Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
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These kinds of risks can best be checked by framing
elaborate legal contracts outlining the responsibility and authority of each
party in the agreement. There should be agreements such as penalties for any
breach of conduct and a noncompete clause. I remember one incident when,
due to the negligence of the outsourcing company's employees, customer
data was lost from a database just before the start of peak Thanksgiving sea-
son. Employees of the outsourcing company were not allowed to access the
production database as per service level agreements but, not adhering to the
agreements, the customer gave the employee access. So the original prob-
lem was from the customer side itself. They should not have given access to
the database to the outsourcing company in the first place.
Concern 4: Many customers report that the performance standards of their
Mitigation strategy:
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offshoring partner are not clear to them. Sometimes they are not able to
understand or use these reports in a meaningful manner. They also report
that costing for the work done is not clear to them.
Mitigation strategy:
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These kinds of risks can best be checked by framing good
service level agreements and following strict compliance to these agreements.
There should be clearly defined deliverables with clear sign-off dates for deliv-
eries. The milestones must be set. All of the activities in performing tasks dur-
ing the project must be defined clearly. There should be clear methodology
for effort estimation and costing for each head of expenses defined.
Concern 5: Many customers have complaints about poor risk planning by the
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offshoring partner.
Mitigation strategy:
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These kinds of risks can best be checked by providing
for appropriate buffer for measurable or immeasurable risks. The testing
process should also be agile enough to take care of unexpected events.
Concern 6: Many customers have complaints that the conflict resolution pro-
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cess is poorly defined.
Mitigation strategy:
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Alongside the service level agreements, there should
also be a provision for agreeable settlement in case of disputes and con-
flicts. For instance, many times it may happen that the deliveries made by
the outsourcing partner are not satisfactory as per the expectation of the
customer. In such instances, there should be provision for rework.
To convince the customer over these concerns, you again may need to show
success stories from your past projects. You may need to back your proposal with
your defined processes that are assessed at any software engineering measurement
standard like ISO9001, CMMI, or PCMMI.
11.2 Benefits of Offshoring
Doubts and uncertainties aside, let us discuss how offshoring your software testing
project can benefit you. Let us look at a case study. In this case study, first a tradi-
tional approach to software testing is studied for an American company. Then a
