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Based on the conducted literature review
and the regular exchange of information with OSD
experts during the course of a two-year research project with a German multinational
company, we were able to develop an OSD
project phase model from a client perspective. This model can be divided
into “phases”, “activities”, and “methods”. While the first determine “Which activities need to be carried out when?”, the
latter addresses the question “How
these activities can be supported by methods?” (Amberg,
1999).
As illustrated in the figure below, the model classifies the management activities which
need to be executed as well as the corresponding methods to support these
activities into three project phases: “Planning and Analysis”, “Decision and Negotiation”,
and “Implementation” (compare Amberg and Wiener, 2004c). In this context, it
has to be mentioned that we were not able to identify supportive methods for
each single activity.
Figure: OSD project phase model
During the planning and analysis phase, major management activities comprise
the definition of the sourcing strategy, the assessment of the internal organization,
the identification of project candidates, and the analysis of the identified
candidates. Methods to support the mentioned activities are: The balanced
scorecard (strategy definition), the core competence analysis (project
identification), and the TCP cost analysis (project analysis).
The decision
and negotiation phase concentrates on the selection of an offshore destination,
the selection of one or multiple offshore providers, as well as the negotiation
and the formulation of the contractual agreement with the offshore provider(s).
These activities can be supported by the following methods: Country ratings
(country selection), the TCP supplier assessment (provider selection), and the
Harvard concept of negotiation (contract negotiation).
The implementation
phase primarily deals with typical project management issues: Managing the
transfer of assets, staff, as well as data and know-how between the project locations,
managing the contract during the course of the project, managing the
performance delivered by the offshore provider(s), managing the communication
with the foreign provider(s), and managing the cultural differences between the
project partners. Supportive methods in regard to the activities listed above are:
The Harvard concept of negotiation (contract management), the balanced
scorecard, and the benchmarking (both performance management).
Alongside the management activities
illustrated in the figure above, the management of an OSD project also encompasses a
number of cross-phase activities. These supporting activities (e. g., the
composition of the project team) are not explicitly mentioned as a separate
activity within our project phase model, but are included in various activities.
In contrast to the more general project phase
models identified within the literature review, our project phase model pays
particular attention to OSD-specific aspects (e. g., the assessment of the
offshore readiness of the internal organization, the selection of the offshore
destination country, and the management of the cultural differences). Beside
these OSD-specific management activities, our model contains activities which
are relevant in all types of IT outsourcing projects. In regard to these more
general management activities, OSD-specific challenges can arise as well.
Therefore, we decided to include them in our phase model. In addition, contrary
to the majority of the identified project phase models in the IT outsourcing context
, our model provides methods in regard to the
proposed management activities.
In regard to the entire project phase
model, it has to be noted that our model does not focus on issues related to
the technical software development process implemented within an OSD project
(operational level), but rather on issues related to the management of such a
project (tactical and strategic level). In addition, even though our project phase
model considers the complete lifecycle of an OSD project, it does not or rather
conditionally address the ex-post evaluation of such a project and the rollout
of the developed software within the client company. Furthermore, it has to be
added that a real-life OSD project does not necessarily run sequentially
through the presented phase model. Rather, the presented management activities
can be implemented in any order, simultaneous, or even in iterations.
Particularly the activities proposed within the third phase of our project phase
model usually run synchronously. Nevertheless, the presented classification of
activities can serve managers as a checklist in regard to the management of
their OSD projects.
 References
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