Writers Den

Case Study

Do it Yourself Outsourcing – You design the product or service that will be
outsourced

This case study allows you to
choose the business process that will be outsourced. You must first decide on
the company, and if you use a real one, please do not reveal any names or trade
secrets. This may also be a fictitious organization if you choose to use one.

Your Assignment:

Prepare
an executive summary document outlining the entire outsourcing / contracting
process for those business processes that you decide to outsource. Your
analysis must include the items below.

·
An
analysis on which business processes you would outsource versus those that you
would maintain in-house. You need to justify your decision for each business
process maintained in-house or outsourced (e.g., accounting, editorial,
photography, publishing, distribution, printing, layout, advertising, editing,
articles, etc.).

·
For
those services that you intend to outsource:

o Establish the preliminary performance targets /
level of service that will be required from the selected vendors;

o Establish the type of contract that you will use
for each contract (i.e., fixed, cost-plus, reimbursable, unit);

o Determine the evaluation criteria that you will use
to select the preferred vendor(s) (e.g., low price, best value, etc.) [Are
there different evaluation criteria for different business units? Why?];

o Identify the number of vendors that you will select
to provide the services that will be outsourced (i.e., one vendor for all
services versus individual vendors with specific expertise in each of the
services to be outsourced); and

o Construct a timeline that summarizes the bid
activities and time duration for each contracting process (i.e., plan purchases
and acquisition through select sellers).

Background:

Case Study 2 allows the student to bring to the table a business outsourcing
project that they may have gone through. If this is the case, please do not use
real names of either the company or individuals in the paper. If you have not
gone through this process, then research an outsourcing endeavor that interests
you, and write about it. You need to include the justification for outsourcing
the department, the process that has to take place for a successful
outsourcing, and the cost of this endeavor.

Terminal Course Objectives
(TCOs)

All terminal course objectives studied up through Week 5 are being addressed in
Case Study 2.

1	Given a specific project scope, a set of legal and management requirements, and the availability of internal resources, evaluate optional contract structures and recommend and justify the preferred structure for that given situation.
2	Given a simple procurement need and a complex project that requires one or more procurement activities, compare and contrast the scope and functions of contract procurement/management versus project management.
3	Given a specific project and its anticipated contract administration and project management requirements, create a procurement division of the responsibilities matrix and a project division of responsibility matrix that consider the utilization of internal resources in order to define any external resources that will be required.
4	Given specific contract procurement conditions for a project, identify and evaluate the factors that influence a contract pricing strategy and recommend the strategy that is best suited for the given conditions.
5	Given certain contract objectives and related project requirements, formulate the sections of a project plan that specify the budget, schedule, and technical requirements for the contract.
6	Given the need to procure a major contract, select a set of management and commercial requirements that are appropriate for the size and complexity of the contract.
7	Given the need to solicit goods or services from external sources, consolidate all contract and, if applicable, project requirements into a checklist that will form the framework to guide the development of a Request for Proposals (RFP).
8	Given the award and execution of a contract, analyze and select effective management techniques to control quality, cost, schedule, and scope adherence to the associated requirements specified in the contract.

Resources

The weekly lectures and assigned readings serve as a starting point. Please be
advised that considerable relevant material is also available on the Internet,
so you might want to conduct a search for some materials that may yield
insights into the procurement process that you will be undertaking. Remember to
properly cite any outside information that you use.

Submittal Format

Case Study 2 should be
prepared in MS Word format. Any resources used beyond the ebook need to be
cited in your document–including links to relevant websites. Your document
shall be written as an executive summary or bulleted list/tables clearly
identifying your purpose, relevant data, decision-making/thought process, and
conclusion. Your document will be your “go-to” plan for your
outsourcing process. You need to quickly and succinctly understand the steps
that you’ll undertake for contracting. This means having minimal
paragraph-style text, and instead, introducing a variety of tables, graphs, and
charts.

While this report should be
fashioned as an executive summary, it does encompass the entire contracting
process. As such, it shall be between 5 and 8 single-sided pages in length,
using 10-point Times New Roman font, and 1.5-inch line spacing. The page
requirements do NOT include any cover sheets that you may include with your
report.

Submission Details

See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for
due date information. A firm 5% per day penalty for late submissions will be
assessed. The file name for your submitted assignments should be formatted as
follows: “CS2-studentlastname”.

Grading

Case Study 2 is worth a total of 70 points. The 70 points will be allocated in
the following manner.

Points	Criteria
5	Correlation of the assessment with the TCOs outlined above and material covered through Week 5.
5	Compliance with format requirements outlined above.
25	Assessment of which business processes you would outsource. Determine whether it would be cost effective to outsource the business unit, and also, whether or not it might be helpful or detrimental to your core business.
5	Assessment of any issues that may arise (both in the short-term and long-term) for each outsourced business process.
5	Assessment of the type of contract chosen for each business unit outsourced. Provide a rationale for your choice.
5	Assessment of the evaluation criteria used to rank the proposals. Again, a rationale for your choice needs to be included.
5	Strength of argument on the number of vendors selected to provide the services.
15	Assessment of timeline for bid activities and time duration for each contracting process.
Total: 70

Case Study 1 is a
comprehensive assessment that highlights the preparation that will precede the
procurement and contracting process. The scenario of outsourcing a corporate datacenter
is one that is very current, and this decision is being made daily. You will
prepare a document to be presented to the executives that will be comprehensive
and easy to use to decide if the company will outsource or not. By the end of
your analysis, you should have touched on all aspects of the contracting
process, from plan purchases and acquisition stage, through the select sellers
phase