Outsourcing command center

• US 20060080156A1
• Filed: 10/08/2004
• Published: 04/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Mason, Miranda L., Goff, Raymond, Bobear, Karen M., Gleichenhaus, Barry A., Baughn, John B.
• Granted Patent: US 7,870,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An outsourcing command center collects and processes outsourcing data for multiple engagements and multiple outsourcing offerings. The command center may apply a metric set to the outsourcing data that is broadly applicable across multiple outsourcing offerings, but also tailored to specific outsourcing offerings, and extended by engagements to meet their particular metric reporting criteria. The command center provides a portal through which an engagement may access processed metric information for outsourced functions, including metric reporting screens with convenient drill-down link sets to display progressively more detailed views of metrics processed for the engagement.

Claims

1. A data processing system for engagement review of multiple outsourcing offerings, the data processing system comprising:

an upper tier metric set applicable to a first outsourcing offering and a different second outsourcing offering;

a first engagement extended metric set for the first outsourcing offering comprising the upper tier metric set and a first engagement extension to the upper tier metric set;

a second engagement extended metric set for the second outsourcing offering comprising the upper tier metric set and a second engagement extension to the upper tier metric set;

a database comprising engagement operations data from engagement outsourcing operation sites;

a metric evaluation program operable to apply the first engagement extended metric set to the engagement operations data to generate first processed metrics for the first outsourcing offering, and operable to apply the second engagement extended metric set to the engagement operations data to generate second processed metrics for the second outsourcing offering;

a user interface comprising a metric reporting interface for reporting the first and second processed metrics; and

a processor that executes the metric evaluation program and displays the user interface.

2. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising a business value delivered ruleset, and where the metric evaluation program is further operable to apply the business value delivered ruleset to generate business value delivered metrics.

3. The data processing system of claim 2, where the user interface further comprises a business value delivered reporting element.

4. The data processing system of claim 1, where the metric reporting interface comprises drill-down links to increasingly detailed reports of the first or second processed metrics.

5. The data processing system of claim 1, where the first outsourcing offering is business process outsourcing (BPO), application outsourcing (AO), or information technology outsourcing (ITO).

6. The data processing system of claim 1, where the first outsourcing offering is business process outsourcing (BPO), application outsourcing (AO), or information technology outsourcing (ITO), and where the second outsourcing offering is BPO, AO, or ITO.

7. The data processing system of claim 2, where the business value delivered ruleset includes an Increase in Revenue rule.

8. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first pre-selected middle tier metric set tailored to the first outsourcing offering;

a second pre-selected middle tier metric set tailored to the second outsourcing offering; and

where the first engagement extended metric set further comprises the first pre-selected middle tier metric set and where the second engagement extended metric set further comprises the second pre-selected middle tier metric set.

9. A method for engagement review of multiple outsourcing offerings, the method comprising the acts of:

storing engagement operations data in a memory;

defining an upper tier metric set applicable to a first outsourcing offering and a different second outsourcing offering;

extending the upper tier metric set with a first engagement extension to define a first engagement extended metric set applicable to the first outsourcing offering;

extending the upper tier metric set with a second engagement extension to define a second engagement extended metric set applicable to the second outsourcing offering;

applying the first engagement extended metric set to at least a portion of the engagement operations data to generate first processed metrics for the first outsourcing offering;

applying the second engagement extended metric set to at least a portion of the engagement operations data to generate second processed metrics for the second outsourcing offering; and

generating a user interface comprising a metric reporting interface for reporting the first and second processed metrics.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the act of collecting at least a portion of the engagement operations data from a remote engagement operations site.

11. The method of claim 9, where the act of extending the upper tier metric set with a first engagement extension comprises:

extending the upper tier metric set with a first engagement extension and with a first pre-selected middle tier metric set tailored to the first outsourcing offering.

12. The method of claim 11, where the act of extending the upper tier metric set with a second engagement extension comprises:

extending the upper tier metric set with a second engagement extension and with a second pre-selected middle tier metric set tailored to the second outsourcing offering.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising the act of responding to drill-down links in the metric reporting interface to provide increasingly detailed reports of the first or second processed metrics.

14. The method of claim 9, where the act of defining an upper tier metric set comprises:

defining an upper tier metric set applicable to a business process outsourcing (BPO) offering, an application outsourcing (AO) offering, or an information technology outsourcing (ITO) offering.

15. The method of claim 9, where the act of defining an upper tier metric set comprises defining an engagement satisfaction metric.

16. The method of claim 15, where the act of defining an upper tier metric set further comprises defining an employee satisfaction metric.

17. A machine readable medium encoded with instructions that cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising the acts of:

defining an upper tier metric set applicable to a first outsourcing offering and a different second outsourcing offering;

defining a first engagement extended metric set comprising the upper tier metric set and a first engagement extension;

defining a second engagement extended metric set comprising the upper tier metric set and a second engagement extension;

applying the first engagement extended metric set to engagement operations data to generate first processed metrics for the first outsourcing offering;

applying the second engagement extended metric set to the engagement operations data to generate second processed metrics for the second outsourcing offering; and

generating a user interface comprising a metric reporting interface for reporting the first and second processed metrics.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 17, further comprising the act of collecting at least a portion of the engagement operations data from a remote engagement operations site.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 17, where the act of extending the upper tier metric set with a first engagement extension comprises:

extending the upper tier metric set with a first engagement extension and with a first pre-selected middle tier metric set tailored to the first outsourcing offering.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19, where the act of extending the upper tier metric set with a second engagement extension comprises:

extending the upper tier metric set with a second engagement extension and with a second pre-selected middle tier metric set tailored to the second outsourcing offering.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 17, further comprising the act of expanding a rolled-up summary of the first or second processed metrics to provide increasingly detailed reports of the first or second processed metrics.

22. A data processing system for reviewing outsourcing operations across multiple engagements and multiple outsourcing offerings, the data processing system comprising:

a database comprising engagement operations data spanning multiple engagements and multiple outsourcing offerings;

an upper tier metric set applicable to each of the outsourcing operations;

a metric evaluation program operable to apply the upper tier metric set to the engagement operations data to generate baseline metrics across the multiple outsourcing offerings;

an access hierarchy comprising a first access entry authorizing access for a first login to the baseline metrics, and a second access entry authorizing access to a first subset of the baseline metrics;

a user interface comprising a metric reporting interface for displaying, according to the access hierarchy, the baseline metrics and the first subset of the baseline metrics; and

a processor that executes the metric evaluation program and that displays the user interface.

23. The data processing system of claim 22, further comprising:

a first middle tier metric set tailored to a first outsourcing offering of the multiple outsourcing offerings;

a second middle tier metric set tailored to a second outsourcing offering of the multiple outsourcing offerings;

where the metric evaluation program is further operable to apply the first middle tier metric set to the engagement operations data to generate first processed metrics for the first outsourcing offering and operable to apply the second middle tier metric set to the engagement operations data to generate second processed metrics for the second outsourcing offering;

and where the first access entry authorizes access by the first login to the first and second processed metrics, and denies access by the second login to the first or second processed metrics.

24. The data processing system of claim 23, where the metric reporting screens comprise a rolled-up summary of the first and second processed metrics.

25. The data processing system of claim 23, where the metric reporting interface comprises drill-down links to increasingly detailed reports of the first or second processed metrics.

26. The data processing system of claim 22, further comprising:

a first engagement extended metric set for a first outsourcing offering of the multiple outsourcing offerings;

a second engagement extended metric set for a second outsourcing offering of the multiple outsourcing offerings;

where the metric evaluation program is further operable to apply the first engagement extended metric set to the engagement operations data to generate first processed metrics for the first outsourcing offering and operable to apply the second engagement extended metric set to the engagement operations data to generate second processed metrics for the second outsourcing offering;

and where the first access entry authorizes access by the first login to the first and second processed metrics, and denies access by the second login to the first or second processed metrics.

27. A machine readable medium encoded with instructions that cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising the acts of:

defining an upper tier metric set applicable to multiple outsourcing offerings;

applying the upper tier metric set to the engagement operations data to generate baseline metrics across the multiple outsourcing offerings;

querying an access hierarchy comprising a first access entry authorizing access for a first login to the baseline metrics, and a second access entry authorizing access to a first subset of the baseline metrics; and

generating a user interface comprising a metric reporting interface for displaying, according to the access hierarchy, the baseline metrics and the first subset of the baseline metrics.

28. The machine readable medium of claim 27, where the method further comprises the acts of:

defining a first middle tier metric set tailored to a first outsourcing offering of the multiple outsourcing offerings;

defining a second middle tier metric set tailored to a second outsourcing offering of the multiple outsourcing offerings;

applying the first middle tier metric set to the engagement operations data to generate first processed metrics for the first outsourcing offering;

applying the second middle tier metric set to the engagement operations data to generate second processed metrics for the second outsourcing offering;

and where the first access entry authorizes access by the first login to the first and second processed metrics, and denies access by the second login to the first or second processed metrics.

29. The machine readable medium of claim 28, where generating comprises the act of generating drill-down links to increasingly detailed reports of the first or second processed metrics.

30. The machine readable medium of claim 27, where the method further comprises the acts of:

defining a first engagement extended metric set for a first outsourcing offering of the multiple outsourcing offerings;

defining a second engagement extended metric set for a second outsourcing offering of the multiple outsourcing offerings;

applying the first engagement extended metric set to the engagement operations data to generate first processed metrics for the first outsourcing offering;

applying the second engagement extended metric set to the engagement operations data to generate second processed metrics for the second outsourcing offering;

and where the first access entry authorizes access by the first login to the first and second processed metrics, and denies access by the second login to the first or second processed metrics.

31. The machine readable medium of claim 30, where generating comprises the act of generating drill-down links to increasingly detailed reports of the first or second processed metrics.