Selecting a Consultant or Vendor

Choosing the Right Consultant
http://www.techsoup.org/howto/articles/consultants/page1412.cfm?cg=searchterms&sg=consultant
Focuses on what to ask in the interview process
Do You Really Need A Consultant?
http://www.techsoup.org/howto/articles/consultants/page1418.cfm?cg=searchterms&sg=consultant
Questions to explore when deciding among consultants, in-house staff or volunteers

The next Nonprofit Technology Roundtable is Thursday, March 9. 

It'll be held here at the CompuMentor office (435 Brannan Street) from 2:00 to 4:00.

In this second event of the series, Eric Leland, TechCommons’ new Director, will facilitate an exchange of ideas about “Navigating Technology Costs: Affording Technology Projects as Nonprofits and Service Providers.” 

Space is running out, so register soon !

This is a project outcome checklist.

The attached Database Planning Scope Questions template will help you gather important information about your Client, its systems, staff and the consulting project.

This intake templates helps to profile the client organization, it's information systems and the specific consultant project.

The attached intake template will help you learn more about the Client's organization and specific needs.  It can also be used to establish management and technology contacts.

You will need to provide certain support for your Consultant:

 1.        Be There!
This may sound obvious, but some clients fail to turn up at appointments and don’t cancel within 24 hours.  If our consultant turns up for the appointment and can’t get in s/he will come back to CompuMentor and we will still charge you the 4-hour minimum. Please be there, we don’t want to charge you for work that doesn’t help you!  Also note, our consultants will not work at an unattended site.  You cannot just let them in and leave.

This work record was designed to be used at client site for a one-off, no prior contact, one-day consult.

The idea was to provide structure for the visit in a way that would provide good documentation of the work done and record approval for that work as it progressed so the paperwork was a tool for communication rather than a (frequently forgotten) hindrance at the end of the day.

This is a formal Consulting Services Statement of Work (SOW) template. Simply replace highlighted text with the specifics of your SOW and make any other changes as necessary.