Knowing the existing data sources helps you to plan better. It is good to know all the data points. It does matter if the systems are known software or are custom built. Known software are easier to tackle, but custom or legacy applications can pose lot of challenges. For known software which the consultant may not have encountered, it's a good idea to go through available documentation and try to get as familiar as possible. Let's take an example of a consultant who is new to an application, like Salesforce. He/she can study the documentation and look at the ER(entity relations) diagrams to understand different objects and relationships.

An example of the sales objects of Salesforce is given next:

If a consultant studies this diagram, he/she can easily become familiar with the new system. This also familiarizes him/her with terms like leads, accounts, and contacts, for when business users talk about them. The consultant can similarly look at other applications and start preparing and getting accustomed. We will try to cover some frequently used applications which a consultant may often encounter.

Let's take a look at some of the most commonly used applications:

• Customer relation management (CRM)
• Help desk applications
• Human resource systems
• Enterprise resource planning
• Social media
• Data-warehouses
• Miscellaneous