Offshore Outsourcing has gone main stream and now offshore is now no longer a concept but a reality!

The initial perception was that offshore outsourcing was appropriate for larger organisations, however it is now increasingly apparent that almost every organisation, big or small, can benefit from offshore outsourcing. 

Indian software service providers have matured the process of offshore delivery. A combination of onsite and offshore software services has become a successful delivery model for many software projects. Advantages to the client include not just cost reduction but also access to a larger pool of experienced and skilled offshore software professionals capable of delivering high quality software and IT services.

Automatic’s Onsite - Offshore engagement model is designed to pass these benefits to  clients. Our entire Onsite - Offshore engagement model is governed by the Simple Services Delivery model (SSDM) to ensure that the Client team and Automatic team work closely with each other. SSDM implements a Governance model that:

1. Provides complete transparency on project performance (providing near real time project dashboards)
2. Identifies risks at different stages of offshoring and initiates a risk mitigation plan
3. Builds flexibility to adapt to changing client needs
4. Provides service improvement opportunities by establishing base lines and then measuring against them

1. Software project teams are divided into two sub teams viz., the onsite (nearer to client) & offshore team in India.
2. Onsite team is led by onsite PM or Account manager and Offshore team is led by Offshore Project manager
3. Onsite team is staffed with the senior functional consultants who understand the client’s requirement along with the key users and document them. The activities are divided in 2 types
4. Onsite activities are completed at the client’s end
5. Offshore activities are documented and prepared for the offshore team.
   Size of the onsite team is decided based on the size of the project and the support requirements.
   
6. Offshore team is managed by a dedicated Project manager. The offshore PM co-ordinates the requirements with the onsite team and gets them executed through the offshore delivery team.
7. The offshore delivery team size is decided based on the project size and support requirements and comprises of both technical and functional consultants.

1. Onsite techno-functional onsite software consultants work as channels between the Client business analysts and offshore project team.
2. ONSITE consultants work closely with the key users and the client team to understand the business processes and to document the requirements. Together with the steering team, a realization plan is prepared for various activities.
3. Requirement specification documents are always approved by the key users and steering teams.
4. Activities that require a closer cooperation with the client team are executed onsite to save time and efforts (Document, execute, test and deploy).
5. Offshore activities are prepared / documented by the onsite team along with the key users.
6. After approval from the steering team, offshore activities are transitioned to the offshore team for realization.

1. Approved functional documents are accepted by the offshore project manager.
2. The offshore team converts the business requirements and functional documents into the technical design at offshore software delivery centre.
3. Offshore Team Leaders and Functional Leaders translate the requirements and functional designs for the functional/ technical team members for realization.
4. Based on approved technical designs, code is built, tested and deployed from offshore.
5. Sample data and test conditions are received from the client team or are already present in the test environment.
6. Built in developments/customisations are tested by the teams with the sample data from the client or in the sample test environment with test cases relevant to the client business.
7. If software development / software coding is involved, the code is sent through the cycles of code review within the team of TL, QA members and client side technical reviewers.
8. Code/Customization is frozen for functional business testing.
9. The tested code/customization is released to the onsite team for combined testing with the client (in the QA environment) along with relevant documentation. Upon approval, the changes then go into production.
10. On approval from client post internal testing, the code is packed and delivered to the client project team.