Information Environment - Digital Library

First in foremost, I can say that this assignment made me tricky, actually it really took time for me to do this assignment because at first I am so confused about it into the extent that I can’t decide what kind of information environment that I’m going to choose and of course, because I’ve been busy also in a past few days for my other projects on the other subjects. But now as I have my time already to do it and as I have kept on searching on the net about it, I already understood. It made me realized that this Information Environment is a term that is used to develop and provide services which enable people to find and manage information efficiently and effectively in their learning, teaching or research. Moreover, to understand it well and to know more about Information Environment, I will talk about it as it follows. First, I will define the ‘Information’ alone.

Information as a concept has a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation. The information resources which people need are very varied - books, journals, research papers, teaching resources, videos, maps and more - and while they might be in any format they are increasingly digital. And now, there is a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn't lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of 'quality' information, there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. 

However, when we talk about also the Information Environment, it is the one that helps to provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location. And as what I have read on the definition that my classmates wrote about it that an information environment could be anywhere, as long as it is a place or set of networks and services that support publishing and use of information and learning resources, that’s what made me thought of the Digital Library as my choice in information environment.

The Digital Library

The information technology explosion and its applications in every aspect of life have changed the entire scenario of the present world. The IT revolution and information explosion has led to the emergence of electronic information era. These days, the users are not satisfied with the printed available material, they require that printed information be supplemented with more dynamic multimedia documents. Thus digital libraries are becoming an important element in the era of information technology and it seems that the digital library concept should be considered a dynamic and essential component of an organization/institute.

To keep pace in the rapidly changing environment, infrastructure and service facilities should be made available according to the needs so as to compete and survive in the era of competitiveness. Major changes in the information environment have transformed the role of librarians into those of information managers. 

In ancient days, the libraries were considered as storehouse of books and other reading material whereas the librarians were considered merely as the custodian of these documents. With the passage of time and rapid advancements in electronic information technology, the new means of communication have altered the way in which information is handled, stored and exchanged across the world. These advancements have transformed libraries from a mere static storehouse of documents to a dynamic powerhouse of information, serving all professional and non professionals in utilizing useful and need based collection of documents. The medium of information storage has changed from clay tablets, palm leaves, papyrus to papers and now to electronic and optical media. This has brought a revolutionary change in the way libraries adapt and function, shifting from print to electronic dissemination centre. All these desired the library professionals to switch over from traditional library system to digital library concept.

Digital Libraries are the electronic counterparts of traditional paper libraries, where the digital medium opens new opportunities, especially in the area of improved access support, increased content availability, powerful content interlinking, and reduced costs, but also imposes new challenges like long-term preservation in the context of fast changing storage technologies. Further important challenges are issues of copyright and digital rights management and the cost of digitization for not digitally-born content.

Various definitions for Digital Libraries exist. These can be summarized as follows: A Digital Library is an information system targeted towards a specific community, where content from different sources is collected and managed, content is structured and enriched with metadata, and a set of services is offered that makes the content available to a user community via a communication network, typically the Internet. The term Digital Library may be also used to describe any of the following:

- Collection of electronic journals and books

- On-line educational portal

- Repository of multimedia files

- Archives of information created from local knowledge

- Electronic version of libraries

Multimedia Libraries are also Digital Libraries, where the managed content is not restricted to the usually mainly textual documents. Such libraries contain, next to the “textual” contents, media types like music, videos, images, maps, and mixtures of different content types (multimedia objects) as they are, for example used in e-Learning or in the documentation of history. Multimedia libraries may also contain content types that were not supported in traditional libraries at all like 3D objects, executable software (e.g. computer games) or callable services. One of the main challenges for a multimedia library is to provide effective access to these types of context (based on adequate indexing) and to provide support for the “real-time” integration of different content types. Some challenges of multimedia libraries are closely related to those of museums and archives that make multimedia representations of their artifacts available online.

A Digital Library mediates between the information needs of its user community and the globally available content. Contributions in four task areas are essential for supporting this mediation:

• Content preselection: The library selects high-quality content potentially relevant for the members of its user community; 

• Content structuring: The library structures the content according to the predominant domain understanding of its user community; 

• Content enrichment: The library enriches content objects with descriptive and value-adding metadata provided by domain experts, librarians, and community members; 

• Library services: Support for content retrieval, access, annotation, etc. enable the identification of relevant material and facilitate access of content and its use by community members as a group or as individuals; 

These contributions allow a Digital Library to reduce the gap that exists between the wide variety and large amount of globally available content and specific information needs of individuals and small group within its community. Ideally, many of these contributions should be achieved without or with little human inference. However, for technological reasons, but also for reasons of quality control and trust, human involvement and especially involvement of representatives from the library now and in the future will be essential for these tasks.

The Objectives of Digital Library

The primary objectives of Digital Library include:

• To collect, store, organize and access information in digital form.

• To meet the requirements of patrons by providing better services.

• To provide personalized and retrospective services in an efficient way.

• To have large digitized database accessible to multiple users at the same time.

• To save time of library staff by avoiding routine jobs.

• To provide a coherent view of all information in any format.

• To serve widely dispersed communities throughout the network.

• To minimize massive storage and space problems of large libraries.

• To reduce cost involved in various library activities.

Digital library is a combination of traditional and media collections, so they encompass both paper and electronic materials. The three main features of digital library are the storage of information in digital form, usage of communication networks, and copying by either downloading or on-line/ offline printing from a master file.

The Digital Information Users

The users of digitized information may be broadly divided into four groups as given below:

(i) Those who have started using latest technology and digitized information.

(ii) Those who have been using these technologies and digitized information and are expanding it rapidly.

(iii) Those who have the fear of using new technologies for information.

(iv) Those who are intermixed between the above three groups but have no training to use the technologies for accessing global information.

The Components of Digital Library:

The basic components that are required for digital library are:

• Servers for database storage.

• Adequate number of PCs connected in a LAN.

• Local databases in machine readable form, CD-ROMs

• RDBMS that supports variety of digital formats.

• Search engines to index and provide access to resources.

• Electronic document management functions that will aid in overall management of digital resources.

• Well trained manpower.

The Advantages of Digital Library

• Universally accessible.

• Easy access to electronic resources.

• Optimizing use of IT environment.

• Knowledge content itself will be ubiquitous and inexpensive.

• Ability to deal with large datasets.

• Support wider range of materials.

• Access to latest information.

• No storage problems.

• Faster information retrieval.

• Increase in end users.

Barriers/ Hurdles/ Problems in Digital Library

• The cost involved in the creation and maintenance of digital library environment is high.

• Attitude of library professionals.

• IPR is not being given due importance.

• Preservation of electronic information.

• Pricing in the digital environment is going to be complex..

• Lack of indigenous, efficient and effective library software.

• Lack of information policy and information culture.

The Performing Role in Digital Library

So, for the role that I chose for this kind of Information Environment which is the Digital Library, I preferred to be an Information Manager because being an IT student and an IT professional someday and also as I belong in the field of Information Technology, I want to contribute my knowledge and skills in providing and disseminate a precise information regarding on the latest trends that we have right now in our industry and to keep pace with the latest developments that are taking place due to advancement of technologies so that many of the information seekers can benefit, use and learn from it. But, it is not possible for the information manager to go to library schools however, training can be arranged for them to have a bird’s eye view about the developments that are taking place. 

In addition, here are some trends on the digital libraries:

• A first trend in Digital Library technology is a more decentralized, service-oriented approach for Digital Library architectures. The overall goal here is to systematically make Digital Library functionality available to a broader audience, reduce the cost of entry for this technology, to improve flexibility and adaptability and to foster shared and synergetic use of content, metadata, services and other resources. In this context current technological developments like Grid Computing, Web and Grid Services and the Peer-to-Peer computing paradigm are exploited. The project DILIGENT (EU IST-004260), for example, works on building a Grid-based Digital Library infrastructure that enables the on-demand creation of tailored Digital Libraries, so called Virtual Digital Libraries on top of the generic infrastructure. In general, Digital Libraries migrate from centralized systems to dynamic federations of services.

• A second trend is the offering of additional services beyond search and collection management that reflects a broadened understanding of the role of a Digital Library within a community. This includes community services that support community formation, awareness of a community for trends in the domain and the role of individual within the community as well as services for fostering collaboration in the community. In addition, these are also services that enable community members to take a more active part in content provision and annotation. In summary, the idea is to support the collaborative information processes of the community in a more comprehensive and participative way, migrating from the information access support provided by Digital Libraries to the idea of tailored virtual information and knowledge environments. For research libraries this trend is reflected by current research activities in the area of e-Science.

• A third trend in Digital Libraries is the use of Semantic Web technology for intelligent search services. This includes semantic annotation of content objects based on domain ontologies, the use of concepts and ontological knowledge instead of strings in search, and concept-based clustering of query results. Another area of research and development in intelligent search support is to more systematically take context into account. On the one hand, this refers to user context. More comprehensive, ontology-based models of the user and his current situation (including user tasks and relationships a user is involved in) are used to go beyond existing personalization approach. On the other hand the context of an information object can be used to improve retrieval results like, for example, the information a content object is linked with or the annotations about a content object.

Furthermore, Information Manager has to take into consideration the following aspects before collecting information for the end product, which they have to offer:

• It must be according to needs of its users.

• It must be equipped with powerful, easy to use, intelligent search engines.

• It must have attractive user interface.

• It must be reasonably priced.

• It must allow access from, and delivery to the users’ workstation.

The Information Manager has also to keep in mind the following points to keep pace with the modern trends, if they want to survive:

• Continuous updating

• Developing strong professional teams in their respective libraries.

• Arranging continuous education and training programs for users and staff.

• Accept the challenges being imposed due to advancement of technology.

• Arrange lectures / training programs from time to time.

Information managers are only competent enough to provide efficient and intelligent access to the world’s information sources to its novice users. The knowledge and experience of libraries can be helpful in directing users to get an easy access to relevant information on the digital library network.

On the other way, the other information environment that I also chose was the Information science which is the interdisciplinary academic field that deals with the generation, collection, organization, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of recorded knowledge. Information Science combines elements of librarianship with ideas and technologies from many other fields, including social sciences, computer science, mathematics, electrical engineering, linguistics, management, neuroscience, and information systems theory. Within the field of information science, information may be defined as the knowledge contained in the human brain and in all electronic and written records. Information science is the scientific study of that information: how it is created, transmitted, encoded, transformed, retrieved, measured, used, and valued. 

The role that I also like is being the Information scientist who’s the one will analyze the many and various phenomena that affect any aspect of information. Its interest is studying such questions as the following: What is the effect of information on individuals and groups when it is presented in various formats? How do publication dates, frequency of citation, productivity and prominence of authors affect the relevance of literature on a given subject? (This field of study is known as bibliometrics.) How do humans and computers interact? What is the reliability of retrieving information from online databases and the Internet?

For the information scientist, the library is only one of several sites for information storage and usage. Information scientists may study information stored in archives, switching centers (systems that establish connections between electronic communications, such as e-mail), or institutions such as schools and businesses. Information scientists work in such places as medical centers, computing companies, university and corporate research institutes, and indexing companies. They are concerned with a wide range of activities, from creation of computer file structures to experimental tests of interactive communication between computers and humans.

Challenges in performing the role 

The digital library concept is growing at a fast pace. Emerging technology of digital libraries is an offshoot of information revolution which can drastically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of management of physical and financial resources of libraries. The challenge for information managers is to equip themselves with the capabilities to link with global trends for the ultimate benefit of information seekers. The arrangements for managing and supporting information technology will take different shapes depending upon the size of its parent institution, the institution’s existing computing and communication resources and the capabilities of the library’s management and staff. The information providers have to keep themselves abreast with the latest trends if they desire to survive in the present world. Whereas, Information scientists are working on better ways to manage massive databases containing not only text, but also numerical data; sound; and fixed, moving, and three-dimensional images. A major challenge for information scientists is to determine the extent to which information access systems can be made easy for non-specialists to understand and use. Information scientists are also working to further their understanding of human thought processes. 

"Our profession should do what our commercial information suppliers are doing: focus on the users, their needs, their wants, and the practices of using information." - by OKERSON

References:

• Encarta Encyclopedia

• Digital Libraries and Changing Role of Information Managers.pdf

• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/informationenvironment/overview.aspx

• http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6822/Multimedia-Libraries.html

Our Visits in SAMULCO

First in foremost, we looked for the companies that we proposed through the internet and luckily it was also approved by our professor.

July 6 – We proposed 3 companies to our instructor for our major paper. We proposed the Damosa Land Inc., Sta. Ana Multipurpose Cooperative (SAMULCO) and Six Eleven Global Services but only SAMULCO was approved. Likewise, our approval letter was also completely signed within that day.

July 8 – We gave our approval letter to SAMULCO.

July 11 – We called SAMULCO for the follow-up of our letter and they answered that they have already approved it and we will just meet their MIS Personnel on July 14.

July 14 – My group mates, Dolor Mancera, Karl Abregana and I, had our first interview with the MIS supervisor of SAMULCO on that day. As we have introduced with each other first, we have found out that the supervisor knew our instructor because as what he said, he was also been his student before in UIC and actually until now they still have a communication with each other. Anyways, the interview is for our Assessment on their Information System. And with that interview, we have gained informations about their company and their MIS but we think these informations are not enough so therefore maybe on some other times we should visit there again.

August 26 – This day was our second interview to SAMULCO, it should be on August 24 which is also the date scheduled in our Gantt chart, but because of the emergency meeting that the MIS Supervisor had, that’s why we cannot go there.   

                On the other hand, this day we’ve interviewed the MIS Supervisor about our follow up questions regarding on their systems. With that interview, we discovered that they have a problems now in terms of outsourcing because of the financial matters, that’s why they have decided to make it insource already and they are still working on it now. Aside from that, we also asked about their SWOT and STEEP but unfortunately, he didn’t answered on it because for him, he is not the right person to talk about it. Therefore, he suggested us to have an interview regarding on it with their HR Manager also for the current problems that they have in POS System, he also suggested us to interview their Operation Manager of the company. But before that, we should first give an approval letter to them for the formal process.

September 1 - This day, we gave the 2 another approval letter which addressed to the HR Manager and the Operation Manager. The letter for HR Manager was received by the secretary but the other one was rejected because the name is wrong, it’s just that we just followed what’s the name that had given to us by their MIS Supervisor so because of that, we made another approval letter for it.

September 22 - As you have noticed, it took for 3 weeks passed before we went back again to SAMULCO because it seems that we were so busy at that time with the other projects in other subjects. Actually, it always had postponed or moved our time to go there that’s why it ends up like this, we are now getting panicky. And we admitted it that it’s our fault.

On the contrary, we gave already the new approval letter to the Operation Manager this day. And he approved it without further ado. Then he scheduled us to have some interview by tomorrow, Sept. 23 at around 3:00 pm.

This day also, we have told by the secretary in HR that they cannot entertain us within this week or on the incoming weeks for an interview because they are so busy with their recreational activities at the moment.

September 23 - We went to SAMULCO this day on the time that we had agreed for the interviewed but we waited there for almost an hour thinking that we will come back from where he was at that time but suddenly, he texted on us saying that he cannot meet us that time because he has his emergency business meeting. So we had agreed again that we will just move it on Sept.25 within the time of 1:00PM – 5:00PM.                                                                                        

September 25 – This is the day that we finally had our interview with the Operation Manager of SAMULCO. Since he is the Operation Manager who is in-charge in their COOPMART, so we interviewed him about their POS System and the problems behind it. With that interview, we found out that they have a lot of problems on their systems. And as he said, they are now trying to find solutions to resolve these things. Furthermore, since we can’t already interview their HR Manager for the SWOT and STEEP analysis, we then asked the Operation Manager about this. Opportunely, he also answered us. He actually lends us also their manual for additional info and references. After the interview, we already have our picture taking with him.

Our group, Karl Abregana, Dolor Mancera and Me 

with Mr. Alberto Galan, the Operation Manager of SAMULCO Coopmart.

September 26 – We came back to SAMULCO for the data that we haven’t yet obtain which is their networking scheme or the system flow. We also have again our picture taking again with the personnel for evidences. And with all of that, we think this is going to be the last visit that we were going to have with SAMULCO. We are so thankful for the personnel that we had interviewed specifically the MIS Supervisor and the Operation Manager for being so good, approachable and accommodating to us. 

Our group with Sir James Bautista, the MIS Supervisor of SAMULCO

Outsourcing Information System

As a student, if I were to take a position between outsource and insource, I would go for outsource because as what I have knew, the companies of all sizes are now struggling with escalating costs of full-time employees. In addition, there are more things that you have to consider if you prefer insourcing like the hiring, training, administration, benefits, absenteeism, workspace and equipment for the employees which in the outsource not often considered.

And this time, I will now talk about the informations all about Outsourcing as what I have search on the net.

Outsourcing is growing at a rapid rate in the United States, Europe and Asia because organizations view outsourcing as a way to achieve strategic goals, reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction and provide other efficiency and effectiveness improvements. Like any organizational decision, outsourcing is not free of risk and requires effective management from the outset of the outsourcing evaluation through the life of the contractual relationship.
Outsourcing can be an extremely complex and complicated undertaking. Each facet of the exercise needs to be carefully considered and properly executed. There is little margin for error if full value is to be obtained.

However, this need not be a trauma, nor an adventure of blind exploration. The potential benefits are well documented, and strategic outsourcing is now mature enough for the path to have been trodden countless times previously.

Furthermore, we cannot also escape that even though Outsourcing has many advantages but still at the same time it has some disadvantages that cannot be ignored like

• The company that outsourcers can get into serious trouble if the service provider refuses to provide business due to bankruptcy, lack of funds, labor etc.
• Outsourcing requires the control of the process being outsourced by transferred to the service provider. Thus the company may loose control over its process
• The service provider in developing countries generally services many companies. So there are many chances of partiality owing to more payment by other parties
• The current employees in the company that outsourcers may feel threat due to outsourcing and may not work properly
• The attitude of people in the developed countries against companies that outsource is generally bad


Otherwise, while the Outsourcing advantages lies in the fact that it helps companies cut costs and stay ahead in the competition. Outsourcing also benefits the citizens in developed countries as it provides high quality products at a cheaper rate also with better customer service. And these reasons of Outsourcing are expounded below:

Reasons for outsourcing

•Cost savings. The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, cost re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through offshoring called "labor arbitrage" generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing nations.

•Focus on Core Business. Resources (for example investment, people, infrastructure) are focused on developing the core business. For example often organizations outsource their IT support to specilaised IT services companies.

•Cost restructuring. Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from fixed to variable cost and also by making variable costs more predictable.

•Improve quality. Achieve a step change in quality through contracting out the service with a new service level agreement.

•Knowledge. Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.

•Contract. Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.

•Operational expertise. Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.

•Access to talent. Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills, in particular in science and engineering.

•Capacity management. An improved method of capacity management of services and technology where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier.

•Catalyst for change. An organization can use an outsourcing agreement as a catalyst for major step change that can not be achieved alone. The outsourcer becomes a Change agent in the process.

•Enhance capacity for innovation. Companies increasingly use external knowledge service providers to supplement limited in-house capacity for product innovation.

•Reduce time to market. The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the additional capability brought by the supplier.

•Commodification. The trend of standardizing business processes, IT Services and application services enabling businesses to intelligently buy at the right price. Allows a wide range of businesses access to services previously only available to large corporations.

•Risk management. An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.

•Venture Capital. Some countries match government funds venture capital with private venture capital for startups that start businesses in their country.

•Tax Benefit. Countries offer tax incentives to move manufacturing operations to counter high corporate taxes within another country.


Aside from that reasons of why we prefer Outsourcing, we should also consider the critical factors which are very important that involves for successful Outsourcing. And these are stated below.

The Objectives of Outsourcing

Outsourcing must be done carefully, systematically, and with explicit goals. Companies that rush into outsourcing without fully understanding what they hope to gain may find themselves mired in a contractual battle with a chosen vendor or the recipient of services that worsen rather than improve. Sensible reasons to consider outsourcing include both strategic and tactical concerns on both a department and organizational level.

Outsourcing might be justifiable for a department with high costs that cannot be reduced or a lack of competency in specific areas. Organizational needs that generate consideration of outsourcing include the ability to compete globally with global services or relief from financial pressures achieved through immediate cost savings.

Outsourcing is not an excuse to wash management's hands of a poorly managed, costly, or misunderstood function. Understand the costs of a function and manage it effectively before evaluating its potential for outsourcing. Otherwise, you are probably deciding to outsource for the wrong reason, you may be giving the outsourcing vendor gains you could have reaped, and you may be starting a relationship that is destined to fail.

Organizations should consider (or reconsider) the overall merits of selective outsourcing every three to four years. Revisiting outsourcing may be particularly relevant under changing market conditions or when internal, industry, or technology changes have occurred.


Use a Methodical Approach

The process of deciding whether outsourcing is warranted involves numerous steps or phases. These are: identifying requirements; preparing and distributing a request for proposal (RFP); examining proposals; evaluating vendors; negotiating contracts; and implementing outsourcing. Adopt a methodology that describes the various steps to be performed and lays out the project plan necessary for a thorough evaluation. Just as applications development activities should be guided by a written, explicit methodology, the effort to consider and possibly implement outsourcing should be systematically conducted and documented.

The various phases are as follows:

•Planning Phase. The objectives and scope of the outsourcing idea are defined and the feasibility of outsourcing is determined before a decision to proceed. The effort is planned in terms of time, budget and resources needed.

•Analysis Phase. Baselines are determined and the service levels required of vendors are specified. Relationships between the information system function(s) to be outsourced and other functions that will remain in-house are also clarified so that contracts with vendors are certain to include proper interfaces with in-house services. The request for proposal is developed, responses are collected from vendors and analyzed, and a vendor is chosen.

•Design Phase. Negotiations proceed with the vendor and a contract is developed and signed.

•Implementation Phase. The transition from in-house provision of services to outsourcing is made.

•Operations Phase. The outsourcing relationship with the vendor is managed and any maintenance or changes in the outsourcing relationship are negotiated and implemented.

•Termination Phase. At the end of the contracting period the decision is made to negotiate another contract with the vendor or a new vendor, and the cycle begins again. Alternatively, a decision is made to bring the function back inside the organization.

Consider All Stakeholders

Managers who have made the decision to outsource should be able to predict the likely impact that outsourcing will have on the organization's stakeholders, who include stockholders, customers, suppliers, and employees. For example, news of a pending outsourcing arrangement may alert the stock market to perceived organizational troubles or send a signal that "something is finally being done at Company X" thus causing the stock to rise. After anticipating the impact of an outsourcing evaluation on stakeholders, managers should include the revealed issues in the outsourcing plan.

Get the Right People Involved

Early in the evaluation, persons must be identified who will take leadership responsibility, perform the analysis, and make the decisions.

The persons who should be involved depend on what is to be outsourced and the circumstances surrounding the outsourcing decision. An executive sponsor or champion is desirable, and in cases that involve organizational politics such support is absolutely critical. For larger outsourcing initiatives, top management must play a role. For smaller efforts, middle-level managers might do the heavy lifting with the support of higher managers. The team likely needs a mix of managerial and technical talent. The team should also include representatives from user areas that will be directly and heavily impacted by the outsourcing under consideration. User views may be critical for setting scope and for assessing risks.

The size of the team depends on the scope and size of the project, but smaller teams are generally more effective than larger teams. The team can be quite small in the planning phase and expanded in size when analysis begins. Teams with full-time members are often more focused and effective than teams composed of people who work part-time, although full-time allocation may only make sense for big outsourcing projects. It helps tremendously to have persons experienced in outsourcing on the team for the insight they bring to the issues and the realism they bring to cost and benefit estimates. Outside consultants are highly recommended.

When outsourcing threatens to upset the status quo in an organization -- as in instances of outsourcing motivated by high costs or poor performance-- it may not be possible to rely on internal sources for accurate estimates of internal costs or internal effectiveness. Under these circumstances, bring in objective outsiders for the assessment work.

Understand the Vendors

Vendors that offer various outsourcing services aggressively market and pursue organizations to adopt outsourcing. Although the information that such vendors provide is often useful for establishing the types and general prices of services that might be outsourced, the actual price an organization will pay is set in actual negotiations related to specific requirements.

Managers should take care not to be misled by what other organizations are paying or what a vendor might casually offer as a possible pricing scheme. After narrowing potential vendors to a manageable handful, better pricing and service agreements can often be reached by negotiating with the best-fit two or three vendors and then striking a final deal based on the best final offer.

Because the path toward outsourcing can be a difficult one, managers should seek outside assistance from advisor(s) who can help coach an internal team during the evaluation and negotiation processes. It is important to bear in mind that outsourcing vendors have fine-tuned their approach and are usually armed with seasoned staff. Using unbiased advice to guide an organization through the process from beginning to end helps level the playing field.

Choose the Right Relationship

Contracting relationships can be viewed as a range or continuum. At one extreme are market-like relationships in which your organization has a choice of many vendors capable of performing the work, relatively short contract durations, and the ability to switch to another vendor at the end of a contract for future work of the same type with little or no cost or inconvenience. At the other extreme are long term partnership arrangements in which your organization contracts repeatedly with the same vendor and develops a mutually beneficial relationship that lasts a long time. The middle of the continuum is occupied by relationships that must endure and remain reasonably harmonious until a major piece of work is completed; these are termed "intermediate" relationships. Since it is a continuum, there are relationships that lie closer to market relationships and relationships that lie closer to partnerships, as well as those that are midway between the two extremes.

Market relationships cost the least to set up and administer and are relevant for work that is fairly simple and straightforward. Intermediate relationships cost more and are relevant for work that is more complex and has substantial benefits. Partnerships cost the most and are only relevant when the benefits of a close relationship with a vendor are substantial. Choosing the wrong relationship could result in excess costs or failures.

Negotiate a Sound Contract

There are several critical components of a good outsourcing agreement. The emphasis from the outset should not be on who wins the best deal, but rather on negotiating a fair and reasonable contract for both parties. Because each aspect of the outsourcing relationship is governed by the contract, both your organization and the outsourcing vendor need to agree on everything. This also means that managers must think of every possible contingency to cover in the contract. The parties also need to agree on how to resolve disputes after the contract is signed. Such an agreement should not take the form of an open-ended assurance of goodwill but rather delineate the who, what, when, and where of conflict resolution.

The manner in which employees are handled during the outsourcing process and contractual loopholes with a chosen vendor can lead to lawsuits. For these reasons, managers should ensure the involvement of in-house legal staff throughout the process and consider using outside legal advisors with expertise in outsourcing matters. An outsourcing contract may last for a long time, and both the organization and the vendor must understand how the relationship will be managed throughout the life of the effort.

Some of the important contract considerations are:

•Terms of the agreement. The trend is toward a shorter-term renewal option (e.g., three to eight years). Managers should ensure that the contract stipulates that a renewal of the contract occurs only if a renewal notice is sent.

•Minimum services levels. It is vital that the contract specify as accurately as possible the services to be provided in the contract. This includes establishing minimum service levels and identifying any ancillary services to be provided.

•Ownership and confidentiality of data. The agreement must specify that the customer retains ownership of the data it submits to the vendor and that the data is kept strictly confidential.

•Warranty. Managers must ensure that the vendor warrants that it will provide the services as defined in the agreement and that it will accommodate a specified increase in requirements.

•Exhibits. Exhibits should be carefully read. As complex transactions, first-drafts of outsourcing contracts usually contain exhibits that are incomplete.

•Incentives. Consider providing the vendor with an incentive to perform. Such incentives include guaranteed savings, shared benefits/risks, profitability index, teaming arrangements, and cross-marketing opportunities.

•Disclaimers. Accept the fact that disclaimers will be part of the contract but ensure that a disclaimer does not void the warranty and indemnity sections.

•Bankruptcy. Both parties to the outsourcing contract should consider the possibility that the other may go bankrupt, which changes the outsourcing situation and obligations entirely.

•Force Majeure (Acts of God). These provisions state that the vendor is excused from performance if it experiences certain conditions. Such events should be limited to 30 to 60 days.

•Performance measures. A sound contract must include performance measures, because without them, there are no objective criteria for managing the outsourcing relationship. It helps considerably to develop such measures long before the contract, so that a history of effective measures can be used in the negotiations. Managers whose organizations lack such measures should not ignore them in the contract, however, but instead include a provision stipulating that the two parties agree to establish a baseline and begin using the metric on some specified date.

•Anticipating change. Contracts should provide for both good and bad times and accommodate cycles of demand that require an adjustment in services. If, for example, an organization becomes smaller, it could find itself paying for services that were priced based on conditions that no longer exist. Consider all the reasons why a contract might not work and ensure that the agreement can be terminated if necessary.


Use Objective Performance Criteria

Successful outsourcing relationships focus on results. To be meaningful, these results must be objective, measurable, quantifiable, and comparable against pre-established criteria.

The specific performance criteria differ depending upon the types of services being provided, the customer requirements, and the level of service. Properly defined performance criteria for an outsourcing engagement are objective, quantifiable, and collectable at a reasonable cost, and should be metrics which can be benchmarked against performance of other organizations and providers.

Emphasize the Development of the People Responsible for Relationship Management.

The individuals responsible for managing the outsourcing relationship for the customer should receive specific training on how to do the job. This includes a complete understanding of the business goals of the contract, the specific performance criteria agreed to, and individual roles, responsibilities, authority, and reporting structure. The same information should be communicated to the larger end-user community. In this way, the entire organization understands what is intended, why, how problems will be identified and resolved, communication channels, what is expected, etc. This training and communications can also help reduce resentment or resistance.

Encourage training for the vendor personnel on the customer business environment and goals. Although the vendor personnel are experts in their fields, they require specific, ongoing training on the client's business and its goals. In this way, they develop the needed sensitivity to the issues driving the client's needs.

You are also encouraged to involve both customer's and vendor's personnel in informal meetings and social events; education on company heritage and history; rotation of employees between the companies; participation of employees in "internal" meetings of the other firm; participation in the partner's internal improvement programs, such as quality teams; jointly sponsored recognition events, etc.

Manage the People Issues

Managers who make the decision to evaluate outsourcing need to consider a host of people issues, the foremost of which is communication. Although communication requires more effort than might be anticipated, it is critical to a successful evaluation process.

One of the first steps managers should take to ensure good communication is the establishment of a hotline to manage the rumor mill. Various forms of communications (e.g., newsletters and organizationwide meetings) help ensure that the right message is traveling as fast and as widely as the rumor mill.

Keeping people informed every step of the way and working out a deal perceived as fair for them is important because an organization trades more than its physical assets to the vendor in an outsourcing arrangement-it often gives away its people as well. The customer's employees may become the vendor's employees, and individuals who feel they have been mistreated will have the power to bring systems down. Pragmatic reasons aside, treating people as fairly as feasible is the right thing to do.

Also, consider human factors from the perspective of the user community. Users should be provided with points of contact before implementation, and an issue-resolution process should be immediately instituted.

On the other hand, inspite of that information that we have in outsourcing still in the end, you are the one will decide if where you will go, outsource or insource. It depends also on the situation that you have in your organization. And so for USEP, for the situation that we have right now, I agree with their decision if they are using now the insource which was been outsource before because we have our IT professionals here on our schools, so why not use them? And I think, they can also manage it and that we can trust them too. And also it’s our pride that we have them to make our systems because they are also proven to be as good ones. So keep it up!

But then again, Outsourcing is becoming one of the most significant business trends of this decade.


References:
http://www.businessforum.com/woj01.html
http://www.cyfuture.com/pro-and-cons-of-outsourcing.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing