Cut Above for Management Consulting
An advisory and strategy firm: strategy, operating model, transformation and PMO, due diligence, market entry, cost and organisation design, digital and ESG roadmaps, integration after mergers and board advisory. Projects are sold on a proposal, staffed against a phased workplan and billed as a fixed fee, time and materials or a retainer, often for government and government related entities.
What the system calls things
| Cut Above calls it | You call it | |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement | → | Project |
| Milestone | → | Workstream |
| Task | → | Activity |
| Time entry | → | Timesheet entry |
Your pipeline
The work you do
Every job is one of these, and each carries its own defaults and paperwork.
Plans that build themselves
Strategy review (8 weeks)
Day 0 is kick-off. The classic diagnose / design / decide shape, sized for a two-to-three person team over eight weeks.
4 phases, 8 tasks created for you.
Commercial due diligence (4 weeks)
Day 0 is instruction. Compressed by design, CDD timetables are set by the transaction, not by the adviser.
3 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Monthly advisory retainer
Day 0 is the start of a retainer month. A named partner's time for a leadership team: monthly review, ad-hoc questions, a standing seat at the executive meeting. Hours tracked against the allowance; the value is in the rhythm, not the plan.
1 phases, 4 tasks created for you.
Operating model design (10 weeks)
Day 0 is kick-off. Current-state assessment, design principles, target operating model across process, organisation, governance and technology, and a transition roadmap the client can fund.
4 phases, 8 tasks created for you.
Transformation programme, mobilisation (T&M)
Day 0 is the mobilisation decision. The first ninety days of a multi-workstream programme: charter, governance, workstream leads, plans and the first reporting cycle. Billed T&M against a monthly estimate; re-planned at the end of mobilisation.
4 phases, 7 tasks created for you.
PMO set-up (6 weeks)
Day 0 is appointment. Stand up a programme management office for a client's portfolio: methods, tools, reporting, and a trained team to run it after handover.
3 phases, 5 tasks created for you.
Market entry study (6 weeks)
Day 0 is instruction. Market sizing, competitive landscape, regulatory route, entry options and a recommended go-to-market for a company entering the GCC or a GCC company entering a new market.
3 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Feasibility & business case (6 weeks)
Day 0 is kick-off. Options, demand, costs, revenues and a financial model with sensitivities, delivered as a business case for a board or an investment committee.
3 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Cost reduction diagnostic (8 weeks)
Day 0 is data access granted. Baseline the cost base, find the levers, size and prioritise them, and leave the client with an initiative pipeline and owners, not a slide.
4 phases, 7 tasks created for you.
Organisation design & restructuring (8 weeks)
Day 0 is kick-off. Structure, spans and layers, role profiles, grading implications and a transition plan, handled with the care that people decisions need, including the labour-law steps.
4 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Digital & technology roadmap (8 weeks)
Day 0 is kick-off. Digital maturity, the target architecture at business-capability level, use cases prioritised by value, and a funded roadmap. Vendor-neutral.
4 phases, 5 tasks created for you.
Post-merger integration, first 100 days
Day 0 is deal close. Day-one readiness, the integration management office, synergy tracking, and the decisions that cannot wait. Billed T&M; the workstreams are the client's, the IMO is ours.
4 phases, 6 tasks created for you.
Training programme
Day 0 is the needs analysis agreed. Curriculum design, materials, delivery in cohorts and an evaluation. Fixed fee per cohort.
4 phases, 5 tasks created for you.
Board strategy offsite
Day 0 is the commission. Pre-reads, interviews, a facilitated one- or two-day session, and an output document with decisions and owners, the compact version of a strategy review.
3 phases, 4 tasks created for you.
ESG strategy & reporting (8 weeks)
Day 0 is kick-off. Materiality, baseline, targets and a reporting approach aligned to the frameworks the client's regulators and investors ask for.
3 phases, 5 tasks created for you.
Programme assurance review
Day 0 is documents received. An independent health check of a client's programme against its plan, governance and benefits, with a RAG report and recommendations. Time charge.
3 phases, 4 tasks created for you.
Things it watches
- Fixed-fee project approaching budget
- Submission deadline approaching
- Proposal with no movement for two weeks
- Large win, notify leadership to staff it
- Project quiet for two weeks
- Invoice overdue, raise with the engagement partner
- New lead, qualify within two days
- Win, staff it and start the paperwork
- Workstream complete: invoice it and capture lessons
- Task overdue on a live project
- Proposal due in five days
- Proposal due tomorrow
- Framework agreement expiring
- Steering committee in three days
Where this fits, and where it does not
The closest fit of all the packs, and the one that leans hardest on resourcing. A consultancy lives on utilisation and realisation more than on compliance deadlines, so this pack focuses on budget burn, team fees against budget, and staffing.