ISO 20700 Management System (Management Consultancy Services)

ISO 20700:2017, Guidelines for management consultancy services, is the international reference for advisory work that is transparent, ethical and demonstrably value-adding. It structures an engagement across three phases — contracting, execution and closure — and sets expectations for ethics, communication, project governance, deliverable acceptance and post-assignment evaluation. This package operationalises the guideline as a working management system for a consulting practice of any size, from a boutique advisory firm to a national consulting institute or an internal consulting unit inside a larger organisation.

The procedure spine follows the assignment itself. Pre-assignment understanding and client context analysis come before commitment, capability assessment confirms the firm can genuinely staff the work, and conflict-of-interest screening tests independence before contracting fixes scope, terms and deliverables. Execution is governed by work-plan management, progress reporting, an assignment risk register and formal change control, so movement in scope is priced rather than absorbed. Deliverable sign-off closes each milestone against defined acceptance criteria, and closure, client feedback and lessons learned feed continual improvement. Around this sit policies on ethical and professional conduct, confidentiality, intellectual property and social responsibility, with consultant onboarding so the method is applied consistently. The system supports self-declaration of conformity to ISO 20700 — increasingly recognised in public tenders and corporate procurement — and integrates naturally with an ISO 9001-based quality management system.