A Functional Consultant is involved in the planning, design and oversight of the contruction of a software system. A Functional Consultant accepts a commission from a client, such as a board of directors, a government agency or a corporation, and determines their particular software needs. They take the requirements of the client or customer and use their understanding to analyse various methods and solutions to build a system that meets the client’s required structure. The job is a balance of providing technical solutions and meeting and maipulating busineses requirements.
Functional Consultant Duties and Responsibilities
To successfully design and build software systems to meet business needs, Functional Consultants perform many tasks. We analyzed several Functional Consultant job listings to identify these core duties and responsibilities.
Understand Business Processes
A functional consultant needs to gain as much knowledge as possible about current business processes and the design of current business flows. They may prepare flow diagrams and other documents to create a current picture of the business.
Determine Client Needs
A Functional Consultant talks with customer representatives to evaluate the client demands, which they then turn into a logical and technical business model that can be achieved through software.
Configure the application in alignment with business needs
The primary duty of the Functional Consultant is to customize the business area in question and make sure the new system reacts in the manner that the client intends it to. They need to coordinate their efforts with the technical counterparts, and perform data mapping activities of the new system.
Ensure Usability
After completing the redevelopment, the Functional Consultant delivers end user training and ensures a smooth transition to the client. They may also report on the progress of the work effort, and follow-up to support the application on an ongoing basis.
Functional Consultant Skills
A Functional Consultant should have, first and foremost, an inquisitive nature, and a desire to understand how stuff works. They should also enjoy using logic to solve complicates problems. They should have the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment while still making good, decisive decisions. They need to be able to communicate with a wide range of people, and to have excellent listening skills to correctly interpret client’s needs. They should be comfortable working in a metric-driven environment, and able to focus on cost and growth. Below are some other skills that a successful Functional Consultant will want to have.
Core skills: Based on job listings we looked at, employers are on the lookout for Functional Consultants with proficiency in these core skills. Future Functional Consultants should focus on the following skills.
- Expertise in workflow configuration.
- Expertise in security configuration.
- Strong communication skills to work with business counterparts globally.
- Qualified in identifying business requirements.
- Extensive experience with SAP or Oracle systems.
Advanced skills: The following skills are not listed as required by most employers, but multiple job listings included them as preferred. Improve your chances of getting hired as a Functional Consultant by having these advanced skills up your sleeve.
