An Evaluation Framework for Communication and Coordination Processes in Offshore Software Development Outsourcing Relationship: Using Fuzzy Methods

Abstract

Offshore Software Development Outsourcing (OSDO) is a modern business strategy for producing high quality software at low cost. OSDO refers to the practice of contracting to an offshore (extrinsic) organization to perform some or all software development work of a product. For the benefit of OSDO vendors, the present research aims to develop a “Communication and Coordination Challenges’ Mitigation Model” (CCCMM) that provides solutions for unambiguously defined communication and coordination processes in a global software development (GSD) environment. Our proposed model is based on the fuzzy multi-attribute decision-making (FMADM) approach incorporating the capability of group decision making. FMADM approach is used both in ranking of survey and assessment of case studies. Firstly, authors undertook a systematic literature review (SLR) that identified all cited challenges from a set of 101 articles. We identified eighteen problem areas faced by GSD vendors in OSDO relationships. Of these, six were ranked as critical. For the purposes of identifying corrective interventions, a second SLR was conducted that revealed 75 remedial measures extracted from 63 chosen articles. To validate our SLR findings, we surveyed 42 outsourcing experts from six countries. We also categorized six critical challenge areas and 75 corrective practices into four mitigation levels based on CMMI, SOVRM and SOPM. In addition, two case studies were conducted to evaluate CCCMM outcomes in OSDO companies. The assessment results of first case study do not recommended Company-A for successful implementation of level-2 of CCCMM, so Company-A stands at level 1. We have observed from second case study that Company-B has implemented all the critical challenges of the level-2 only; therefore Company-B is at level-2 success of the proposed assessment model.