software outsourcing: optimizing the approach

Software OutsourcingOptimizing the Approach

www.softheme.com

IntroductionProviding outsourcing of IT services for more then a decade, Softheme, a Ukrainian software outsourcing company, gathered an extensive knowledge base on various aspects of the business.

We believe the success in software outsourcing business can be achieved by:

www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach. www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach.

Analyzing our past experience we identified the approach which works best for our company and though it might be useful to share this approach with the community.

Analyzing our past experience we identified the approach which works best for our company and though it might be useful to share this approach with the community.

http://www.softheme.com/

Table of Contents1. Transparent outsourcing provider and client relationship

pricing model » requirements » metrics

2. Marketing the services

fair presentation of the services » researching the customer’s needs

3. Team and resource management. Proactive control

adjusting the work to the customer's business processes » efficiently organizing the team work

4. Improving knowledge base

new trends in technology and management » analyzing the lessons learned

5. Controlling the quality

standards » requirements analysis » testing


1. Transparent outsourcing provider and client relationship

Optimizing a price model. Fair price.

Like in any business, in software outsourcing there are areas where costs can be cut and those which require additional investments to provide significant performance in the future.

Can be cut Cannot be cut

Knowing all types of costs and forming the price based on them helps maintaining long-term relationships with customers.

Knowing all types of costs and forming the price based on them helps maintaining long-term relationships with customers.



Optimizing a price model. Fair price

The pricing model must take into account risks for decisions wthin each party's control

Top performance of the outsourcing service provider should be encouraged

Discounts shall be provided in case the customer brings more business to the provider:

provider:provider:



Focusing on outcomes. Sufficient requirements specification.

Software outsourcing providers expect their customer to specify the expectations for: the system business-specific data restrictions of the environment time and budget constraints

technology of choice

technology of choice

specificationsspecifications

application design,development, testing,

deployment procedures

The software outsourcing provider takes the responsibility of determining the necessary processes in order to achieve the desired outcomes.

The software outsourcing provider takes the responsibility of determining the necessary processes in order to achieve the desired outcomes.

The rest can be defined on the outsourcing service provider side:The rest can be defined on the outsourcing service provider side:



Performance monitoring procedures. Metrics.

Both customer and outsourcing provider should agree on clearly defined and measurable outsomes functionality coverage, development schedule. The progress of the software application development against the development plan should be easily measurable.

The feedback from the customer is vital in response to the demonstration.

The feedback from the customer is vital in response to the demonstration.

WE RECOMMEND: demonstrating the achievements – demo version of the software program, modules ready for the review – together with detailed reports which reflect the application specification coverage.

WE RECOMMEND: demonstrating the achievements – demo version of the software program, modules ready for the review – together with detailed reports which reflect the application specification coverage.



Properly presenting services

IT IS IMPORTANT TO: know and effectively communicate service capabilities properly present the services to the potential customers tailor the line of services to the customers' specific needs

IT IS IMPORTANT TO: know and effectively communicate service capabilities properly present the services to the potential customers tailor the line of services to the customers' specific needs



Understanding the customer's needs

regularly researching customer requirementsregularly researching

customer requirements

identifyingspecific requirements

and working to fulfill them

identifyingspecific requirements

and working to fulfill them

interacting with customers and getting information

about their users

interacting with customers and getting information

about their users

Work with customers to understand desired outcomes and focus on achieving them through:

Work with customers to understand desired outcomes and focus on achieving them through:



Adjusting work to the customer's business processes.

It takes several meetings / e-mails / phone conferences to understand the processes set up on the customer side which should be taken into account by the outsourcing provider:

After that, the processes on the outsourcing services provider side – meetings, reports, conferences, deliverables, presentations – can be adjusted to those of the customer:

meetings e-mails

conferences

processesunderstood!

provider’sprocesses

customer’s processes




point of contact for the team

points for addressing certain questions

and issues

information distribution on the client side:

changes milestones

plans

optimal way to checkthe team receives data

in a timely manner

IT IS IMPORTANT to understand the process which is set up on the client side.The following things should be clarified:




Information exchange with the customer is defined by and takes place via such acclaimed channels:

information exchange

points of contact

communication channels issue tracking

procedures

tasks tracking procedures

reporting procedures

roadmap meetings

project meeting schedule



Organizing efficient team work

The team structure and size are defined based on project's goals after analyzing the timeframe and budget.

project’sgoals

timeframe and budget

team structure and size

Skills are identified based on the:

business domain technology

stage of project

development



Organizing efficient team work

Paying attention to the team training against the customer's business domain, setting up standards and metrics is as important as providing reviews, revisions and applying corrections to the existing procedures.

The team priority should be: constant improvement of knowledge both in technology and in business domain.

The team priority should be: constant improvement of knowledge both in technology and in business domain.


4. Improving knowledge base

Keeping and transfering the project-specific knowledge

Getting familiar with new technologies and approaches

Maintaining a knowledge base of case studies and lessons learned


5. Controlling the quality

Introducing standardsMetrics, coding standards, patterns, templates

Analyzing the requirementsSystem overview, functional and operational requirements, performance, time and budget constraints

Requirements coverage verificationCorrespondence of the high-level requirements to the technical specification, technical specification to the system design, system design and architecture to the source code

TestingFunctional, performance, quality control (correspondence of the product to environmental and operational requirements)


Thank you!

2010 | Softheme Team | Kyiv, Ukraine | Software Outsourcing Solutions

www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™

Questions??? –> [email protected]

software outsourcing: optimizing the approach

Technology

transparent

softheme software

client relationship

client side

system design

outsourcing

technical

operational