It needn't be. You can use as much, or as little, consultancy as you need. For a small to medium business, it typically works out at between one day a week and one day a month. Consultancy rates may seem high, compared with salaries - but the difference is not so great when you allow for staff overhead costs. Also, you have the advantage of being able to turn the consultancy on or off as required, so you pay only for what you use.

This depends on factors such as the size of your organisation and the state of its current practices. If you are going for certification, the minimum is about 6 months, as the auditors will want to see a track record of your Quality System in use. But it would only be as quick as this if your procedures were already in very good shape. To set up a Quality System from scratch would take a good deal longer, and it might be wise to plan the work as a series of distinct phases.

The work to set up a Quality System needs to be planned in much the same way as a software project. One approach is to have the consultant conduct an initial audit of your organisation's current systems, then report back to you and agree a joint plan.

This depends on thorough planning in advance, as discussed above, and effective control during the project. Consultancy will help to keep it on track. The most common cause of delay is that people, whose input is needed, have been called away to do other things. The consultant should spot these problems and report them immediately, while there is still time to recover any slippage. The consultant's well-defined role, independence and direct reporting line help here.

The project will provide you with:

• reports by the consultant;
• Quality System documents;
• knowledge and skills, either through formal training courses or on-the-job; and
• your Quality System, in use in your organisation.

The consultant cannot guarantee that you will, for example, gain an ISO 9001 certificate. This depends so much on your own organisation. But the consultant can advise you as to whether your organisation is ready for the audit.

No. A good consultant will aim to transfer knowledge and skills to your organisation, by "doing and showing" - there should be no attempt to hoard knowledge. You have full ownership and control of your own system, so you can continue the development yourself or get someone else to do it. Of course, most consultants will be delighted to provide follow-up help if you ask for it - but you do not have to do so.

You need to discuss this with your prospective consultant. The author's policy is to provide all services in person.

You should expect a software quality consultant to be able to advise on all the Quality Management topics covered in these pages. Some consultants may have experience in other fields as well. You should also be aware that the emphasis of different consultants may vary; for example some could be people-oriented and others more systems-oriented.

You should be able to. Most consultants will try to satisfy clients' emergency needs, subject to other commitments that they have to honour. You should discuss this with your prospective consultant.

Yes, to some extent. The consultant can work at your premises, more or less as an extra staff member, over a period. This approach will still require a good deal of your people's time, because the Quality System will need to be based on their input. It is usually less good than doing the work yourself, but can produce a usable Quality System.

You can, though you should be aware of the possible risks and take action to minimise them. It is wise to make a firm plan for resuming and completing the project; otherwise, experience shows, it may be put off indefinitely. You will need to allow extra time for getting back up to speed after restarting the project. You should also make clear to staff what is happening; otherwise, they may think the company is dropping its commitment to quality.

The consultant works mainly with your quality person. They may often call other members of staff in for meetings as well.

One of the main purposes is to gather information about how the company's process works, or how people feel it should work. Draft procedures may be sketched out. Work done since the last meeting may be reviewed, and there may be reviews of the overall Quality System from time to time, as it takes shape. If participants have prepared thoroughly, it is possible to get through a lot of work per session.

Another use of these visits is for training. This may comprise a formal course for a group, or less formal one-to-one training.

You are likely to find that you have plenty of homework to do for the next meeting. For example, Quality System documents that were agreed in outline will need to be written up. The consultant can review these and send you comments, to be discussed at the next meeting.

This will not work. Such a person is unlikely to grasp how the organisation as a whole functions. They will lack the authority to demand help from the people who know the answers. Also, they will probably not be able to get changes agreed and accepted. You need a person of sufficient seniority, who is able to call on engineers and managers as required.

No; a good consultant will recognise the value of what you have done and the commitment of your people to it. It should form a solid foundation for a full Quality System.

A good consultant, who knows the software industry, will not make this mistake - see The Right System for Your Business. Where this has happened in the past, it has usually been due to people who did not understand how software projects work. Such people may place too much emphasis on traditional quality management, instead of the things that matter for software.