Question

Several tasks that involve getting inputs from consultants outside your own company have cost more and taken longer to complete than planned. You have talked to the consultants several times, but they say they are doing their best. You also underestimated travel costs for this project. Write a one-page paper that describes corrective action you could take to address these problems.

Answer 1

Solution:

Obtaining appropriate consultation as per the requirements of the company sometime can be painful and costly. The consultants come at a cost and the amount of time which is planned for the project is many times exceeded by the consultants and thus the cost implications, as well as project deliverables implications, are huge and it becomes necessary to tackle the project.

In this case, the consultants are yet to finish the project within the timeframe given and thus it is becoming increasingly costly both financially and business-wise. The inability to complete the project in time, increased consultation costs, increased travel costs are disturbing the harmony of the project and hence strict action is required against these aspects.

To counter this situation, it was proposed that the consultation fees be reduced based on the extra hours take after the deadline for completing the project. One can devise a new deadline as well. The travel costs can be minimized and a bracket can be put on the upper limit for the travel costs. this will help in optimizing the travel budget as well. Also, involving a company employee with the consultant for weekly progress report and action plan will help in speeding up the project.

These are some of the things which can be done to handle the situation of the given project.