Companies outsource their technology projects for several reasons - expense, lack of internal resources, or the project requires specialized technical skills not available within their own IT departments. Software companies can be an invaluable partner and enable a company to grow and prosper as that company concentrates on its core business. However, using software vendors can also introduce risk and higher costs as well as if the project is not managed properly.

This course will introduce the software acquisition life cycle and quality concepts to help manage the project, from proposal through contracting, analysis and design, testing, implementation and ongoing maintenance.

This class is appropriate for IT project managers, IT management, business analysts, testers and their managers, and anyone impacted by the introduction of a new system into their organization.

Agenda:

• Outsourcing – When and Why
• Quality Concepts in Outsourcing
• Customer expectations
• Fitness for use
• Quality from a customer and vendor perspective
• Introducing the Software Acquisition Life Cycle
• Cycle Phases
• Defect Introduction and Impacts
• Quality Assurance v. Quality Control
• Prevention v. Detection
• Requirements Gathering
• Prioritization
• Change Management
• Request for Proposal
• Finalizing Company Choice of Vendor Using the Software Acquisition Scorecard
• Contracting
• Introducing Quality Concepts into the Contract
• Accountability – Customer and Vendor
• Managing the Construction, Testing and Implementation Phases
• Managing the Ongoing Vendor Relationship – Win/Win
• Wrap-up