HCS Management Consultants

Could this Help?

We tailor the solutions we provide to your needs - not just what you want to achieve, but what will make the most of the resources you have and needs of your project.

Below are some of the services that clients have valued in the past, but lets talk about what will help deliver your needs or project.

One thing that never changes is that we are very clear with you about the deliverable outcomes from our work (what you can expect to see or achieve) and the investment required (how much we will bill).

How do we charge?

We try and find a way that works for both of us.

  • Where we can understand what work is required, we prefer to fix costs for the objectives that will be achieved. That way you know where you will get to and how much it will cost.
  • We offer some services at a fixed cost - some training courses, and our HCS Express Service projects provide a defined service that you can bring in to support your business.
  • When we help you run your system, many of our clients really value setting an annual programme of work and then agreeing a fixed monthly cost - usually we try to leave enough slack that you can use us for ad hoc needs as they arise.
  • Sometimes a day rate is the easiest way for us both to know what is involved. We find this method of charging really useful when the project (or our role in it) isn't that clear yet.
Consultancy Project

For us to support you to implement Standards, change or other objectives within your organiation, we will step in to add expertise to your project team.

help you identify the skills you need in your project team, which you already have and which skills we will bring to the table.

This can take many forms, and will draw from a lot of the separate solutions we have described below. Typically, we might:

  • give the project a clear opening vision through a gap analysis which populates a task list
  • facilitate a discovery or planning session to get a clear handle on your organisations context, risks, opportunities and the needs for the system
  • work with you to develop conventions, templates and structure for the system
  • draft and suggest technical documents to define the system structure
  • support the experts already in your business to produce or enhance documentation about their area
  • establish a programme of audit for you to check the system is working
  • pull this information together to help you prepare for effective Management Review

We agree the project plan at an early stage, identify the key activities and level of investment required to achieve them. From that point on, we're all working together to achieve the same goal.

One of the biggest advantages of this approach is that it is people-led. At the end of the project, your team has been involved in developing the system, understands why it works and has all the tools to operate and improve it for years to come. We passionately believe that any continued involvement from us comes from you valuing our input, not being tied to us to understand or change parts of the system.

HCS Express Service

With our new service, we follow a fixed project plan that concentrates on the areas where we find we add most value. A lot of the work is delivered off-site and by teleconference - this makes it efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly. You can choose to supplement it with extra help (which we will bill separately) as we go.

This is a compact, minimal project: not an off-the-shelf manual or toolkit pack. For a Small/Medium company that understands its own wants to implement a Standard for registration, this just might be the perfect fit.

Outsourced System Management

In a large organisation, there are lots of different titles given to the manager of the Management Systems - we've worked with HSEQ Managers, Sustainability Directors, Compliance Managers and Governance Managers amongst others. In a small business, these responsibilities are often added to someone else's burgeoning workload - and running the management system has to be combined with on-the-job learning to work out how to complete each new task. This is why many of our clients have found it useful to engage us to support them with some or all of these roles. We (and the standard) will always require a member of your senior management team to act as Management Representative, but talk to us about how we can helpw with any and all of the tasks they might delegate.

Training

We can provide a number of training courses customised to your needs. Whether you want to equip a team to complete Internal Audit, give a project team a head-start with a solid understanding of a standard or prepare for transition, an in-house course can be tailored to your requirements and your delegate group. With sufficient time, we can even mentor your teams on the actual task they are undertaking, rather than just work on exercises.

Internal Audit

HCS Consultants are qualified Lead Auditors and can complete Internal Audit on your behalf. An external pair of eyes brings added perspective, an excellent knowledge of the standards you comply with and a wide range of experience from across industry. Consultant-led Internal Audit can free your team to concentrate on their day jobs, mentor them to improve their audit technique and maximise the benefit you get from your audit programme.

Express Transition Service

Our HCS Express Service was designed for new registrations, but it has worked really well to help established systems through transition to a new version of a standard. Rewrite the key technical documents, review procedure documents and audit checklists to make sure that they fully address new or changed requirements and take the opportunity to refresh the system. Consultancy support helps make transition an opportunity not a threat.