"We consciously did not want a Big Six firm, we already had one. We wanted a fresh look by someone who had no financial interest and no expectation of a continuing relationship...Strider & Cline's ability to put a team together with the right experience was critical to our having confidence in them."

"This team earned everyone's respect by actually reading the materials we provided and listening thoughtfully and critically to a lot of people. They brought a combination of technical, analytical, and people skills with the result that we felt we could take their analysis seriously."

"I'm an inherent skeptic about consultants, but we got many times our money's worth in the advice they gave us. We intended this to be a one-time assessment, but we were so impressed, we've invited them back for a post-assessment review."

If you suspect your Oracle, PeopleSoft, or JD Edwards ERP or other enterprise-wide project is in trouble, odds are you are probably right. Articles and news releases abound with stories of ERP project woes. Overwhelmingly those articles point out that the problems are seldom technical. The significant problems are non-technical—such as lack of effective governance, poor project management, insufficient resources, ineffective preparation of users, and resistance to change.

Our project review process can quickly isolate critical problems/issues and focus corrective action while the project is ongoing. We can also review plans prior to project initiation to make sure the project will be set up to be successful.

What you may notice in a product or service organization:

• You repeatedly ask IT to show you the project plan, but you never see it.
• The senior executive sponsors are asking each other if it is even possible to finish the project.
• The company's board has expressed serious concerns about cost and schedule overruns on the project.
• There is quiet talk of firing the consulting partner who is managing the project.
• Your users say they are concerned about whether the system can live up to the promises made.
• Modules go live before they are ready resulting in lots of errors and rework.

We Offer Project Reviews

Overview:
A project review answers the questions, "Can this project be successfully completed and if so, what needs to be done to meet the project sponsor's objectives?" The review focuses on four areas:

1. Executive Sponsorship and Decision Making
2. Business Functionality
3. Management Capability
4. Technical Capability and Infrastructure

Typical results:

• Determination of the project's real status
• Clarification of what is required to finish the project (if possible to finish) or to set up a new project to be successful
• Identification of salvageable items if the project cannot be finished
• List of recommended actions to be taken
• A written report documenting all the above

What this service involves:
This service may involve any or all of the following depending on your needs:

• We meet with appropriate management to determine the scope and objectives of the review.
• We assemble a review team.
• You notify affected parties in advance of their responsibilities during the review. We will provide a list of responsibilities.
• You make relevant documentation easily available for the reviewers.
• You provide a dedicated administrative/logistical person to assist the review team.
• You provide a review team work center large enough to accommodate the review team.
• The review team interviews project members, appropriate IT and user management, and reviews documentation.
• The review team verbally briefs the appropriate recipients on the findings.
• The review team meets to consolidate, analyze, and summarize findings, and to develop recommendations.
• A written review report is prepared from the review team findings and recommended actions.
• We present the written report of findings and recommendations to the appropriate recipients.

Our Expertise
We each possess a thorough knowledge of and practical experience in leading project reviews. We are both excellent facilitators. We have access to a network of technical specialists whom we can draw upon when necessary to form a review team with the appropriate knowledge and skills. We are able to ask the right questions, elicit underlying issues, assemble critical information, and distill key issues very efficiently and effectively. Our written reports are direct, to the point, and in plain English. We can also teach and coach client technical staff how to plan and conduct project reviews.

What differentiates us is our skill in dealing with the human issues that are inevitable during close examination of individual and team behaviors and outcomes. We are able to be frank about the real status of a project without blaming or placating. Our intent is always to preserve individual self esteem and conduct ourselves in a respectful way.