Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach

Software Outsourcing Optimizing the Approach www.softheme.com

Introduction Providing outsour c ing 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.
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.

Table of Contents 1. 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 organi z ing the team work 4. Improving knowledge base new trends in technolog y and management » analyzing the lessons learned 5. Control l ing the quality s tandards » requirements analysis » testing www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach.

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

Optimizing a price model. Fair price
The pricing model must take into account risks for decisions wthin each party's control
T op performance of the outsourcing service provider should be encouraged
D iscounts shall be provided in case the customer brings more business to the provider :
www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach. 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
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: www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach. technology of choi c e specifications application design, development, testing , deployment procedures

Performance monito r ing 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.
W E 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. www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach.

2. Marketing the services
Properly presenting services
I T IS IMPORTANT TO:
know and effectively communicat e service capabilities
properly present the services to the potential customers
tailor the line of services to the customers' specific needs

2. Marketing the services
Understanding the customer's needs
regularly researching customer requirements i dentifying specific requirements and working to fulfill them interacting with customers and getting information about their users Work with customers to understand desired outcomes and focus on achieving them through : www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach.

3. Team and resource management. Proactive control
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 b y 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: www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach. meetings e-mails conferences processes understood! provider’s processes customer’s processes

IT IS IMPORTANT to understand the process which is set up on the client side . The following things should be clarified: www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach. point of contact for the team points for addressing certain questions and issues
information distribution
on the client side :
changes
m ilestones
plans
optimal way to check the team receives data in a timely manner

Information exchange with the customer is defined by and takes place via such acclaimed channels :
www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach. 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.
Skills are identified based on the : www.softheme.com » Outsourcing to Softheme™ Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach. project’s goals timeframe and budget team structure and size 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 .

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 standards
Metrics, coding standards, patterns, templates
Analyzing the requirements
System overview, functional and operational requirements, performance,
time and budget constraints
Requirements coverage verification
Correspondence of the high-level requirements to the technical specification, technical specification to the system design,
system design and architecture to the source code
Testing
Functional, 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™ Questions??? –> info@softheme.com

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Software Outsourcing: Optimizing the Approach

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