PLANNING FOR AND MANAGING OUTSOURCED SERVICE PROVIDERS
2 DAY COURSE
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Determine the project's alignment to business strategy. Build confidence in your ability to choose processes for outsourcing, manage the transition and monitor the relationship.
Whether it is a small service or a large complex organizational function, outsourcing to a vendor can be beneficial, but also risky. Guidelines will address key elements throughout the procurement process from both a vendor and client perspective. Various scenarios will give participants practical experience in applying these guidelines. This course provides attendees with proven techniques to manage outsourcing projects from the perspective of an internal manager while understanding the service provider's role and responsibilities. Participants will learn ways to help those who are resistant to change get through the process more rapidly. Participants are also encouraged to uncover uncertainties in global and off-shore projects by using tools to mitigate risk and by leveraging the Professional Services Framework.
In-Class Group Exercises and Case Studies:
This class is a stimulating combination of class interaction, case studies and group exercises. The case study addresses the planning steps required to manage the transition of a help desk call center to a service provider. People, technology and processes are examined and the new ways of working are designed. Project controls are designed into the plan and a heavy emphasis is placed on handoffs and deliverables.
Specifically, you will:
- Learn how to determine if your project is aligned to business goals and if it is supporting other corporate initiatives.
- Construct measurable objectives that help determine when the project is done.
- Identify a list of project life cycle deliverables.
- Uncover a list of tools and techniques to use throughout the project life.
- Practice modeling processes that demonstrate hand off deliverables and flush out service provider expectations.
- Utilize a knowledge transfer checklist to facilitate transitioning to the vendor.
- Identify risks, impacts and responses associated with the outsourced arrangement.
- Complete a project quality plan in response to service provider risks
- Develop service and product quality measures and tools
- Build procurement and contractual reviews into the quality plan.
- Describe service provider and internal deliverables and roles for the pre project stage, project stage and post project stage
- Differentiate between the project budget and the total cost of ownership
- Create a project RASCI - then develop a "Desired State" RASCI using deliverables once the project is done
- Learn to quantify critical success factors associated with the desired state
- Design the solution - Specifications, Refinement, Development and Knowledge transfer strategy. Use the knowledge transfer checklist to develop an action plan that will complete the knowledge transfer strategy
Course Outline
- Outsourcing Overview
Outsourcing is an increasing reality in modern business practice. A $6 trillion dollar industry (and growing), professional's need to arm themselves to powerfully transform their organizations given the changing global environment. You must understand what is happening now, what is coming, why, and how to capitalize on the opportunities.
- The Outsourcing Lifecycle
- Aligning best practices with your strategy
- Current Research and Thought Leadership
- Key Concepts for Managing Outsourcing Projects
Why is an outsourcing project plan different? There definitely are similarities with other projects, but the complexity requires more upfront planning.
- Alignment of Outsourcing Programs and Projects
- Constructing a Common Understanding of Success Factors and Their Priorities Through a Stakeholder Agreement
- Defining Clear Responsibilities between Client and Vendor
- Creating your Outsourcing Project Plan
- Leveraging Existing Processes
- The Professional Services Framework
The Professional Services Framework (PSF) provides a common defined process and terminology that ensures smoother transitions between phases and team members. Application of the framework will also help in reducing process inefficiencies that contribute negatively to the Delivery Organization's and Client's objectives.
- PSF Phases and Deliverables
- Qualify the Need and Opportunity
- Recommend and Agree
- Manage and Deliver
- Preparing for Implementation of an Outsourced Relationship
Engineering your existing operations to handle the complexities of managing outsourced
relationships requires a calculated, yet flexible approach. Adapting to the complexities requires great skill and diligence.
- Bridging the Sales/Delivery Gap
- Performing Feasibility studies
- Clarifying Objectives
- Reviewing the completeness of the outsourcing agreement
- Building the Plan
- Budgeting
- Assumptions and Stakeholder Management
- Deliverables and Milestones
- Business Process Design
- Implementing Controls for Your Outsourcing Project
Building a professional relationship requires trust on the part of both client and vendor. Monitoring and controlling during the support period is critical to building and sustaining trust between client and vendor. - Managing Outsourcing Projects
- Managing Contractual Risks and Ongoing Service Issues
- Developing a Communication Plan
- Developing a Quality Plan
- Ensuring Changes are controlled
- Risk Management for Outsourcing Projects
Risks are inherent in every project and relationship. There are also unique risks to managing outsourced and offshore relationships. Get a handle on the unique complexities of outsourcing risk management
- Review or Core Concepts in Risk Management
- Building a Risk Plan
- Pre-and Post Transition Risks
- Issue and Performance Reporting
- Transitioning the Organization
Can the organizational structure of the project and the resulting organization affect influence and control? Absolutely! In the outsourcing project, you must consider the impact that change has to the business organization and also consider how to work within the vendor or client organization. You can't consider this project closed unless this transition is complete!
- Getting to the Right Project Structure to Balance Project Influence and Control
- Balancing Control between Business and Outsourcing Vendor
- Changes to the Business Organizational Structure
- Understanding the Outsourcing Vendor Organizational Structure
- Handling the Resistance to Change
- Planning a Knowledge Transfer and Changes in Procedures
- Critical Success Factors
- The Human Side of Outsourcing Projects
Preparing your employees for the changes in an outsourced relationship is quite a challenge. Building support and effective execution is essential to the long-term success of any outsourced initiative.
- Layers of Cultures
- Regional and geographic realities
- Influence people without having formal authority
- Overcoming Resistance to change
- Closing the Outsourcing Project
There needs to be a clean break between the project's closure and the ongoing support.
Success criteria are different for each and must be clearly defined and improvement processes established.
- Benefit Realization for all Stakeholders
- Process Improvement Based on Feedback and Control Plan Reviews
- Document Archival and Retention Based on Policy and Legal Requirements
- Financial Analysis
- Considerations for Ongoing Warranty or Service Level Agreement
- Administrative and Contractual Close-out
- Managing the relationship
Transactional business practices can be the kiss of death for any outsourced relationship. By focusing on the relationship and building a true and solid long term business practice, you can innovate new ways to beat the competition and create sustainable business growth.
- Capturing the business knowledge created
- Measuring knowledge transfer
- People development
- Threshold and Tolerance for work results
- Nurturing the relationship for future business success
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
HOW TO:
- Gain insight into the decision to outsource
- Use performance measures that align services to business strategy
- Successfully manage vendor/client relationships and associated risks
- Create and use the roles and responsibility matrix for clarity in contractual commitments & management of project resources
- Develop easy-to-implement plans for managing expectations with outsourcing delivery organizations
- Effectively control scope, timeline, and finances for both internal clients and outsourcing delivery organizations
- Use risk management methods to identify and mitigate outsourcing risks
- Master the "role transition" from an organization's business model to a project structure, and to the outsourcing provider
- Develop a concrete knowledge transfer plan using a knowledge transfer checklist
- Monitor performance after transition with the use of a warranty plan and service level agreement
- Apply the Professional Services Framework to outsourcing engagements
Special Bonus: Receive and use in class a copy of acclaimed expert Michael Corbett’s book The Outsourcing Revolution.
Key benefits of Attending this class
- Quantify your skills as an emerging leader in driving outsourced projects
- Apply the Professional Services Framework to your environment so you can better manage the outsourced relationship
- Develop the skills to understand the business need and source and manage the outsourced provided based on that need
- Manage the transition so expected serviced levels can be reached on schedule
- Learn proven strategies for managing third party relationships
- Acquire the tools and skills to control and mitigate the unique risks of outsourced projects
- Build the skills in your Program Management Office and Procurement staff to handle the additional business complexities outsourcing generates
- Achieve maximum results through cross-functional integration of your multi-vendor environment
- Transform your managers into world-class organization leaders
- Improve your decision making abilities and increase alignment to overall business strategy
- Develop your understanding of the need for transitional roles during the outsourcing process
- Teach suppliers and customers in all industries how to work together to establish and achieve common goals
- Immediately applicable tools and techniques you will use throughout the life of an outsourcing project
- Uniquely suited modeling processes that demonstrate hand off deliverables and flush out service provider expectations
- Learn a flexible and adaptive process and methodology for implementing an outsourced relationship
- Build the internal skills mandatory to reap the cost saving benefits outsourcing can provide your organizations