Re: Justification for consultant time

On Thu, 10 Jul 1997 13:32:52 +0100, Steve Phelan <stevep_at_no-spam.pmcgettigan.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Vernon M. Yoshida wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone! We are in the process of putting together
>> justification for a few hours of consulting time so that we can have
>> an
>> experienced Oracle person help us as we prepare to go production.
>> Thus
>> far we have Oracle's DBA I and Backup & Recovery classes under our
>> belt,
>> as well as about a year of working with the test and development
>> databases. While we can probably make the jump to production without
>> a
>> consultant, it would go much smoother with one. My question is: What
>>
>> are some ways we can maximize the use of a consultant's time? Our
>> Oracle7 server is v.7.3.2 and it is running under AIX v4.2. Thank
>> you.
>>
>> ----------------
>> Vernon
>
>
>Well, as a consultant myself...
>
>1. Be *very* clear about *what* you want the consultant to cover.
>2. *Write everything down* on a checklist and present it to the
>consultant for review when he/she starts.
>3. Be *flexible* - be prepared to listen to alternative ways of doing
>things.
>4. Be wary of consultants trying to sell you product, they usually have
>a motive! :-)
>5. Define *exactly* your production requirements - especially backup and
>disaster recovery. Get the consultant to review your plans. Also, test,
>test and test again. Make sure they work *before* disaster strikes.
>6 Split the consultants time over a few visits, and don't go for the big
>bang approach. You and the consultant will have time to think over and
>improve your strategy if you have multiple shorter visits rather than a
>'one off' longer visit.
>
>Steve Phelan.
>
>

Also make sure that one of your requirements is documentation of what the consultant has done. Have a definite format (which can be decided with the consultant) you want the documentation to take. You must have a working knowledge of what he/she has done or you will be paying again to figure it out later.

Take time to work on the list Steve suggests above. Remember that if you ask the wrong question you'll probably get the right answer but it won't help much.

Also, I would recommend interviewing consultants, go over your requirements, and make sure you are comfortable with the answers before you hire them.

Greg Teets
Cincinnati, Ohio Received on Sun Jul 13 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT