Clients regularly call upon EURODECISION to provide project management assistance (PMA) for artificial intelligence projects. Magalie GUILLON, a data science consultant at EURODECISION, presents the particular features of this type of assignment.

What does the project management assistance offered by EURODECISION involve?

EURODECISION is able to carry out project management assistance assignments within the context of projects involving artificial intelligence and decision mathematics. When such a project is developed in-house by the client, it involves both the IT department and business stakeholders; therefore, it is essential to possess advanced technical knowledge and a thorough understanding of the business challenges and practical issues on the ground. Thanks to their interest in and understanding of the business context, our experts can support clients in specifying their requirements, prioritising their requests, implementing and monitoring developments, and ultimately deploying the solution. Their experience, combined with their mastery of the techniques involved, enables them to be proactive at every stage — explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the options under consideration, flagging potential risks, and proposing alternatives.

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How does such a project unfold?

This can vary by organisation. When we work in an Agile mode (which we recommend in most cases), the project is broken down into short cycles (or “sprints”) during which we focus on delivering one or more specific features. The roadmap is defined with the client and is expected to evolve throughout the project. The development of prototypes (POC “Proof of Concept” or POV “Proof of Value”) makes it possible to validate the characteristics of the solution before committing to more substantial development work. Coordination workshops are held regularly with stakeholders to ensure proposals align with expectations and are sequenced in the correct priority order. We then plan the industrialisation phases, monitor development, and oversee testing.

 

What types of difficulties can arise?

From EURODECISION’s perspective, the typical challenges involve finding compromises to meet best the expectations of all stakeholders, which are sometimes contradictory. It also happens that, during a project, key client-side contacts are called upon to take on new roles, requiring them to leave the project. Replacing them is not always straightforward and takes time. EURODECISION consultants may therefore find that their own role evolves during the project, adapting to the changing context and sometimes even stepping in for a departing stakeholder until a replacement takes over.

 

Why is a forecasting tool implementation project a good candidate for PMA?

At the crossroads of many operational and strategic functions, forecasting supports informed decision-making for the company’s activities. This type of project, therefore,e requires close collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders across varied functions:

  • The teams that supply the data on which the forecasts will be based (in particular, ar the actuals, which will constitute the historical dataset)
  • The teams that consume or contribute to the forecasts:
    • The Sales department, which uses historical data to set sales targets
    • The Finance department, which manages the budget and has an impact on resource dimensioning in particular
    • The Production department, which must plan operational activity
  • The Data or Machine Learning team that designs forecasting models and algorithms, as well as the software solutions for end users, forecasts consumer or data-provider behavior.
  • The IT department is responsible for industrialising the algorithms and developing the configuration and/or reporting interfaces.

Thanks to their expertise and proven methodology, our consultants are well placed to understand the requests of the various groups, formalise them, and manage user feedback. EURODECISION can also provide training on forecasting or raise awareness of the topic for various stakeholders—whether they are forecasters, data providers, or forecast consumers. By equipping each party with subject-matter knowledge, everyone better understands the forecasting challenges and will be more effective in their contributions and in the overall process.

Find out more about EURODECISION’s expertise in project management assistance for start-ups