Decision knowledge gathering in outsourced projects

Many companies of different size and mission are, for economic and/or technical reasons, outsourcing clients of other companies, the outsourcing vendors. The clients do not develop information systems by themselves, so different types of outsourcing-with regard to intensity and strategic influence-are used. We examine the case of a government institution. The strategic influence of outsourcing is stressed throughout and the methods of risk prevention with improved communication of the outsourced client and vendor are described. Risk prevention is based upon the formal controllability of the outsourced projects. Formality is achieved by using, firstly, project management environments, which allow communication between parties, whereby it is not only a planning/tracing tool. Secondly, there are process and product assessment mechanisms. In both cases requirements management is stressed not only from the view of system/software requirements but also from the view of specific multidisciplinary knowledge gathering which influences the project in a dynamical manner.