The Situation: The world’s second largest "package delivery" company uses customer automation services as a major part of their marketing program. At the heart of these services are integrated computer workstations that the company provides to their customers to assist them in managing shipping requirements. For many years the "delivery" company designed, procured, integrated, and distributed these customer automation workstations. Each year the size of the operation grew and the workstations became more complex. Many resources were involved, and a strategic decision to reassign these valuable resources toward more core business activities was driving the move to outsourcing.

The Solution: A decision was made that although the design function should remain in house, the procurement, integration and distribution functions should be assigned to an outsourcing partner. A request for proposal was created. Several potential outsourcing partners were evaluated. Negotiations were held and finally a contract was executed. At this point we began the next critical step, the implementation of the agreed to partnership. Our first task was to coordinate the development of an implementation plan and project schedule. The project had to meet the required timetable of the "delivery" company. The deadline was fairly rigid, as the transition had to be completed prior to the Christmas season package delivery rush.

Working with multiple internal departments, procurement, engineering, product integration, automation support services and management information services, each involved with an aspect of the customer automation program, we generated a series of business requirements and points of interaction and interface. We developed specifications for the data flows and data interchanges required for seamlessly tying the delivery companies business systems to the outsourcing partners systems. With the plan the project schedule and all of the requirements clearly specified, both companies proceeded to perform the tasks and activities required for the implementation.

Constant monitoring and frequent coordination meetings were critical to insure that the partnership would successfully meet the objectives and the deadline. Changes in scope, prompted by various problems that arose as the project progressed, had to be evaluated and resolved. As the completion of the project and the deadline approached, rigorous simulated operational testing was managed. Deficiencies were identified, corrected and tested. At last, as committed to, the project was completed and the production operation was transferred from the "delivery" company to the outsourcing partner. The relationship has worked well and continues today, three and one half years later.

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