Client Responsibilities & Project Delivery Policy
This policy explains how client information, cooperation, approvals, communication, scope control, revisions, scheduling, and implementation affect project delivery.
1. Purpose of This Policy
This Client Responsibilities & Project Delivery Policy explains how client cooperation, information quality, communication, approvals, scheduling, scope, revisions, and implementation affect consulting delivery.
Business consulting is collaborative. The usefulness of a recommendation often depends on the quality of the business information provided and the client's ability to make timely decisions during the engagement.
2. Accurate and Complete Information
Clients should provide information that is materially accurate, current, and complete for the work being requested. This may include business goals, current processes, organizational responsibilities, project status, workflow information, budgets, constraints, market questions, deadlines, or other relevant context.
The company is not responsible for conclusions affected by material information that was withheld, inaccurate, outdated, or unavailable.
3. Authority to Share Information
A client is responsible for ensuring it has the right to provide documents, business data, third-party materials, customer information, employee information, contracts, research, or other materials used in the engagement.
Clients should avoid sending information that is not reasonably necessary for the consulting objective.
4. Primary Point of Contact
Where multiple people participate in a project, the client should identify a primary point of contact. This person should be able to coordinate information, consolidate feedback, confirm priorities, and communicate decisions.
Conflicting instructions from multiple participants can delay delivery or create ambiguity. The company may ask the client to resolve conflicting direction before work continues.
5. Timely Client Responses
Projects often depend on client answers, documents, approvals, or decisions. A client should respond within a reasonable period to requests that are necessary for progress.
If information is delayed, delivery dates may shift. The company is not responsible for missing an estimate where the project could not reasonably continue without the client's input.
6. Scope Definition
The agreed scope should identify the business question, service, deliverables, and material exclusions. Scope protects both parties by defining what work is included.
A request for new research, new deliverables, new business units, new objectives, or extensive additional coordination may require a scope change and additional fee.
7. Meetings and Preparation
When meetings are included, clients should make reasonable efforts to ensure that relevant participants attend and that necessary information is available.
A meeting may be less useful if key decision-makers, documents, or project facts are unavailable. Additional meetings requested because necessary participants were absent may be treated as additional work.
8. Review of Drafts and Deliverables
Clients should review deliverables promptly and provide specific, consolidated feedback. Effective feedback identifies the requested change, the reason for the change, and any factual correction that affects the work.
Fragmented or conflicting feedback may increase revision time and may require additional coordination.
9. Revision Boundaries
Revisions are intended to refine an agreed deliverable. They are not intended to create a materially different project without a scope change.
If the client introduces a new objective after a draft has been prepared, the company may propose a revised schedule or fee.
10. Delivery Formats
Deliverables may be provided in common digital formats appropriate for remote consulting. Depending on the service, deliverables may include written recommendations, plans, research summaries, process observations, workflow recommendations, project structures, meeting summaries, or advisory notes.
The exact format may depend on the purpose of the engagement and what is reasonably useful for implementation.
11. Estimated Timelines
Unless expressly stated otherwise, delivery dates are estimates. They may be affected by client responsiveness, complexity, volume of information, requested changes, third-party dependencies, or other circumstances.
The company may adjust a schedule when additional work is approved or when the client changes the priority of tasks.
12. Project Pauses
A project may be paused if necessary information, approvals, payment, or decisions are unavailable. A pause can affect delivery dates and availability.
If a project remains inactive for an extended period, the company may require rescheduling or a refreshed scope before work resumes.
13. Completion and Acceptance
A deliverable is considered complete when it materially addresses the accepted scope. A client preference for additional work outside the original objective does not automatically mean the original deliverable is incomplete.
Where a formal acceptance process is required, it should be identified in the project terms.
14. Client Implementation
Unless implementation services are expressly included, the client is responsible for putting recommendations into practice. This includes assigning internal owners, communicating changes, allocating resources, obtaining approvals, training staff, and monitoring outcomes.
A consulting recommendation may need to be adapted to the client's legal, financial, technical, contractual, or organizational environment.
15. Change Management
Changes to workflows, responsibilities, processes, project priorities, or organizational structure can affect employees and operations. Clients should consider communication, training, transition timing, workload, and compliance before implementation.
The company may provide business advisory input on implementation planning, but the client remains responsible for internal management decisions.
16. Recordkeeping
Clients should maintain copies of final deliverables, decisions, approvals, and any business records they need for internal governance, compliance, or future reference.
The company is not intended to serve as the client's permanent document archive.