Webinar - Working with Tech Consultants - 2016-07-14

Working with Tech Consultants
With Tim Forbes, PICnet
July 14, 2016

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Presenters
Assisting with chat: Susan Hope Bard, TechSoup
Becky Wiegand
Webinar Program Manager
TechSoup
Tim Forbes
VP of Products and Marketing
PICnet

Learning Objectives
1. Gain a better grasp of key terminology when working with consultants.
2. Understand the stages and decision points of a hypothetical technology
project and apply examples to your own technology contracts.
3. Come away with considerations for each stage to bring back to your
staff, board, and stakeholders to help improve your project outcomes.
4. Leave with sample RFPs and a glossary of terms to reference.

The Need Is Global – And So Are We
TechSoup’s mission is to build a dynamic bridge that enables civil society
organizations and social change agents around the world to gain effective access to
the resources they need to design and implement solutions for a more equitable
planet.
Countries Served TechSoup Partner Location NetSquared Local Group
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www.TechSoup.Global

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Soapbox Engage www.soapboxengage.com
Poll Questions
● What type of technology project is your organization about to
undertake? (website, hardware, database development, etc)
● Are you currently engaged with a technology consultant for
your project or are you searching?
● What worries you most about your project? (cost overruns,
results won’t match goals, limited budget, finding the right
consultant, etc.)

Working with
Tech Consultants
Or, What to Expect When You’re
Expecting a Tech Project

Tim Forbes
VP of Products and Marketing
Former nonprofit accidental techie
tim@picnet.net
(202) 585-0270
@timothyforbes
Creators of Soapbox Engage

Online engagement tools for changemakers

What We’ll Cover
● Tips on developing a successful request for proposal (RFP)
● Determining what should be included in your scope of work
(SOW)
● Understanding the lingo in any service level agreement (SLA)
● Do you need that long-term maintenance contract?
● Know what all of the above terms mean with a tech lingo cheat
sheet!

How We’ll Cover It
● In the least boring way we know how - through story

● Informed by 15+ years in nonprofit tech consulting

● Get real and get specific by sharing actual
experiences...

experiences...with names changed to protect the (not
so???) innocent

experiences...with names changed to protect the (not
so???) innocent
● We’ll break down...the expectation, the reality, and the
analysis of the story of a tech project

Meet Your Protagonist
Phil Penn Gwynn
Nonprofit Accidental Techie

The Beginning
Someorg Someorg.org
We're a small D.C. nonprofit in need of a new website as well as a staff
person to manage that website

The Beginning
Someorg Someorg.org
Somephil Phil Penn Gwynn
Promoted from Intern @Someorg.org to Webmaster today when org
learned that I am only one with Snapchat account, assuming that makes
me most technically savvy

The Beginning
Someorg Someorg.org
Promoted from Intern @Someorg.org to Webmaster today when org
learned that I am only one with Snapchat account, assuming that makes
me most technically savvy
In charge of new web project. Yikes!!! Where to start?!?

What to Expect: Phases of a Project
1. Planning & Contracting
2. Discovery
3. Design
4. Development
5. Content Population
6. Quality Assurance
7. Launch
8. Support

Planning & Contracting
1. Clarify project goals
2. Determine budget
3. Identify audiences
4. Inventory content on current site
5. Create your Request For Proposal
6. Choose a consultant
7. Draft a Scope of Work
8. Enter into a contract

NotEasyGreen Kermit the Frog, Board President
@SomePhil I heard we need an RFP. What’s an
RFP?

Request for Proposal:
A request for proposal (RFP) is a document that an
organization posts to elicit bids from potential vendors
for a desired IT solution. The RFP specifies what the
customer is looking for and establishes evaluation
criteria for assessing proposals.
via TechTarget

Foo-Foo Ms. Piggy, Executive Director
@SomePhil The RFP is the RFP. Either the consultant
can deliver everything in it or they can’t.

1. A Request for Proposal is an invitation to a
discussion
2. It articulates your goals for the tech project and
how it fits within the larger mission of your
organization
3. Discussions with consultants help further clarify
your goals, define their expertise, and determine
the best path to success - often balancing goals,
timeline, and budget

@SomePhil I know this firm that has worked with
Fortune 500 companies. Hire ‘em! We want only the
best!

1. Fit matters when choosing a consultant. Seek one
that aligns well with your organization, its values,
its culture, and its goals.
2. Learn what experience a consultant has with
similar organizations and similar projects
3. Request references and contact them

@SomePhil We don’t have a budget. Just find the
best deal and we’ll include it in next year’s budget.

1. Articulating a budget will help successfully define
the scope of work and overall project strategy
2. Being transparent about funding status frames
expectations on both sides

@SomePhil Remember, we are a consensus-driven
organization. Everyone on staff needs to be involved
in discussions and decisions about the site - and the
board, too! Good luck!

1. Identify project participants and define roles early
in the process
2. Clarify specific decision points participants will be
involved in
3. Identify internal project manager who will serve as
main point of contact with the consultant

SciRulz Bunson Honeydew, Marketing Director
@SomePhil I haven't looked at the site in months and
don't know what content is there but I know it's not
what we want at all!

Do your homework ahead of time. As much as
possible, identify your audiences and their needs and
inventory your current site.

@SomePhil We need a forum on the site! Every
serious website has one!

1. In internal conversations, focus on OUTCOMES
rather than specific tools
2. Three little letters to drive all internal technology
project discussions: W-H-Y-?

@SomePhil The RFP stipulated the site should look
great in Netscape. We talked specifically about it in
meetings with the consultant. I don’t care if it’s not in
the actual contract! That’s just techie-speak anyway!

Scope of Work:
The Scope of Work (SOW) is a formal agreement
document that specifies all the criteria of a contract
between a service provider (vendor) and the
customer. It clearly documents the project
requirements, milestones, deliverables, end products,
documents and reports that are expected to be
provided by the vendor.
via UDEMY

1. The Scope of Work defines the contract
deliverables and is the finalized end product of the
discussion started with the RFP
2. User stories can bridge the language barrier
between goals and techie speak
Sample format: As a ________, I want to be able
to ________ so that _________.

Discovery
1. Consultant learns about your organization
2. Consultant understands your audience
3. Draft and finalize site map that defines overall site
navigation and functions as a checklist for content
to be written
4. Draft and finalize wirefame that identifies key
elements on pages

Discovery
@SomePhil All five staff and board members
completed the design and discovery questionnaire the
firm sent, yielding seven different opinions! The more
the better, right? LOL

Discovery
Clarify goals and priorities for the project so you can
speak with one voice as an organization to your
consultant

Discovery
@SomePhil It is important to demonstrate our
commitment to our Spanish-speaking clients. The
whole site needs to be in Spanish as well as English.

Discovery
Assess your internal capabilities for maintaining what
is being built and account for this in the discovery
process

Design
1. Draft design mockups
2. Revise mockups, based on feedback
3. Finalize design mockups

Design
@SomePhil I don’t care how hard it will be to update.
We need to have GREAT design that’s really eye
catching with a lot of images and catchy stuff unique
to each page. We can hire someone with advanced
HTML experience to update later on, if we need to.
We can’t let that hold back a great design!

Design
1. Discuss balance of design complexity vs. ease of
updating with your consultant
2. Plan for the staff you have, not for the staff you
might get

Design
@SomePhil I want the Apple.com site design! It's
great!

Design
Aim for a design that supports your organization’s
mission and message

Design
@SomePhil We’re not happy with the design. Can the
designer make it more beautiful? It should be more
outside of the box, too.

Design
Be as specific as you can when giving feedback to
your consultant

Design
@SomePhil We’re doing a complete rebranding effort
with a communications firm that is providing pro bono
work. That won’t affect the website redesign process,
right?

Design
Be aware of the larger organizational context and
communicate that to your consultant, as appropriate

Development
1. Create development site
2. Build site structure, as per approved site map and
wireframe
3. Develop template for site based on finalized design
mockup
4. Content creation, gathering and editing
5. Search engine optimization
6. Custom development coding

Development
WakaWaka Fozzie Bear, Project Manager
@SomePhil Great news! We’ve finished the design
mockups based on our earlier discussions and
templated the site. I know this will be the first time
you’ve seen any of the design work but it should be
exactly what you wanted. We’ll be ready to launch
soon!

Development
Clarify the review and sign off process for the phases
of the project with your firm

Development
@SomePhil I just saw the site design for the first time.
This is all wrong! This will not work! It MUST be
redone.

Development
Get organizational buy in and involvement from key
stakeholders and decision makers for major decision
points

Development
@SomePhil Hey, we need a searchable map of all of
the meal service locations in the Washington D.C.
area - and an integrated shopping cart. A friend’s
organization has a site with those things and they said
they were easy. Let’s add that! But we need to keep
the same launch date!

Development
1. More functionality means more time and more
money
2. Phased projects can be successful projects

Content Population
1. Conduct training on content management system
2. Upload content to development site

Content Population
@SomePhil It's been a month since our training.
When will the development firm be done populating
our content so we can launch?

Content Population
1. Clarify role and responsibilities for content
population with your consultant in Scope of Work
2. For entire project...clarify expectations with respect
to frequency and method of communication

Quality Assurance
1. Review design
2. Test functionality
3. Prioritize and fix bugs
4. Conduct final check

Quality Assurance
@SomePhil The site’s all done. Our guys just finished
coding before lunch! Let’s launch at the end of the
day, okay?

Quality Assurance
1. Participate in the quality assurance and testing
process

Launch
1. Coordinate timing of launch
2. Launch site

Launch
@SomePhil I know I haven’t finished updating those
pages you asked about and that I’ve been ignoring
calls and emails from our Project Manager at the
development firm but we need to launch soon. Like,
today by 3 pm. We’ve got a big press conference at 4
pm and we need the new site up.

Launch
1. Manage internal expectations and timeline
2. Keep in touch with your consultant - even if it’s to
say you have nothing new to report

Launch
@SomePhil Great to hear that site is up! Now, where
do I login to access our new email for the site. My
sister sent me a couple of congratulatory emails using
our new domain name and I want to respond. All
websites come with email, right?

Launch
1. Understand how your website relates to other
services your organization has
2. Don’t assume something not committed to in the
Scope of Work

Support
1. Host and monitor site
2. Respond to questions and issues
3. Provide a knowledge base for self-learning
4. Update code, as needed and allowed for in service
level agreement

Support
@SomePhil Update content? Oh, I’m sorry but you’re
not able to make those text changes to the About Us
page. We do that on ours as your web services
provider. That will take one to two weeks once you
send us the text and we charge $150 per page.
Uploading the image you mentioned will be extra.

Support
Understand the capabilities and limitations of your new
technology and the nature of the support relationship
with your consultant, if there is one

Support
Key factors that define that ongoing relationship:
1. Term of service
2. First response vs. time to solution
3. Copyright: who owns what?
4. Privacy: what happens with your data?
5. Termination

Support
BeatDrum Animal, Marketing Manager
@SomePhil Thanks for warm welcome to the new job!
It looks like our website could use some updating. I’ve
got some great ideas for that. I think we need a
complete overhaul. Let's talk!

Support
Choose a firm that will be around in the long run and
who can help your tech solution grow with the
changing needs of your organization

Questions and Answers
Additional Resources
Glossary of Terms: www.soapboxengage.com/wte-glossary
RFP Template: https://aspirationtech.org/training/workflow/templates/rfp
Sample RFPs: http://www.techsoup.org/support/articles-and-how-tos/rfp-library
Nonprofit Services: https://aspirationtech.org/services/nonprofit/strategic
Tim Forbes
tim@picnet.net / (202) 585-0270 / @timothyforbes

IT Assist Managed Services
www.techsoup.org/it-assist

Additional Resources
• Glossary of Terms
• RFP Templates
• Sample RFPs
• Nonprofit Services
• IT Services
• What Every Organization Needs in Its IT Consulting Contract
• How to Choose and Work with Technology Consultants
• When to Use Consultants
• Managing a Consultant
• Choosing the Right Consultant
• An Overview of the RFP Process for Nonprofits, Charities, and Libraries

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