Choice of external participants

12.5.2 Choice of external participants

While it is clear that the case of customer participation in a project is dif- ficult if not impossible to circumscribe or prevent, a good degree of choice is available with respect to the other external participants: subcontractors and suppliers of COTS software. General quality assurance procedures, with the appropriate adaptations, can be applied in this situation as well. Any choice of external participants requires collection of information about the candidates, their products and team qualification, and evaluation of that information.

Collection of information 289 The main tools that support choice are:

Contractor’s information about suppliers and subcontractors based on previous experience with their services

Auditing the supplier’s or subcontractor’s quality assurance system

A tool

Survey of opinions regarding the external participants from outside sources.

(1) Use of contractor’s internal information about suppliers and subcontrac-

for a

tors. An external participant (subcontractor or supplier) file, that records past performance, is the main source of information for the contractor.

ss

Such an information system is based on cumulative experience with tasks

uring quality

performed by the subcontractor or supplier of COTS software, as well as on information gathered for evaluation of their past proposals. Implementation of this tool requires systematic reporting, based on SQA procedures, by the departments involved:

■ Teams of committees that evaluate suppliers’ proposals

from extern

■ User representatives and coordination committee members who are responsible for project follow-up

■ “Regular” users who have identified software faults or have gained experience with the supplier’s products and maintenance service.

al p

Implementation tip

rtic ipants

Two issues impinging on the adequacy of a “Suppliers’ File” should be considered:

(a) Individuals evaluating a proposal like to receive full documentation on the organization’s past experience with a prospective subcontractor/supplier together with information gathered in the past from various outside sources. Yet, these same individuals are likely to neglect preparing records related to their own experience with an external participant.

(b) Difficulties often result from unstructured reporting to the Suppliers’ File. If the information is not properly structured, evaluation and comparison of suppliers become taxing, if not impossible.

The answer to these difficulties frequently lies in the procedures applied and forms used. Procedures that define who should report what and in which situations can limit the reporting burden. A structured reporting form, supported by unstructured descriptions, can be helpful in responding to both issues.

290 (2) Auditing the supplier’s quality system. Auditing the supplier’s SQA sys- tem is often encouraged by the suppliers themselves in an effort to

12 promote acceptance of their proposals. In some cases such an audit is As

part of the tender requirements. The auditors should take care that the

suring the quality audited features are relevant to the project in its content, magnitude and

complexity. Another issue to be considered is the demonstration project and team, which are usually chosen by the supplier. The preferred route is, of course, for the auditors to randomly choose the project and team from a list of relevant projects and teams. This approach is, however, rarely adopted due to objections voiced openly or implicitly by subcon- tractor and/or supplier.

(3) Opinions of regular users of the supplier’s products. Opinions can be

of

gathered from internal units that used the supplier’s services in the past,

extern

from other organizations that have experienced the supplier’s services in the past, from professional organizations that certified the supplier as

al qualified to specialize in the field, and from firms that have had profes- p sional dealings with the potential subcontractor or supplier. The purpose

a of this step is also to ascertain reliability, among other variables that may rtic

affect contractual relations.

ipants’ c Systematic evaluation of the suppliers

Evaluation and comparison of potential external participants should be car-

ontribution

ried out according to procedures adequate to their purpose. Among the factors set down in the procedure are designation of the evaluation commit- tee or responsible manager and the process of evaluation, including the method for defining the relative importance attached to each item and source of information.