| Situation
IBM aggressively
pursued offshore outsourcing. The Software Sub-contract Management (SSM)
Key Process Area (KPA) of the CMM has specific process requirements
for sub-contracting including offshore vendors. A process needed to
be quickly documented and institutionalized to standardized the selection,
monitoring and evaluating of offshore vendors.
Action Plan
Processes for the model
Included:
1. Ensuring adequate resources were assigned for selecting and managing
sub- contractors.
2. Appropriate training provided to those involved with the sub-contractor
process
3. All work to be sub-contracted is defined and planned.
4. Criteria for the selection of sub-contractors is documented and
followed.
5. The documented agreement (SOW) between the prime and the sub-contractor
is used as the basis for managing the subcontract.
6. The sub-contractor’s software development plan is reviewed
by the prime contractor and
used for tracking the software activities and communicating status.
7. All changes to the sub-contractor’s statement of work (SOW)
are reviewed within 3 business days.
8. Periodic reviews of the sub-contractor’s accomplishments
are conducted at documented milestones identified in the software
development plan.
9. The prime contractor’s Software Quality Assurance (SQA) monitors
the sub-contractor’s SQA.
10. The prime contractor’s Software Configuration Management
(SCM) group monitors the SCM activities of the sub-contractor.
11. Acceptance testing by the prime contractor is conducted as part
of the delivery of the subcontractor’s software products.
12. The software sub-contractor’s performance is evaluated and
documented on a periodic basis. The evaluation is reviewed with the
sub-contractor.
Results
The processes were
documented within a two (2) month period. Offshore vendors were evaluated
and chosen according to process. The oversight processes were documented
per the SSM KPA and effectively provided the needed controls and oversight
of offshore vendors.
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