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Question answered in Quora - What is the difference between a project controller and consultant?


Project Controller sounds like a Project Manager, may be in a much more specialized area. A Project Manager is a Leader that owns the project, he is responsible to successfully execute that project and produce the intended results, leading the project team, being a torch bearer, setting clear goals that the team needs to accomplish. Typically he will meet with the Project Sponsor, who is providing the budget to execute this project, define the scope of the project, secure the resources that will work on the project, then will come up with a Project Plan with the list of tasks that need to be done, he will come up with a timeline, he might go back and work with Project Sponsor on the budget that is required or he might scope it and agree on the deliverables based on the limited budget that is provided. Then Project Manager will bring in the resources define the deliverables and get the work done with the help of the resources. He will manage the day to day aspects of the project, make sure the team is hitting the mile stones, making progress and so forth. He also keeps the sponsor and associated team members upto date on the project progress and also brings up any surprises early on. At the end the Project Manager has to evaluate everything and deliver the deliverables.

Typically the Project Manager is the most important person in a Project, he might rely on others in the team, meaning there may be several other people in the team that may be important for him, but he owns the project. If the project does not meet the timeline or does not deliver the deliverables, usually he gets penalized of fired.

Whereas a Consultant is an expert in his chosen discipline, which is often called his Domain, he is often called a Domain Expert. A Consultant could be a Sales Consultant, Marketing Consultant, Strategy Consultant, Supply Chain Consultant, could be anybody. A strategy consultant can come in provide an business strategy on how the business can meet its revenue targets, a Supply Chain Consultant can come in and help optimize goods flow in your Supply Chain Network, or help design a Supply Chain Network, can provide pointers on where you should locate your distribution centers, where the manufacturing plant needs to be depending on where your customers are, depending on where the labor is least expensive to manufacture the product and distribute the product you sell.

So a consultant could come in and provide a broad strategy to optimize a Supply Chain Network, then a Project Manager gets assigned to execute on that project, get all those tasks done and meet the goals of the Optimizing the Supply Chain Network Project and the deliverable will be meeting the through put numbers through the Supply Chain that is considered optimal for that type of Supply Chain.

Also check out my book Puga Sankara's Supply Chain Blog - that is a must read before spending Hundreds & Thousands of $$$ on your MBA or Masters Degree to get the best ROI or before starting your Entrepreneurial journey.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Puga Sankara is the CEO and Founder of Smart Gladiator. Smart Gladiator is an ATDC Georgia Tech company, Smart Gladiator's award-winning product LoadProof (https://feature.loadproof.com/loadproof) is an Enterprise Photo Documentation System that is enjoying tremendous traction in the Supply Chain Community. LoadProof (https://feature.loadproof.com/loadproof) is a patent pending Centralized Cloud based Enterprise Photo Documentation System for Supply Chain. It is built on the premise that photos and videos are vital documentation serving as compelling proof of important operations performed in the supply chain within and across organizations. These operations may be related to fulfilling customer orders, meeting contractual obligations, or transferring merchandise across different parties taking part in the Supply Chain operations. LoadProof is as important for your organization as an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) which is an enterprise system of record for critical documents such as Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Contracts between parties etc. that have tremendous legal ramifications, or a WMS (Warehouse Management System), that holds indispensable information related to orders shipment/fulfilment data. Just like Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat have evolved into platforms that enable individuals to showcase how pretty they or their clothes are, LoadProof is a similar Enterprise system of record that holds photos, not so much for show off, but to serve as compelling, unequivocal, thoroughly documented proof, even in the court of law when there is a dispute between organizations while they perform many facets of their functions/operations, as well as for increased visibility and transparency within the Supply Chain. The capabilities of LoadProof are discussed in detail in the next sections of the document below. LoadProof is live in 460+ Sites, 250+ corporates, 13 Countries.There are more testimonials in this link here also https://www.g2.com/products/loadproof/reviews. Learn more here on our YouTube channel,  https://youtube.com/@smartgladiatorloadproof  & also here in LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartgladiator/

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