Tools for managing offshore IT

Computerworld - Shape the process for managing an offshore IT operation into a pyramid, and at the top are personal visits. Directly below that are videoconferences, followed by telephone calls, e-mail, instant messaging and distributed software development tools. At the bottom are daily, weekly and monthly reports.

One person who has used many of those pyramid levels is Rao Vellanki, operations manager at Best Buy Co. Vellanki moved from India to the U.S. in 1977 at the age of 24 and lives in the Minneapolis area. But last year, he returned to India for a two-year assignment to manage Best Buy's offshore development in Chennai.

The Richfield, Minn.-based electronics retailer has several hundred developers in India, many with outsourcer Wipro Ltd., to handle the management and development of more than 500 applications.

Vellanki relies on a variety of methods to communicate with the home office, but one important tool is videoconferencing. "There is no question, in my view, that seeing the faces adds to the effectiveness of communications," he says. Vellanki adds that videoconferencing technology needs to improve, but it does the job. "The personal touch is there, the integrity is there—even though it's only an intangible, we find it unavoidable," he says.

Manage Your Contractors

There are tools and techniques for managing every aspect of offshore work. For instance, Fieldglass Inc. in Chicago has software for procuring and managing contract IT labor. And Elance Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., has software for procuring services and managing the contractual relationship. Elance's software automates the tasks of contract compliance and payment schedules: If the contractor hits the milestones, it gets paid; if it doesn't, there are financial penalties.

On the more nitty-gritty level of software development, there are collaborative software development tools. Users say these tools are good for quickly assembling relevant data while ensuring that everyone involved has a shared view of the information. This often means keeping e-mails addressing particular issues in a central location and making sure they are cross-referenced.

Best Buy relies on Wipro's project management tools, such as Cocoon, which tracks projects and their progress and provides for a discussion forum, among other features. Outsourcing vendor Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. in Teaneck, N.J., also makes its own collaboration environment, called eCockPit. In addition, there are third-party tools for distributed software development.

Phillip Lindsay, chief architect at Data Trace Information Services LLC in Anaheim, Calif., says he'd prefer to bring all software developers into the same room to review projects. But with about half of his 18-member development team in India, that's not an option.