You made a deal with someone to complete a project for you. When you were talking, the requirements of the job were clear and the contractor said he understands fully what you wanted from him. However, after several weeks into the project, the kinds of job that the contractor gives you, as it turns out, is substandard and falls short of the requirements that you have agreed upon.

There are a lot of contractors in the IT outsourcing field that are like this. They say yes to every requirement you demand yet, they do not deliver. Even though, ideally, outsourcing can help you generate savings in your production, if it is not managed well, they can give you difficulties and might even shatter the whole project you have dreamed of.

To avoid this kind of scenario, you simply need to keep in mind that outsourcing is no different in providing and receiving service from different service providers. Hence, expectations need to be managed well and the deliverables from each party should be clear at the outset. Clear expectations before undertaking any kind of work related to the outsourcing contract is a crucial part of ensuring that the relationship will succeed.

In the first place, the organization outsourcing the services should be able to concretely establish the requirements of the job, the budget and the timeframe of its completion.

When such information is presented to the contractor, they should be able to make an assessment as to the duration of the project and how they are going to complete the project. This process of negotiation and talking back and forth should be coupled with information sharing and careful data gathering.

With such an investigation, the nitty-gritty details will be established leading to an understanding on the part of both parties regarding the details of the job.
There are several tips that should be followed in order for this process to succeed. For one, the result of the outsourcing and its value to the organization should be described fully. It would be much better if it were written down.

The goals and aims of outsourcing should also be described fully. Indicators of success for each goal and aim should be written down as well. The scope of the project should also be established. Through these parameters, both the organization and the contractor will learn whether the project is fully or partially outsourced.

The full impact of the outsourcing should be analyzed. Its impacts on the employees on the organization and their morale, their relationship with the outside provider and the communication between and among them and should be analyzed so that contingencies will be established. The resources available at the outset of the project should also be stipulated.

Furthermore, channels of communication should be established, together with an effective change management process. Without which, the organization will be dealing with a come-and-go approach to problems as they come.

Procedures for addressing grievances and complaints should also be in place. This will enable effective conflict resolution and management of the misunderstandings between the contractor and the organization. Finally, there should be effective documentation for the whole duration of the relationship.

Ensuring that contracts are followed may appear to be tough. However, this may be the only to ensure that contractors are responsible and accountable to the organization that they are providing services to.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Six Sigma training is beneficial to employees as well as the organization as a whole. However, since 6 Sigma training is expensive, many organizations stay away from it. Online training is the best answer to all these problems. It is cost effective and flexible.

The aim behind implementing Six Sigma is to design near-perfect business processes, which will boost overall business performance. However, these implementations are not always easy because they often involve the overhaul of whole processes and systems. These process overhauls can cost a lot of money. In such a scenario, it makes sense to opt for the online training. There is another option to hire 6 Sigma professionals, but even that could prove to be non-effective and expensive.

Additionally, it has often been noticed that Six Sigma professionals do not have the right kind of presentation and teaching skills. 6 Sigma concepts and methodologies are implemented through projects and systematic procedures. As online Six Sigma training is available at every stage of a project, it is the best solution for most organizations.

Why Online 6 Sigma Training Makes Sense

Online Six Sigma training uses interactive software tools to explain some of the most difficult topics. It allows employees to learn at their own pace. They can pay more attention to the topics, which they may find a bit difficult. They can skip through the topics that they are already aware of. Employees can learn when they are have time and are receptive to the things that are being taught. In addition, online training lets employees assess their understanding of the subject.

Employees just have to register for the online test, take the test and get instant results. It is that simple. In addition, they will receive feedback based on their performance. If they find that their performance in a particular topic is less than acceptable, they can learn the lessons again and take the test again. They can even take the 6 Sigma lessons in the comfort of their home. This way, online 6 Sigma training proves to be very motivating and enriching experience.

Additional Benefits

Online training offers far more benefits to the organization than the employees. Once employees are trained in Six Sigma, there is no need to hire 6 Sigma professionals. The organization also saves on the production time as online training can be done after office hours. Employees can be called upon to play the role of change agents, responsible for implementing 6 Sigma concepts in the organization.

How To Select The Most Effective Online Six Sigma Training Course

For selecting the most appropriate online course, organizations need to check the level of expertise being offered, the quality of content and the affiliation of the course. In addition, organizations also need to check the employee training costs as quoted by various online 6 Sigma course providers.

Online Six Sigma training offers a new perspective to “quality” in an organization. It offers a sort of recognition in the respective industry and boosts the organizational confidence as well. Online 6 Sigma training can definitely be considered to be a long-term investment that pays off in the long run.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

The most important factor in getting the relevant information is asking the right questions. The right questions help the respondents to understand it and answer accordingly.

Consider a situation where a help desk technician receives a call from a frantic customer saying she has spilled coffee onto a keyboard. The technician in this situation should think and dig deeper for more information about the keyboard. The technician then instructs the customer to clean it with water, as the keyboard is easily replaceable.

Within an hour, the technician receives a call from the customer’s manager, demanding to know who suggested putting water on an expensive brand new laptop. The technician in this situation should have asked for more information about the keyboard, such as the brand, its specifications and so forth.

When data collection is to be done for the purpose of a Six Sigma project, it is necessary to keep a few things in mind:

Simplicity

The most important thing to bear in mind is to keep your questions simple so that customers will understand them correctly and not misinterpret them. If you are using a form for data collection, design the form so that data is collected in a column format, similar to software spreadsheets.

This will help to prevent conversion or exporting problems later on.

Clarity

There should be clarity as to why you are collecting the data. You should develop good questions that relate to the information you need for the project. You should also be clear as to how you are going to use that data. An equally relevant factor to keep in mind is the fact that you have to decide how much data is needed and how much time you want to allocate to it.

Use the appropriate data analysis tools and make sure that the data you are collecting is in line with the requirements for those tools. You should the get accurate information from your respondents.

Inform the Respondent

Additionally, all respondents should also be informed about the reason that you are collecting the data, so that they respond accordingly. They will then not have any misunderstanding or fear about your intention when it comes to collecting that data.

Information about the Problem

If you are aware that factors such as location, shift, equipment, and suppliers are a part of the problem under consideration, ensure that you plan and develop the data collection form accordingly.

You do not want to miss out on any data and repeat your collection efforts, because your customers may not react positively the second time around.

Training

The data collectors should be well-trained on the guidelines to be followed for data collection. The training will be dependent upon the complexity of the data collection effort and the expertise of the individual collectors.

You can also conduct a trial run of the data collection plan to examine the teams’ understanding of the type of data expected. The results will help the team to refine the questions further and to pay special attention to missing information.

Simple Information

When it comes to data collection for Six Sigma, you should ensure that you are including additional space to collect information, such as the collector’s name and the time and date that the data was collected. Though this seems to be no-brainer, you never know when this information may be useful when analyzing the data collected. Any feedback needed would be easily available.

By keeping these simple, basic things in mind and planning for Six Sigma data collection, you will ensure that a similar story, like the IT Technician one above, does not happen. Asking the right questions is the key to perfect Six Sigma data collection.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for six sigma professionals including, lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.