Staff Roles And Responsibilities In Rfp Process Information Technology Essay

module Roles And Responsibilities In Rfp Process Information Technology Essay trump go forth occidental world(prenominal) is looking at pose the functionality and the eServices of the European amalgamated best horse opera website that represent the national European IT subdivisions to integrate their functions and maintain- perish out this single website portal. As the travel industry is char playacterised by dynamic modifys much(prenominal) as mergers and acquisitions of hotel fetter and properties, silk hat western sandwich International is looking for a partner who is impulsive to sh be the responsibilities, benefits and risks. The partner should continually find ways to advance the functionality of the consolidated website portal and advise Best Western on the diversify watchfulness c atomic number 18 fores for its national IT departments. The vender is too pass judgment to ease and assist the hotel to be after and go through with the compulsory establis hmental alter. The project is to complete at heart the contiguous six months. This is a huge challenge as Best Western does non obtain both single IT department to oversee the be after and the executement of outsourcing requirements and handle.This overcompensate helps to identify its us qualified and strategic motivations for exploitation the Request for Proposal (RPF) as well as identifying and selecting an appropriate outsourcing marketer. maven of the major requirements of the RFP is not only the expert requirements of the application but also the placemental competencies of the seller that is required to help Best Western, Europe, manage the transcriptional transition process.This report advise the lymph node how to write and negotiate the Service Level promise (SLA) with the selected seller in order to ensure the provision of reliable avails, how to develop and negotiate a contract with a potential vendor so that Best Western enjoys determine, technolo gical and brass sectional flexibility.This report also examines the note operational purlieu, its finale and propose strategies. This should enable Best Western to effectively manage the knowledge transfers and process collaboration amid the internal multi-national IT staff and the IT vendor growing staff. The focus beas accommodate knowledge way and transfer issues, management of the transition process and agreemental changes that atomic number 18 required to take place deep down Best Western in Europe. In addition, it helps Identify the staff who should be voluminous in the transition process and their roles and responsibilities. Major outsourcing risks and recommend practices to outdo them were identified as well.IntroductionBest Western International is the worlds largest hotel brand. With its front end in 80 countries, it has over 4,000 hotels all around. Member hotels of Best Western consortia enjoy mevery benefits. Besides being associated with the global bran d name, they induce the benefits of the marketing and operational servicings of Best Western. This includes portal to (electronic) distribution channels, international reservation call centres, training, and centralised e-procurement.While Best Western International has its footprints all over the globe, its local representative topographic points in individually verdant function independently in to a greater extent ways than one. They develop and operate their own websites.These websites are not characterised by all standardised design. apiece one features different online assistants and functionalities. Further more(prenominal), there is limited synergy and think amongst these country item websites. These websites create confusion to international travellers and also act as a major technological and presidential termal inhibitor to the future development and credence of sophisticated eServices by the hotel chain.Furthermore, every national Best Western office has an i ndividual IT department. This department is responsible for developing its own eServices arsed on the departments financial resources and skills. As a result, eServices development efforts are replicated leading to a waste of resources at a European take despite the item that early(a) national IT departments may be lacking resources for website developmentThe organisation has screwd the need to develop a consolidated portal providing access to all European Best Western websites. This should feature integrated and holistic refreshful eServices such as dynamic packaging solutions and an easier interface to the Best Western Reward programmeDynamic packaging solutions provide several(prenominal) benefits and tax income making opportunities to travel companies. It can also help the organisation realise its aims to promote Europe as a single destination.It has envisaged the need to re-organise the IT departments of Best Western in every European country. other(a) requirements te stament be to foster and can their cooperation and synergies as well as fructify their roles and responsibilities related to website design and e-services development.RFP DevelopmentRFP is veritable(prenominal)ly drafted at the end of the requirements-gathering manikin of a project. It is all-important(prenominal) that the future(a) prerequisites be completed before embarking on RFP process Identify organisational objectives. Identify stake needers. Identify project objectives.Once the prerequisites are completed, we can and so accurately capture, interpret, and represent the voice of the thickening in doing the IT organisation requirements. It is important that all stakeholders must achieve a crude redeing of what the IT system for wee be and do. To achieve that, a cabal of meetings with user representatives, facilitated prepareshops with analysts and users, individual customer interviews, prototyping, and user surveys be employed.It is important that Best Western In ternational undergo the pursuance pre-RFP activities before developing its RFPHas it performed some(prenominal) prior feasibility studies or High level design digest on the new web portal to be developedHas the damage and benefit analysis of the consolidated systems being conducted and entryedWas the benefits been quantified and shared with tombstone stakeholders within the organisation to get consensus and endorsement close to the new assembly line for developing and consolidating the IT systemWas the high level orbital cavity been identified including completing the documentation of the trade process procedures (BPPs) to be enabled through new IT systemsIdentifying the booster for the new Portal and receiving approval to proceed. For good example, a project charter to officially engage the necessary resources for the outsourcing project anHas the clocklines for the implementation of new IT system and the estimated compute for the entire programme including TCO(tota l cost of ownership) for enduring support been finalisedPre-RFP activities are small for formulating some(prenominal) business national into an RFP. It is recommended to use information gathering or IT requirement gathering methods, tools and techniques in order to capture the requirements for the new IT system. approximately of the main tools that would help in elicitation of requirements are Brainstorming, structured questionnaires, case scenario, state transition diagrams and UML model diagram to capture relationship between the real m objects and classes. In other words, the pre-RFP activities are as untold sarcastic as the RFP activities.A good RFP address and capture the followingScope of activities that are distinctly setd to be delivered by the vendor. Unless the scope of the participation is clear, vendors would not be in a position to posit a viable and competitive response for the RFP.Include inputs from the initial break tweak/HLD analysis performed by clien t organisation with the quantifiable benefits leaned out of new IT system. Vendor must understand the sizeable benefits and criticality of the new system to client organisation otherwise it would not be able respect direct financial implications on client organisation for each(prenominal) slippages and understand the criticality of the project to clientInclude technical requirements including specific technical infrastructure, platform and software. Furthermore, it is important to highlighting reasons behind finalising on a particular platform and software including its roadmap in the RFPInclude sequencelines for the vendors response accounting entry and timelines for the project implementation and what uphold would have on the client organisation in case of slippagesExplicitly mention Vendor characteristics and minimum qualifications expected from vendor for being trusted partner for this engagementClearly check out the service level Agreement (SLAs) for the delivery of n ew IT system and impact of not adhering to SLAs along with financial liabilities (if any) shine up the expected relative frequency and exposit to be incorporated in status reportingExplicitly document the mandate for signing on non-disclosure pact of vendor with client organisation in order to ensure security and integrity of dataHighlight the need for obtaining approval from key client personnel who forgeting be engaged in the programme from vendors teamEnforce the business units to highlight the risks, operational constraints and issues that the vendor can foreclose on the programme/project. This bequeath help in assessing its impact and its standardisedlihood even before obtain of the programme and plan for mitigationWhat infrastructure required from a vendor perspective to deliver the new information systemVendors commercial cater and what factors that vendor thinks that would position them ahead of othersAny live case studies whereby vendor had come to in similar eng agement with other clients along with opposition references from those clients for future enquiry and reference.Articulate clearly responsibility and accountability of activities to be taken by vendor and other parties as part of the engagement through RACIS(R-Responsible A-Accountable C-Consulted I-Informed S-Supported) matrixInclude the warranty requirements that is expected from vendor on the new IT system to be developedThe acceptance criteria for the new system and the process for obtaining signoffIn addition an RFP should request a corporate compose of the responding vendor. Typically this testament include risk statements around corporate liquidity, market share, an outline of local operations, number of staff in this country, support models (where support may be with a third party), escalation procedures to parent, local install base (number of customers in this country) etc..A typical RFP for a website project should include the following componentsIntroductiona summary of the composition including the mission statement. visualise outlineGoals and purposeProject scopeWebsite requirementsDatabase development requirementsUser requirementsDesign requirementsFunctional requirementsBudget constraints-limited cypherTime constraints-when we need the project completed by and when we require responses from vendorsCriteria for selecting a vendorSubmission of proposal and further information- satisfy information that encourages vendors to contact the organization for more informationStaff roles and responsibilities in RFP processOne of the critical success factors of an outsourcing deal is involving the right stakeholders who will be actively convoluted in this project whose interest may be positively or negatively affected as a result of the project exploit or successful completion. For project outsourcing to succeed, it must be well-planned and carefully implemented.To help ensure the organisation benefit from outsourcing, different teams or roles can b e formed or specifiedIdeas team This team is involved in identifying processes which can be beneficial to outsource. They should be directly involved in overseeing the caller-ups business strategy to ensure that they have a strategic overview of the companys be processes and goals.Policy-level team This team is involved in assessing whether outsourcing specific processes is appropriate. For each process, this requires analysing the feasible benefits of outsourcing in relation to the companys policies and strategic goals. The team should consist of senior company administrators, rather than employees from individual departments. A common perception is that outsourcing a process implies a departments failure to manage it. Using senior executives rather than department members in a policy-level team helps ensure objectivity. It also ensures that the team has the required strategic perspective. opinion team This team is involved in analysing the potential implications of outsourc ing the process for the company. This team should include members from the policy-level team, and should be lead by an executive from the team. This team should include members with different roles and skills. This helps ensure that the team can recognise the homogeneously implications of outsourcing across different areas and form the perspectives of different stakeholders. Members of an assessment should includeConsultantsFunctional managersProcess expertsRepresentative customersTechnical expertsImplementation and transition team This team is responsible for setting up project outsourcing to address any implication identified. It makes the changes required to pass internal proceeds processes to a service provider. The transition team should be involved in managing the change involved in outsourcing project. This teams focus should be on ensuring that the move from internal production to outsourcing des not impact negatively on the company.Vendor evaluation and assessment crite riaPrior to developing the evaluation criteria, it is important to clearly define the company objectives of outsourcing its IT operation in term of functions, performance, tapling and costs. We can then define the following outputs expected from the vendorsOperational systemsDocumentationManagement teachCommunicationSupportReduced costsExpertiseAssetsWhen we have the supra outputs, we can define the following acceptance criteriaThe quality of the service in term of functionality, usability, performance, reliability and availablenessThe implementation and operational planThe quality of the supportCapability for future enhancements in line with business expansionQualification of vendortechnical capacityability to meet objectivesfinancial stabilityquality systemIn additional, an evaluation of the following should be performedAssess the managerial proposalDesired working relationshipsDepth and frequency of liaison, meeting, reportsDealing with duplicateordinary itemsLocation of offi ces and servicesResources/commitment required of clientConfidentialityAssess scathe and conditionownership of hardware and software nourishment of customer supplied equipmentprotection of customers and vendor proprietary informationWarranty stopoverEscrow arrangementAssess the technical proposalcompleteness of proposaldemonstration of capabilities or products conformation to requirement (performance and quality)demonstration of degree of understating of problems and applicability of solutiontechnical strategy maturity applicability and compatibilityAssess the financial proposalassess method of paymentE.g., fixed price, by usage of resource, shared savings, revenue itIdentify Total costsIdentify cost payment order of businessOther factors in assessing proposalThe vendorThe company industry specification, hang back scriptLength of time in businessLength of time with local presenceStandard qualification (ISO 90000, etc)Size, ownership, financial position / break-dance up capita l etc.Staff assignedCV, security headroom (if appropriate)Experience, is who you see who you will get?Any other commitmentsReferences (other customers) earlier suffer with contractorsDoes contractors representative come across as direct or straightforward forward?interest in your businessIn addition, we can valuate evaluation criteria of each vendor by aiming to score vendors against each other. For exampleAttached weights to eachCriteriaWeightProposed Functionality6show Services5Previous Experience3cost5We can give each vendor a score of 1-10 for each criterion and take in total weighted score = sum (weighted scores)CriteriaWeightVendor 1Vendor 2Score heavy ScoreScoreWeighted ScoreProposed Functionality6848742Demonstrated Services5420525Previous Experience4624416Costs5525525Total117108The vendor with the highest score is usually the preferred partner.Service Level Agreement (SLA) developmentAn SLA defines the boundaries of the project in terms of the functions and services tha t the service provider will provide, the volume of work that will be accepted and delivered, and acceptance criteria for reactivity and the quality of deliverables. A well-defined and well crafted SLA should set expectations for parties, including the incentives, rewards and penalties applicable to the outsourcing agreement and its results.To ensure the provision of reliable services from the service provider, an SLA should specify client and the providers accountabilities in the outsourcing relationship. These includeClient role The organisation needs to feature its role in the outsourcing relationship. This extends beyond providing its requirements because it details what the provider can expect from the client organisation. For example, the organisation may need to advise the provider about the process, keep them informed about the vision of the project, provide any make software it needs, or help it acquire and maintain infrastructureThe terms of service This should include the cost and duration of the contract, and a time pen for deliverables. The terms should be realistic and measurable, based on the organisations requirements. It need to particularise any context-sensitive terms, such as a roadmap for release dates, an hourly flush rate, any ceilings on billing rates, and conditions for payments.Delivery measurements This should detail how the providers service is measured, and any performance bonuses payable if metrics are exceeded. The organisation needs to specify who is in charge of completing the metrics, who reviews status reports, and how any conflicts in the measurements are to be mediated or arbitrated. For example, we should set metrics for service reliability, availability and response times for proceeding and any service incidents such as server failure.Reliability = Uptime / DowntimeThe system shall not suffer a downtime great than 15 minutes during continuous 24 hours operationDowntime = Operational down time + Waiting time + Inve stigation time + Recovery timeAvailability = Uptime / (Uptime + Downtime + Maintenance time)The system shall be 99% available during rule working hours (0700 1900)PerformanceResponse time95% of all online enquiries will be serviced within 5 secondsAverage response time to online enquiries shall be 4 secondsNo enquiry shall suffer a response time 10 secondsThroughputThe system will handle a maximum of 100,000 transactions per dayStorageThe system must currently store 1 million customer records and provision must be made for an ontogenesis in records of 5% per annumDelivery and OutputThe following reports will be delivered daily at 0800Penalty articles This should include the price and penalties of non-compliance in the SLA. This should clearly define the expectations in the relationship and helps establish remedial processes to resolve any compliance disputes and ensure uninterrupted service. We can dictate a fee reduction, corrective action or payable compensation for any inju rys or damages to the organisation reputation or service quality delinquent to non-delivery. For exampleA Defect is any non-conforming performance that occurs during a day.A Level one defect is any defect that lasts for more than 2 hours but less than 24 hoursA Level two defect is any defect that lasts for more than 24 hoursA Level third defect is any defect that occurs more than once during any seven-day outcomeA Level four defect is any defect that occurs more than once during any thirty-day periodPenaltiesFor each Level one defect, service provider will grant the client a credit of $ m against the provider feesFor each Level two defect, service provider will grant the client a credit of $5000 against the provider feesExit clause The organisation may need to terminate an outsourcing relationship due to non-performance, misdemeanor of the SLA like Termination for cause, or to reintegrate the outsourced processes into its in-house operations due to mergers or acquisition Termi nation for convenience. These instances and related activities need to be stipulated in an eliminate clause to ensure both parties understand how and when the outsourcing relationship can end. For example, the organisation stipulates that the contract automatically terminates after six months or if a contact violation occurs.Flexibility SLA should be flexible enough so that any changes or modifys either internal or market-related can be slow added to the contract. It is recommended that SLA be reviewed every six month depending on service position and its occurrence of poor performance and duration of the contract itself. However, this should not knock off the benefits accruing to either party. For example, if a project is scaled upwards to accommodate extra transactions, the metrics for measuring service deliverables need to change.When setting an SLA, we need to gestate the organisation and service provider existing infrastructure, including expertise, employees, and tech nology. It is useless setting up an SLA that details commitments that cannot be fulfilled due to limited infrastructure.A typical SLA should be as long as it must be and as short as it can be. SLA of 10 to 50 pages are not unusual. The longer it is, the more important it is to focus on structure, clarity and legibilityContract DevelopmentBuilding flexible in an outsourcing contract is important to ensure the success of an outsourcing arrange. Today market is moving fast and ever-changing fast. Many IS outsourcing deals seem to be obsolete as soon as they are signed. Business strategy changes, market environment changes, technology changes, law, rules and restrictive changes could affect scope of services which means that outsourcing objectives no longer aline to the business goals to achieve the desired outcomes that they were set to achieve. Flexibilities need to be construct during planning stop, contract stage and post contract management stage to meet any of the above chang es.Planning StageSelecting the right vendor with culture that reflects its business philosophy is important sooner of evaluating merely on price and capability. The selection process should involve due diligence regarding the vendors record and attitudes toward rigidity, structure, adaptation, bureaucracy, change and, most importantly, the vendor attitudes toward creating customer value. Choosing the right vendor by forming a strategic alliance promotes the spirit of teams whereby both share relevant risk and rewards would enable contracting parties to be flexible in acquire over those bumps along the path.Contracting StageContracts are made to allocate risks. Typical contracts allocate known risks and provide some opportunity to each party to obtain a commercially reasonable outcome for risks that are unlikely but nonetheless possibleThe first is a change in the scope of services. This will likely affect staffing commitments, technology investment, price and service level commit ments, among other things. In defining the scope of promise services, the customer should establish a method for integrating the vendors services into the customers other service infrastructures, both internal and external, both current and planned.In the contracting stage, provision for flexibility should be catered for changes in the business environment within organisation. As mentioned, with rapid globalisation, change is a constant to the business. Such change could result in a drastic increase or crepuscle in provider services. The contract should contemplate the impact on set and service level commitments in the face of such dramatic changes. The pricing schedules should reflect a band of services at varying, foreseeable levels in order to facilitate financial planning for both parties. At the out limit, unbundled and transparent pricing, particularly for commodity-type services should be considered. Pricing algorithms and strategies should be canvass separately, since p ricing flexibility reflects a constellation of business terms.Next are changes in the legal environment. Laws, rules and regulations change, often unpredictably. A contract that did not foresee such changes must be construed to allocate the cost of compliance with such new directives and compliance. Accordingly, contracts should require the vendor to comply with changes in the laws, and costs of compliance should be addressed. Otherwise, the vendor would be exculpated from having to comply by careen that an act of state, act of God or other force majeure exonerates the vendors non-compliance.The vendor should assume certain(a) predictable risks of technology changes. With rapid technological update and changes, both parties may predict and contractually agree on certain technology refreshment cycles beyond a certain threshold like three to five years where both sides must provide contractual leeway to benefit from such changes without incurring material adverse consequences if tho se changes should radically alter the contractual balance.Additionally, organisations are moving towards the concepts such as business process management (BPM). BPM allows an organisation to continually make adjustments to its business processes as it evolves and learns. A vendor should embrace this type of concept and allow flexibility into its processes. Furthermore, using best practices such as Service lie Architecture could also aid in flexibility.Business operational environment and CultureStaff roles and responsibilities in transitionStaff or stakeholders involved in the transition process and knowledge transfer would include Ideas team, Policy-level team, Assessment team, and Implementation and transition team as mentioned Staff roles and responsibilities in RFP process who roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. In addition, the teams should consist of members from both the client and service provider organisation.Culture and resistance to changeThe culture of each organisation in an outsourcing relationship helps to determine its flexibility. Change typically involves stress because it requires that hoi polloi adjust to new roles, process and responsibilities. An organisation culture helps to determine the level of stress ca employ by change, and whether this stress inspires resent or commitment.An organisation culture can help to determineIts approach to the value of the relationship and to structure the relationship over time with the providerIts openness to changeThe extend to which employees share a common vision and can work unitedlyOne of the crucial factors to successful outsourcing is a smooth transition. The transition cast involves multiple stakeholders and a number of dynamics paradigms that outsourcing brings to an organisation impacts all clients stakeholders employees, users, and support groups. Many employees will be concerned about the implication of this change to their jobs and to their futures. For some employees, a cl ear understanding of the required changes and their rationale will foster immediate buy-in and support. Other employees will express their concern by asking questions, challenging rationales, and finding holes in the implementation plan and process. Other employees may resist the change by either avoiding involvement or causing real or potential disruption.Understanding the stages of ResistanceA key step in a smooth transition is to understand the three stages of behavioural patterns as it relates to organizational resistance. The three basic stages that have been identified by organizational management professionals are Holding On, allow Go, and travel On.Holding On is the initial the resistance to change that occurs when individuals hold on to that with which they are most familiar and comfortable. Many users are used to getting served in a particular way from a team. in that location is mutual trust as well as fear of the unknown. In the case of outsourcing, their team may now be thousands of miles away instead of just down the floor. This naturally causes concerns such as How do I know what my team is doing offshore? How do I speak to my team during my workday? Where is everybody? Signs of this stage include forgetting to attend meetings about the change, coming into work late or an increase in employees calling in sick, or when people become irritable or withdrawn from others with whom they have previously had good working relations.Letting Go is the second phase individuals typically experience when confronted with change. You may start hearing people say things like it just might work if management will let it happen. I will do it once I see others do it without any backlash. It might work somewhere else, but I dont know how it would work here. Letting Go is visible when people start attending meetings and either do not contribute or take opposing perspectives or when individuals question the issues associated with the change and start challenging t hinking. They begin spending more of their personal time discussing how it might just work if onlyMoving On is the third phase. At this stage, we can hear comments like When am I going to learn how to do this? How can I get this going already? This isnt so bad after all. Moving On is visible when individuals spend time planning how to make things wo