Choosing the Best-Value Consultant
“Do we need to pay for help?” For complex Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) projects the answer really is a resounding Yes:
Yes, we need Independent Subject Matter Expertise in biometrics and Independence.
Yes, we can work smarter when we Documenting Develop a Strategic Plan with Needs and Goals.
Yes, we want to build Effective Stakeholder Teams for a smooth transition .
Yes, we must Implement Wisely, on time and in budget, with Accountabililty.
Often hiring a consultant is the least amount of money you’ll spend in a procurement, but it is a choice can that can be the key factor that ensures a a successful outcome.
“The best decision we made...was hiring a really knowledgeable consultant to help us. It’s saved us a lot of money and ensured our success with this ABIS upgrade.”
Major ABIS upgrades happen perhaps once a decade. Often the people who worked the initial installation have moved on. Subject matter expert (SME) consultants can specify how diverse information systems need to work together for your agency’s specific needs. They can help with strategic plans, write specifications and RFPs, evaluate bids or negotiate contracts, and ensure a trouble-free implementation. As they work with local experts, they also expand your agency’s knowledge base.
#1 – Independent Subject Matter Expertise and Independence
Choose a consultant who has experience with major biometrics vendors, as well as a variety of customers and technologies (livescan, photos, jails, courts, latents, tenprints). Experts should be independent, without loyalty to any one vendor, with a history of successful implementations and satisfied customer references. They should have demonstrated integrity and adaptability in varying biometrics projects.
Your consultant should have a deep understanding of public safety processes (like booking, applicant, or latent case handling) and how they function with other public safety systems (such as criminal history, jail, and records). As ABIS technology moves from on-premise to cloud solutions, consultants should have the experience to identify the different requirements dictated by advancing technology. They should understand the complex administrative and network environments in which an ABIS must function. Finally, your consultant should have proven program management expertise and be a skilled team builder to bring diverse stakeholders, technology, specifications, and schedule together.
“Consultants should not only bring systems together, they should also bring teams of people together to ensure successful integration and implementation.”
#2 – Develop a Strategic Plan
Strategic planning based on a business process analysis that listens to all stakeholders is essential to achieving a solution that truly fits your agency’s future needs. Your consultant should be well informed about county, state, and national procurement practices. An expert consultant will also advise on unique ABIS contract terms, realistic project time frames, options for budgeting and negotiating, grant possibilities, and RFP/ITB development.
“Consultants must be trusted, knowledgeable arbitrators who listen to all stakeholders, at all levels, and keep the project moving forward.”
Choose a consultant who is able to document your existing system environment, functionality, workflows, interfaces, and support agreements. A truly effective consultant will ensure buy-in from every group involved in ABIS operations. They will also have the knowledge and integrity to tell you what’s possible versus too-difficult or too-expensive, will suggest alternatives, and offer insight into future developments. The consultant’s work supplies the foundation of a completed strategic plan, which will also incorporate future growth rate, legislative mandates, and planned expansions to functionality and operations.
#3 – Creating Effective Stakeholder Teams
Agency cultures can be just as complex as their system environments. Representatives come from multiple disciplines, from IT professionals and management to jail and forensics staff. While necessary, these varying viewpoints can also present a challenge. Each group’s needs must be heard and incorporated into design and acceptance. It is the creation of this teamwork that is the most essential element in a smooth transition and implementation. An experienced, trusted consultant unites disparate departments into a cooperative team.
“You have to get the people functioning together, as a team, in order to make the project happen. It’s the people who get things done.”
Choose a consultant who knows how to work with vendor and stakeholder teams, using small focus groups and larger team meetings. Consistent scheduling and communication are key to achieving project goals, and mitigating risk. Cloud-based ABIS solutions may simplify hardware installation, but they make connectivity even more mission critical. Your consultant should understand cloud-based implementation issues and processes to ensure a smooth transition from the older system to go-live with your new ABIS.
#4 – Accountability with Independent Oversight
Consultants that know the market can help you budget wisely for an upgrade. They should be able to help apply for grant funding and improve contract terms for a best-value solution. A good consultant will insure your agency gets a competitive price and a reasonable schedule with minimal risk and easy transition. Consultants bring savings, not just in dollars but in terms of a more capable solution, a smoother transition, and a low-risk, on-time implementation.
Bringing a system online smoothly and on schedule can save millions of dollars. A good Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) consultant plans for operational transition, prevents delays, mediates change items, and defuses resource issues. An IV&V expert ensures smooth acceptance with network connectivity diagrams, pre-checks, and documentation. Factory or Site acceptance testing can be completed in a timely manner with an experienced consultant.
“In one case, our efforts to reduce and spread costs ended up saving the customer more than forty percent off the initial bid (more than ten times our consulting fee).”
Select a consultant whose goal is to bring value to every project they take on. You want someone whose aim is for all their customers to end up happy, with their systems working smoothly and efficiently for the long term.
