants are often a key part of SAP projects, offering expertise and experience to ensure a successful implementation, upgrade, or other initiative. Consultants are temporary, however, and project managers that fail to prepare for the end of a consulting arrangement put the ongoing success of the project at risk.

“What happens is that all that knowledge that helped them through the project or go-live walks out the door, and they didn’t get any of it documented or transferred to the internal team or internal staff,” says Frank Powell, chief operating officer at Symmetry Corporation. “They (project team members) don’t know what the consultants did, how they did it, or how to fix something that goes wrong.”

Failure to plan for the end of a consulting engagement can cost time and money, as project team members scramble to figure out how to solve issues on their own, or you need to bring the consultants back temporarily. To avoid these circumstances, Powell offers seven tips every project manager should follow:

1. Start at the beginning

Planning for the end of a consulting arrangement should begin at the very earliest stages of your project planning, says Powell. He recommends stipulating that knowledge transfer be a cornerstone of your initial bid requests and, more importantly, that you write provisions ensuring knowledge transfer and detailed documentation into your consulting contracts.

“From there, you put it right into the project plan. If there’s training or documentation you want, those should be items in the project plan treated just like all the other items in the project plan,” he says.

2. Don’t get too caught up in the excitement

Almost every project will change in scope or timing as it moves forward, and items such as training and documentation are often the first to fall by the wayside. While it is difficult to manage seemingly tangential tasks when there are larger issues at play, staying on top of your post-consultant planning schedule is critical to the long-term health of the project.

“It’s amazing to me how few people demand knowledge transfer be included in a consulting arrangement. Then you get to the end of the project and no one knows what the consultants have done,” says Powell. “You have to manage it just like other tasks on the project plan.”

3. Start holding exit reviews long before the consultants leave

Even if you’ve built documentation and knowledge transfer into the contract and project plan, you still risk being caught off guard when consultants depart. Even diligent project managers can overlook tasks that require consultant input.

To avoid this problem, Powell recommends conducting exit reviews with consultants long in advance of their departure. These reviews will give you a chance to confirm that all agreed-upon tasks have been accomplished before they leave.

“You have to figure out whether there is anything you should have done — whether that’s knowledge gaps, contract deliverables, or formal training,” says Powell.

He recommends beginning these reviews at least two weeks before the scheduled end of the project.

“Two weeks is the bare minimum. You need time to react, to ask when to expect any deliverables that have not been completed,” he says.

4. Transition responsibility before the consultants leave

Because consultants are hired specifically for their expertise in a certain area, it is only natural that users or project team members will approach them with questions as long as they’re around. However, project managers have to plan for the day when the consultants are no longer around to answer questions.

The way to accomplish this, according to Powell, is to shift responsibility for the project before the consultants leave. This will help acclimate internal staff to direct their questions to those that will be responsible for the project going forward, and will free up consultants to tie up loose ends related to the end of the project.

“At some point, you want your internal team to be viewed as the experts and take on that role, and the organization has to support that. Maybe the main FI (SAP Financials) person becomes the focal point and all questions should be directed there. If people are still going through the back door and talking to consultants, you have to stop that,” he says.

As a side benefit, planning for the transfer of responsibility can bolster the confidence of internal employees worried about being replaced by the consultants.

“If you lay out your expectations ahead of time and tell the consultants they’re responsible for transferring knowledge to the internal team, that helps the internal team recognize that they will ultimately be responsible,” says Powell.

The transition process will also help project managers identify knowledge gaps and focus training where it is needed the most.

5. Prepare in advance for more support

No matter how well consultants train internal experts or project team members, you may still encounter issues that require outside expertise. Powell suggests formalizing an arrangement with consultants in advance to avoid high-cost surprises down the road.

“You have to establish some sort of ongoing support, because there’s always going to be that extra question after they’re gone. You just want to make sure there’s an open pipe so you can get back to the person who has the expertise about your project,” says Powell.

There are several different types of arrangements consultants will likely honor, including fixed-price, ad-hoc, or part-time consulting. The details of the arrangement could vary widely, depending on your anticipated needs, but the purpose is to maintain your connection with the right expertise.

6. Treat consultants as mentors, not contractors

One of the reasons project managers fail to prepare for the end of a consulting arrangement is that they view consultants as contractors — there to do a job, pack up their tools, and leave. While that may be a fair appreciation of the more technical aspects of the consulting engagement, successful project managers will push for a mentor relationship as the project progresses.

“At some point, you have to tell consultants that they’re not just there to do the work — they’re there to teach your people how to do the work,” says Powell. “Once you’re at the point at which your internal person is going to be the expert, that’s when you begin the transition and have the consultants mentor that person.”

In an ideal world, consultants would have the final few weeks of the project term free to mentor in-house experts. However, Powell cautions that other project issues are likely to prevent that. Project managers should strive to include the transition to mentoring throughout the entire project.

7. Fill in the gaps

If your consultants have already left and your project needs continued support, Powell recommends following the same methodology to contract for outside expertise.

“Bring in somebody, and do it right this time,” he says. “If you hired someone to help you do an upgrade and they didn’t do any knowledge transfer, you may need to bring them back — only this time be very specific about what they need to do. You may want them to train your staff in key areas or provide documentation of how they set something up — you just have to be specific about it.”

Other Resources

How to Manage a Remote Consulting Relationship, by Davin Wilfrid

Four Keys for Building and Maintaining a Strong SAP Project Team, by Davin Wilfrid

Avoiding the 10 Worst Practices of SAP Development Projects, by Amy Stapleton

Davin Wilfrid

Davin Wilfrid was a writer and editor for SAPinsider and SAP Experts. He contributed case studies and research projects aimed at helping the SAP ecosystem get the most out of their existing technology investments.

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