STRATEGIES

Why should a company look outside of its own resources for assistance?  The common reasons are a lack of specific knowledge, a short-term lack of manpower, or the need for an ‘independent’ review of company practices.  The KEY consideration is that it must be ‘project’ and not an on-going requirement, or the company will be wasting its financial resources and internal controls.

A Project is defined as a work activity with a defined beginning and ending, with specific tangible deliverables from which the success of the project can be determined.  If the outcome of a project requires on-going support or activity in the organization, that must be incorporated into the plans of the organization for personnel and resources.  Whether office support or highly technical skills are required, the use of ‘outsourced’ personnel is usually inefficient and costly to a company in the long run.

To obtain the greatest value from an outsourced project (a consultant), the deliverables must be things that cannot be developed within the company in the required timeframe, and they must provide continuing value to the company.  They will be unique items that fit the time-bound nature of a project while providing a continuing resource for further use and development within the company.

To extract the value from outsourced work there must be a mechanism to incorporate the information or equipment into the normal activities of the company.  Without that mechanism, the work remains information only, and it does not benefit the company.  This is a common error in outsourced work, particularly where the need is for expertise that is not yet part of the organization.  Without a guide to the use and implementation of the information or equipment, it will remain unused and essentially useless after the consultant has left.

This is painfully evident in the application of regulations and standards from external bodies.   Purchasing a standard or regulation does not mean that it will be understood or applied correctly, even with published guidelines.  That level of incorporation into a company’s organization requires a real expert with actual experience in the implementation in similar organizations.  This is where the value may be obtained from a suitable consultant.

Process Systems Consulting (PSC) understands this requirement very well and is dedicated to ensuring not only proper information and documentation, but an understanding of the application of that information into real work environments. But PSC does not stop there.

The value proposition that PSC offers is the direct experience of the principle, Steven Cooke, to provide implementation guidance for the standard, on-site demonstration and training of the techniques and requirements through training and document preparation.  This will enable your employees to assume real ownership of the processes and incorporate them into normal procedures to assure continuing safety in all hazardous operations.