Application Maintenance Outsourcing

1. Application Maintenance Outsourcing

2. 1 Introduction Application Maintenance Outsourcing Aspects to consider Outsourcing models Onsite-Offshore Model Offshore centric Model Offshore centric model case study Customer background Customer scenario/problem Solution Outline Transition to Offshore Results Lessons learnt

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4. 3 E-Val Overview Workflow automation Offshore outsourcing consulting Orchestra

5. 4 What is Orchestra? A management tool to support IT processes Generates Dashboards to manage/optimize IT processes Workflow driven task management Time capturing E-mail integration Offered in an ASP mode

6. Application Maintenance Outsourcing - Background

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8. 7 How to manage remote teams? Team must be intricate part of customer organization Establishing Management control framework Process & procedures for remote support Resource Management It’s all about communication! Transferring knowledge to remote team Language & cultural barriers Communicating Requirements Recognizing, escalating & resolving issues

9. 8 Outsourcing Model Options Onsite Centric Difficult to offshore services Analysis/design oriented functions Onsite – Offshore Model Analysis, Implementation onsite – design, development, testing offshore Flow of work to offshore from onsite coordinator Production support coordinators also stationed onsite Offshore Centric Establish communication framework Needs mature processes Customer organization changes

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12. A Case Study 

13. 12 Customer Background Large US-based toy manufacturer HQ in California International group HQ in Europe Features Large home-grown ERP AS/400 application base Business covered is International (non-US) Geographically distributed IT organization IT Goals Outsource Application maintenance Use offshore in lieu of contractors Lower costs of IT support

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15. 14 Challenges in Outsourcing Geographically distributed technical teams Communication is complex Multiple time zones Different expectations Lack of Uniform process Lack of visibility - Difficult to track Difficult to standardize process for outsourcing No metrics/dashboards to monitor performance

16. 15 Solution Framework Customer internal organizational changes Centralized Helpdesk Define, document and implement best practice processes (Logging & Tracking Support and Change requests) Define SLAs, Metrics & Dashboard for controlling Improve communications

17. 16 Customer internal organizational changes Product technical specialists become “Application” Owners Need for training of product owners Multiple to one communication with offshore Reduction of onsite staff Offshore team is a common & shared resource pool across applications Requires macro & micro planning of all work Constant load balancing & prioritization of work Requires training of offshore team across applications Create IT centralized helpdesk - plan & prioritize work Common Helpdesk for all production support Logging of all support requests Defining & Tracking SLA’s

18. 17 Project Team Organization

19. 18 Implement best practices Define the software engineering aspects Documented requirements/test plans/results Issue logs & resolutions Checkpoints & controls using signoffs & approvals Macro & Micro Project/resource planning Institutionalize and enforce the processes Define the workflows & process Production Support Flow SCR (Software Change Request) Flow Optimized the process for offshore-centric model SOX-404 Compliant Defined roles & responsibilities Module Owner Offshore Project Manager Offshore Analyst Offshore Developer

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22. 21 Orchestra Orchestra provides Process transparency Process enforcement Process measurement Process dashboards Improved communication Reduced need for onsite staff

23. 22 SLA’s Metrics and Dashboards

24. 23 SLA’s Metrics and Dashboards (cont’d)

25. 24 SLA’s Metrics and Dashboards (cont’d)

26. 25 Improve communications Orchestra Is accessible via the web to all process participants Shares all necessary info with all participants world wide Keeps a history log of all activities Provides real time status of all activities Acts as a knowledge base Integrates e-mail flow Provides real time reports that help in communication

27. 26 Results Clear Communication Framework established Documented requirements Enforced sign-offs & approvals Automated Issue tracking Common Repository for all information Automated emails & workflow Weekly Status calls Complete Transparency of process All tasks tracked using common tool Resource utilization tracked thru Orchestra Online status tracking Online Dashboard for monitoring performance Higher Efficiency Lesser communication overheads Clearly established ownership & accountability

28. 27 Lessons Learnt Advantage of tool-based workflows Communication focus is now on “what should be” versus “what is” Constant, objective & transparent performance review Great tool for all outsourcing models Centralized Helpdesk First step for remote support Enables Tracking of all requests & SLA monitoring First step for controlling diverse operations Process must be well-defined, visible & enforced Metrics-based reviews for continuous improvement

29. 28 Contact details Geert Swinnen E_val Office number: 02 333 26 52 Mobile number: 0475 36 43 71 E-mail: gswinnen@e-val.be www.e-val.be Sridhar Venkat Covansys Office number: +91 (44) 22623880 ext 6406 E-mail: VSridhar@Covansys.com www.covansys.com

30. Thank you!