Process
Coherent Solutions follows a defined process for building its outsourcing teams. This process is comprised of four distinct phases and emphasizes adaptability to the realities of the client’s organization and environment and common sense throughout. The goals, major activities, and durations are shown for each phase in the graphic below.
Analysis & Planning
Coherent Solutions starts all engagements with a planning phase. The intent of this phase is for Coherent Solutions and the client to gain a mutual understanding of the current state of client’s goals, organization, processes, and environment. Then, a plan is created to initiate the offshore team and transition it to a fully operational state.
This phase is conducted onsite at the client by a U.S.-based Delivery Manager. The Delivery Manager can be augmented as appropriate by Coherent Solutions domain or technical specialists in the U.S. to ensure whatever analysis is required as input into the plan can be performed. The following activities are performed during this phase:
Optionally, some clients may elect to visit the Minsk Development center at the end of this phase in order to complete final due diligence on Coherent Solutions’ capabilities or to act as a spring board into the next phase of the engagement. Trips of this type are usually around a week in duration.
Initiation & Transition
Once the Initiation and Transition Plan has been created, the engagement proceeds to team creation and startup. The intent of this phase is to create the core of the Minsk Development team and begin it working productively in alignment with the client’s methods and expectations by doing the initial scope of work specified.
The following activities are performed during this phase:
Operation
Once the team is fully operational, the engagement moves into the Operation phase. The intent of this phase is to be an ongoing state with the team functioning productively in the Minsk Development Center and in alignment with the client’s goals.
Completion
When the engagement has reached a logical conclusion, it will enter the Completion phase. In this phase:
Coherent Solutions follows a defined process for building its outsourcing teams. This process is comprised of four distinct phases and emphasizes adaptability to the realities of the client’s organization and environment and common sense throughout. The goals, major activities, and durations are shown for each phase in the graphic below.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Analysis & Planning
Coherent Solutions starts all engagements with a planning phase. The intent of this phase is for Coherent Solutions and the client to gain a mutual understanding of the current state of client’s goals, organization, processes, and environment. Then, a plan is created to initiate the offshore team and transition it to a fully operational state.
This phase is conducted onsite at the client by a U.S.-based Delivery Manager. The Delivery Manager can be augmented as appropriate by Coherent Solutions domain or technical specialists in the U.S. to ensure whatever analysis is required as input into the plan can be performed. The following activities are performed during this phase:
- Analyze Technical Environment and required skill sets
- Analyze Application Architecture - Identify integration points between subsystems and between different layers of the architecture. Assess complexity of subsystems and architectural layers. Subsystems or layers with fewer integration points (i.e. more isolated) represent better candidates for outsourced labor. Similarly, those areas with lower complexity represent better candidates for offshore labor.
- Identify/Validate Scope of Work to be Outsourced – Understand scale, consistency, and criticality to client’s business. Activities of high criticality to the client’s business are usually poor candidates for initial outsourcing given their higher risk profile. Selecting areas with no criticality; however, can also be a bad idea because it may not generate the focus within the client organization to devote the energy necessary to launching the outsourcing team.
- Understand Client Development Process utilized by client to understand the depth of project management/control and the extent of quality assurance gates. Organizations with higher project management/control and more numerous quality assurance gates mitigate the risks imposed by the outsourcing team. In those situations where organizations have few control mechanisms, Coherent Solutions will work with them to enhance their process to better facilitate outsourced development.
- Confirm Knowledge Base for the following areas: Technical architecture, Functional requirements, and Development Process. For each area determine location of knowledge (in people’s heads, in external artifacts, a combination, etc.) and assess quality. Knowledge that is externalized into artifacts is more easily transferred to an outsourcing team. In those instances where high quality knowledge exists within the client’s team, it can often be effectively transferred through travel between the client site and the Minsk Development Center.
- Create Initiation Plan
Optionally, some clients may elect to visit the Minsk Development center at the end of this phase in order to complete final due diligence on Coherent Solutions’ capabilities or to act as a spring board into the next phase of the engagement. Trips of this type are usually around a week in duration.
Initiation & Transition
Once the Initiation and Transition Plan has been created, the engagement proceeds to team creation and startup. The intent of this phase is to create the core of the Minsk Development team and begin it working productively in alignment with the client’s methods and expectations by doing the initial scope of work specified.
The following activities are performed during this phase:
- Begin Performance of Outsourced Tasks
- Acquire Staff – Core members are allocated to the outsourced development team. Coherent Solutions typically performs screening of candidates internally based on information gathered from the Assessment and Planning Phase. If designed, Clients can also be involved in resource selecting and screening through resume reviews, telephone interviews, or even in person interviews should they opt to visit the Minsk Development Center. Unless otherwise specified, team members are always 100% assigned to a given client with the intent to remain on the client team for the long-term.
- Conduct Knowledge Transfer – Clients where knowledge is straightforward or effectively externalized have the option of performing knowledge transfer at a distance through software or artifact review. It is more common, however, for initial knowledge transfer to require temporary co-location of the client and outsourcing teams.
- Create Development/Technical Infrastructure – Remote access to the client’s network is established from Minsk through VPN. Access to the following systems is granted: version control, bug tracking, knowledge management (e.g. Wikis, Sharepoint, etc.), project management, and the appropriate development/testing environments. In addition, any necessary software is installed in the Minsk Development center including IDE, DBMS, Web Servers, Application Servers and appropriate development/test data.
- Create Collaboration Infrastructure – Each team in Minsk is assigned a VOIP phone with a 612 area code number for engagement communication. IM, Application Sharing, and Videoconference solutions are also standardized with the client to maximize communication channels. Coherent Solutions uses Skype as its standard for all of these methods of communications, but there are several other free toolsets to choose from such as MS Live Messenger should the client prefer an alternative.
- Define Development Process Specifics – Fundamental software development processes such as requirements definition and management, configuration management, design/code reviews, project management, risk management, and quality assurance are defined for the outsourced team within the client’s environment.
- Define Metrics for Governance – Establishing proper metrics can be a powerful tool to maintain alignment between the client’s expectations and the team’s performance. Good metrics also form a foundation for process improvement over time.
Operation
Once the team is fully operational, the engagement moves into the Operation phase. The intent of this phase is to be an ongoing state with the team functioning productively in the Minsk Development Center and in alignment with the client’s goals.
- Continue Performance of Outsourced Tasks
- Govern Relationship – The Coherent Solutions Delivery Manager and the client provide ongoing governance of the relationship ensuring service delivery is alignment with the client’s priorities and continues to meet its quality expectations. During this phase the Coherent Solutions Delivery Manager works between 1-8 hrs/wk on the project.
- Perform Ongoing Resource Management – The core team will remain consistent over time to ensure service continuity. Additional staff can be cycled on and off above this core team as needed to provide short-term bursts of capacity. This can be accomplished with agility after the core outsourcing team has been solidified during the Initiation and Transition phase.
- Continue Team Building – Like any relationship the cross-site relationship between teams in outsourcing engagements is something that requires continued investment. This is best facilitated through travel between the client and the Minsk Development Center. These ‘maintenance’ trips can be shorter in duration (1-2 weeks) than those used to initiate the team in the previous phase, but the human element and the need for continued face-to-face communication should not be ignored.
- Conduct Process Improvement – As the engagement evolves, both the client and the outsourcing teams are expected to perform ongoing process improvement. Metrics agreed to during the Initiation and Transition phase can provide a wealth of information for making improvements on an objective basis.
Completion
When the engagement has reached a logical conclusion, it will enter the Completion phase. In this phase:
- Complete Outsourced Tasks
- Return Client Owned Tools– Coherent Solutions will promptly return all client owned hardware and software.
- Return Intellectual Property – All work created by Coherent Solutions for its clients are considered to be ‘Works for Hire’ as such term is defined under United States copyright laws owned by and for the benefit of Client. As such, CSI will return or dispose of any electronic or hard copies of intellectual property including: requirements artifacts, architecture/design artifacts, source code, database code, data, test cases, etc.
- Disable Remote Access – Coherent Solutions will coordinate with the client to disable all client system access including network, application, and database credentials as well as facility access badges if used by Coherent Solutions U.S. staff.