Can BI projects be offshored and delivered successfully?

Recently I was hearing to thoughts of Krish Krishnan , who is renowned industry in strategy architecture and implementation of high performance DWH solutions. It was quite an interesting session as we all know that many of the BI projects stalls due to numerous reasons.I would not repeat the whole talk as transcript as you can refer to same in TDWI webinar section( Managing risks of offshore Data warehousing). I would provide some gems and end it with my experience managing such like engagements.

Krish made a very important point that DWH program is special and is unlike other software projects, how,

1. Its an evolving program because of ever increasing demand of business requirements. None of enterprise who have implemented DWH /BI solution can confirm that the in place DWH system/s doesn't need any changes. All are experiencing some changes happening at some point of time, be it on Reporting layer or Integration layer.


2. Its a very complex Program as it involves complex technology , multiple stakeholders, multiple SMEs, multiple applications, and ongoing development. Bringing all under one roof is indeed challenging.

In order to have successful off-shoring there are various critical factors(people, process and organization) which need to be taken care by project owner. First two are obvious, however I was interested to find organization , and that surely made sense to me in order to transfer risk ( for data , multiple locations etc) and exploiting cost( blended cost) and talent and proven process advantages one needs to put this as important factor too. All the above points are based on work balance between offshore and onsite as any imbalance can lead to risk of ownership issue, communication issues availability of resources etc which can be devastating. I feel , Krish was very particular about management of communication & expectations effectively.

To summarize: I feel most of things are common Project management chores except for complexities of collaboration and evolution of DWH with in and outside enterprise/s. For sure there is no silver bullet which fits all . There is a need to be patient to achieve the right maturity levels. based on my experience ,I have following points to offer.

1. At onsite, the program should have Right set of people to understand and manage stakeholders expectations( technical, political, ego , cultural etc). And offshore owners must be imparted this very knowledge seamlessly else the program would not be in one world, rather two , simultaneously coexisting with each other which never meet.


2. Its best to have single Program Manager not like a usual onsite and offshore owners. I feel puts additional overhead and delays decision as both onsite and offshore reports to one who is managing multiple such like programs , and its obvious that there would be some conflicts.


3. Focus on mix of team at onsite , this is very important when it comes to manage global, co located project have diverse cultures.


4. If working on newer technologies, please plan accordingly as this could be a tipping point.


5. Try to retain core team members if not possible, insist to have effective Knowledge transfer. I feel usually 80% of the tacit knowledge is gone waste whenever there is turn around.


6. If possible , arrange for onsite visit for all key offshore members and vice versa. This needs to planned smartly.

Cheers!