Outsourcing a SharePoint Project vs doing it with an in-house contract resource

Element
Outsourcing as a Project
Doing the project in-house with a resource (mid level resource to developer category)
Requirements Gathering
You will have Senior and experienced consultants doing this activity, which results in precise understanding of the requirements
The resource will be more technical and so this would not be an easy task for him to do, even if he does, it would result in a poorly compiled understanding
Project Scoping
Results from the Requirements: Sr People would be in a much better position to do this
Would not be able to do
Hardware Sizing and Capacity Planning
Sr. Consultant required
Would be out of reach for a Jr Resource
Creating High Level and Low Level Design documents
Sr. Technical Consultant required
Would not be able to be do
Development and Quality Control
Can bring in a team of people monitored by excellent team leads and testing team to always ensure every piece of development goes through a Quality Check before release
Such processes are very hard to establish
Project Team
Project Team will comprise of Project Manager, SharePoint Architect, Project Coordinator, Team Leads, Tech Leads, Developers, Test Leads and Testers
Such a team cannot be formed and one person might be expected to play multiple roles thus falling way short of expectations
Ongoing Project Management
Project Manager and Project Coordinators will always be there to support
Inhouse people have to do Project Management among various other activities they might be already involved in
Timelines
As a project, the vendor is responsible to deliver as per project timelines agreed
Controlling timelines would be very hard
Effort Estimates
Effort Estimates are more correctly done by Sr Consultants
Efforts estimates if done by a developer will never be right
Best Practices
Best Practices and Processes shall be brought in by the vendor
Very hard for a single person to be aware of best practices, processes
Cost
Cost shall be based on man days or fixed bid and will be relatively higher
Cost shall be based on monthly contracts and will be lower
Resource satisfaction levels
SharePoint resources working as part of a Software Company will be highly satisfied
Resources working alone as part of a Non-IT setup will not be satisfied and may constantly look for a jump, leaving the project in jeopardy
Technical Advice, Guidance
Such advice and guidance will constantly come from Sr. Members
No such advice may be available and infact, Sr members as part of the internal IT setup may possibly give wrong directions

Comments

  1. Hi Karthik,

    Very true. you have captured all the points. But the management never understands it. Its not only for a SharePoint project. It applicable to any project.

    ReplyDelete

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