Planning the Evaluation

Few things are more important in a consulting process than the initial planning and, in particular, the planning for evaluation processes. The initial planning involves several key issues explored in this chapter. An important ingredient in the success of the use of the ROI methodology is to properly plan for the ROI study early in the consulting cycle. The data collection plan is an important part of the evaluation strategy, and it should be completed prior to moving forward with the consulting project; the plan is completed before pursuing an ROI evaluation. Although communicating the results of a consulting project is often the most neglected step, it is the most important. The final planning document is the project plan, which maps each step of the evaluation process. The plans are finalized in a project planning meeting. Now that the plans are complete, the adjustments are made based on feedback.