Experience with Consultants

Six Sighted

Member
I have now been through two implementations of OneWorld XE, and its third-party applications, and have had just horrible experiences with consultants. Project plans being thrown out the window, go live dates being postponed and a general lack of knowlegde by the consultants.
 
Whoops forgot the second part:

I would love to put together some anecdotes and other stories regarding experience with consultants. Whether good or bad. If you have anything you would like to share....please email me at [email protected]
 
I have some stories for you labluez, and they are not necessarily related to consultants, as your post is not related to these Forums, AT ALL:
1 - Do you know the one with that guy who started a story and forgot to end it?
2 - What about that company who hired an engineer to take care of their Financial Accounting?
3 - OOPS! What is your system configuration?
Warm regards,
 
Sorry my post rubbed you the wrong way....I thought it was an interesting
topic...I apologize if it wasn't related to the forums.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrian_Chimirel" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: Experience with Consultants


to consultants, as your post is not related to these Forums, AT ALL:1 - Do
you know the one with that guy who started a story and forgot to end it?2 -
What about that company who hired an engineer to take care of their
Financial Accounting?3 - OOPS! What is your system configuration?Warm
regards,
 
The company I work with doesn't hire consultants usually.
It is wiser to invest money in local guys then pay money to a consultant who
will leave the company after a month or less. Most part of the knowledge
will be gone.
I believe that a company doesn't need a consultant at all if it has:
1. An experienced stuff, which are able to read and understand the text ;)
2. A test system that can be vivisected any time %-\

Regards, Alex.
 
I've been on 8-9 different JDE OneWorld projects since 1998. No matter what type of a project it is and how complex it is, I keep making the same observation time and time again:

If the company understands that true JDE experts cost money and the company spends the money to get them, the projects tend to go smoother.

If the company nickels and dimes and tries to get the cheapest consultants out there, including H1B's and/or outsourcing the work overseas, that's when all kinds of issues come up, such as quality of work, business issues, cultural differences, etc. In the end the company usually has to pay through the nose for those same JDE experts to come in and clean up the mess.

Of course that's just my opinion.

BG
JDE OneWorld consultant
 
Dear Adrian,
You may be lacking your usual good humor (which we all enjoy). Must this forum ALWAYS have to just deal with work ? I find this occasional interlude to be a fun thing. ;-)
Here's my little contribution:
The consultants my company hired before I arrived were regularly referred to as the the "B" team. (Meaning the consulting company sent the best ones elsewhere).
Warm Regards,
dave
 
IMHO, H1/B status of a person in US is not incompatible with the privilege of being "those same JDE experts".

I have seen a lot of low quality work done by different consultants regardless of their status.


Regards

Yaroslav
 
I remember my first JDE Class (In Jersey)....

we had about ten folks in the class - and several of those 'younger dudes' were calling themselves consultants...

They were taking the same ERW I class I was taking... I remember the ring-leader for the group stating to the instructor, "You have to teach this to us real good - so we can work at the client's site next week."

These guys shouldn't have been consultants... they should have been trainees... Imagine how the client would feel if he/she knew that the high priced consultants they just brought in... where so green behind the ears...

I remember their faces, not their names... and I'd close the door on them, based on their ethicisity alone...

db
 
Its not really a virus that costs US employees their jobs (as many would speculate).

H1/B basically is a Business Sponsored VISA to allow non-US citizens employment within the states. The business will sponsor a non-citizen and that person can remain within the US as long as the business (or a business) is willing to maintain the sponsorship.

Some do try to argue that the H1/B is a virus that takes US jobs away from US citizens... but, that's all I am brave enough to say...

I C Flames a comin...

db
 
"The consultants my company hired before I arrived were regularly referred to as the the "B" team. (Meaning the consulting company sent the best ones elsewhere). "

Good observation Dave.

I have heard though that when a customer insists on negotiating the profit out of an implementation that they usually get the "B" team. What else would you expect? The exec that is so proud of himself for negotating rates down to nothing has unwittingly doomed that implementation.

It sounds as if your company got exactly what it paid for....
 
I heard about a situation when a management wanted to hire the best
consultants and did so. But because the budget wasn't rubber, they saved
money against the local admin. So no wonder he left the company shortly
after the consultants. It was a terrible crash - knowledge, money and staff
were all gone.

Alex.
 
Bro,
Actually, that didn't happen here. My company paid $200 an hour for 3.5 fultime consultants for almost a year.
They just weren't very good. The only good thing that was done here was the report writing.
And the consulting company dropped it's JDE practice within days of the consultants walking out of our door.
Been cleaning up since.
Dave
 
Here, here, two of the best technical resources I've met were on H1/Bs. Both were contractors at the time.

It's about background, training and experience not nationality.
 
Dave (got_to_love_jde),

The 'B' team, huh? Just wanted to chime-in on your experience with JDE consultants. For everyone else out there, I happen to be one of the B-team members on Dave's project.

Dave, while I will agree with you on one of the consultants we had there, I must respectfully disagree on the other three (myself included :) ). One of the main issues a consultant must deal with is lack of management/user support. At your company there were a very select few who were on board and your president changed his mind a lot.

In my experience, as it has been iterated already, you get what you pay for! I don't think you guys were even paying full price for our services. I know my rate was half of the standard JDE technical rate. The firm you had running the show before we came had quoted your company a very unreasonable, very unrealistic dollar value which your president wanted to hold us to. Ahhh, unrealistic expectations is another issue we must deal with. Most companies have no idea how much work is involved in doing a software implementation until they actually do it (an issue I have with the sales channel).

By the way, in response to your second post...my company is still going and all we do is JDE consulting.
 
Jeremy,
I never had a problem with any of your work and I believe I told you that I was impressed on multiple different occasions. I did have problems with 2 of the 3 application consultants.
Actually, I am surprised to hear your company is still doing JDE. We had heard that your company pulled out after losing Michigan and other territories.
And you're right about the mgmt that was in place during the implementation. They were less than stellar.
Dave
 
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