Project outsourcing

This strategy has the advantage of minimizing fixed costs and eliminates the need to acquire detailed expertise when the sponsor enters a new therapeutic area. However, there are many disadvantages to project outsourcing. Minimal sponsor... 

Traditionally, the mix of pretreatment equipment required to meet a specific FW volume and quality specification is provided as a permanent installation under a capital project, although today there is a growing global market in outsourced water services. Typically, vendors such as Ecolochem, Inc., a world leader in this type of service, provide trailer-mounted, mobile water-processing equipment that can be... 

A sponsor of a medical product entering the development phase must have a clinical development plan, which is created by experienced executives and consultants having expertise and experience in the disease state for which the product is intended. Once the plan is created, with appropriate input from regulators, the plan drives a clinical development budget, with consideration of the desired timeframe for projected producf approval. After the plan is created, the management team determines the "make vs. buy" strategy, which determines the elements of fhe plan that will be outsourced. 

Many companies have developed their own factored estimates using computer spreadsheets based upon their in-house experience and cost database information that they have built from company project history. For detailed estimates, the job is outsourced to design-construction companies that have the staff to perform those estimates. 

A dimension of the increasing disintegration of pharmaceutical R D is the growing use of contract research organizations (CROs) to conduct clinical trials of new drugs. By 1999, 23% of trials were outsourced to CROs (Azoulay 2004, pp. 1593,1600). In general, the more data-intensive projects are outsourced, while knowledge-intensive projects are more frequently undertaken within pharmaceutical companies (p. 1592). 

The most cost-effective solution for a software project is to buy a good product that meets your needs off the shelf. Unfortunately this is not always possible. Vendor products are often too generic and require significant customization to be useful to your organization. Outsourcing is another way of buying software solutions, and they will be discussed in this chapter. 

Whether to develop in-house or outsource the project, the development team must have strong technical skills combined with strong business knowledge and must interact with users on a regular basis (Chapters 1 and 5). Try to embed a user in the development team if possible. The idea of handing off a requirement document to an outsourcer and expecting a product in 6 months or 1 year that meets user expectations and gets delivered to the users on time simply does not work. 

Again regardless of in-house or outsource development, document a list of features and prioritize them. Break the project down into short, timeboxed iterations, each focusing on one or two of these features (Chapter 5). Do not let the iteration deadline slip. Reduce the scope of the iteration if necessary. Implement features with high business values and high business and technical risks in early iterations. Make sure each iteration delivers a production quality partial system to solicit feedback and let the system grow incrementally. The project plan should be adjusted based on the feedback. It is OK if the initial project plan is not accurate. However, it should become more and more accurate as more iterations are completed. Test and integrate early and frequently. 

It is imperative that a thorough evaluation of the internal capability of an organization is performed before any decision to outsource is made. Once the decision is made, a clear definition of the project scope is listed on a form. At a minimum, the form should identify the following items ... 

Engineering, Construction Project Management Services Civic Engineering Outsourcing Financial Services... 

In summary, as shown in Table A2, Gaps in the required skills have been identified. Most gaps can be filled by the retraining of existing staff or by outsourced support (see Section B) but the requirement for a microbiologist who is experienced in carrying out field trials cannot be filled in either of these ways. This skill is essential to the success of the Project and urgent steps must be taken to fill this Gap. 

There is no doubt that companies can save fixed and capital costs and deliver projects faster by the intelligent use of outside agencies. However, there are some guidelines to successful outsourcing. 

The R D Manager must ensure that the cost for the analytical support is in the budget for each project. Monitoring the cost and the use of analytical services is an essential task in budgetary control as it is easy for an R D team to run into overspend rapidly. It helps if data is provided to team leaders and chemists on the cost of the methods available in the analytical services group or from the outsourcing agency. 

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