Help clients evaluate and access their own solutions
Overview
This standard is for entrepreneurs who help clients evaluate and access their own solutions. It is recommended for professionals providing support to individuals considering starting their own business and running existing businesses, either on a voluntary or commercial basis. You need this for helping clients to identify and evaluate the business support offer suggested by you or your organisation. It requires you to develop a delivery plan, identify ways by which to leverage value from other support services and work with the client to ensure that any evaluation adds value to your activities and those of the client. It requires you to assist the client in specifying what they want providers to do, share criteria to select appropriate providers of support services and identify sources of funding which may assist the client in paying for services where required.
Business support refers to assistance which is received from individuals or organisations outside of the business, related to a specific business problem or opportunity or development of the business. Enterprise support refers to assistance which is received by individuals considering starting their own business. A 'business' can mean an independent entity such as a private sector business, a social enterprise, a charitable or voluntary organisation, or a significant operating unit, with a relative degree of autonomy, within a larger organisation. It can also refer to a formal partnership where two or more businesses are working together towards common goals.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- use appropriate planning tools to create a programme of action with the client including activities and milestones
- carry out a risk analysis within the programme which includes contingency planning
- ensure that the clients understand the steps needed to develop and embed a programme of action
- review progress against the programme of action ensuring that all milestones are met
- identify opportunities where investments by the client can leverage access to other business and enterprise support services
- identify evaluation criteria to measure the impact and value added of the business and enterprise support services
- devise an evaluation framework for clients to allow them to review the impact of the business and enterprise support services provided
- link the evaluation framework into the journey for the client in moving from opportunity to action and the implications for learning and skills development
- develop clients' awareness of the skills required to critically evaluate proposals from providers of business and enterprise support services
- comply with legal requirements, industry regulations, organisational policies and professional codes
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
Business and enterprise support services
1. the scope and nature of business and enterprise support services appropriate to the needs of clients
2. how to meet the needs of different clients
3. the methods of maintaining the contact with your clients
4. the sources of information available for the clients about the extent and nature of business support services
5. how different types of business and enterprise support services can provide the required expertise and knowledge
6. why it is important to be clear about the criteria relating to the accessibility of different types of business and enterprise support services
7. methods for assessing the impartiality and independence of business and enterprise support services
8. the legal requirements, industry regulations, organisational policies and professional codes of conduct
Brokerage
9. the information that should be included in a brief for suppliers of business and enterprise support services
10. the criteria for selecting suppliers of business and enterprise support services that will best meet the needs of the clients
11. the records to be kept about introductions of the client to other sources of support
12. why it is important to ensure that the clients retain responsibility for choosing and using suppliers of business and enterprise support services
13. the legislative, regulatory, advisory and organisational sources of support
Funding
14. the range of potential funding opportunities available to the clients
15. the methods for accessing and applying for funding from different funding agencies