Between the lines of the TCS story

TATA : From reference site to reference site

(1983?) 1984-1985: Projects with TKS for SNB: organisation size - 326: 13 member internal IT team.
TCS Delhi's first true offshoring project was through a partnership with Pierre Page's Teknosoft (TKS) on a joint development for the Swiss National Bank (SNB). This was SNB's largest technology project at that time. The SNB is Switzerland's central bank, acting in a banking regulation and policy role with responsibility for money supply, reserves, currency exchange, price stability and regulation of payment and securities settlement systems (link).

"Working with the Swiss presented us with our first experience of working with a demanding customer. Milestones for both sides were set, but there was no pressure on TCS to complete the project by a predetermined 'go live' date. Instead the bank trusted us as experts to define the schedule, after which they held us to it stringently."(Ramadorai, 2011: 60)

1989: SEGA: fixed price contract, 300 person-year, 3 year turnkey project.
TCS's winning of the Swiss SegaInterSettle (SEGA) project in 1989 was seen as the next defining moment for the burgeoning business of delivering offshore software and IT services. TCS, partnering with Teknosoft (TKS) competed for the business directly against Andersen Consulting. The pricing of the two bids ended up being quite similar (Ramadorai, 2011: 61). Andersen's strategy was to have its offshore development teams in Manila, the Philippines. TCS planned to offshore from India (Madras) but TCS had limited domain knowledge in 'depositories' so they sent a team on-site for 3 months in advance to understand the customer's requirements in order to prepare the bid.

SegaInterSettle (SEGA) required the development of a second generation real-time settlement system; a crucial piece of infrastructure for the Swiss financial system. It would be used to clear and settle bonds, equities.

"The settlement Communication System went live as planned in October 1993 and handled 4.6 million transactions in its first year of operations. It was a pace-setting and visionary project for the industry. Today, almost twenty years later, it continues to run flawlessly and remains one of the most sophisticated systems in the world in terms of technology, functionality and its architecture which was way ahead of its time." (Ramadorai, 2011: 62).

Exercise: What is (out)sourcing? Part 1

(this is also an icebreaker to encourage participation in a large lecture theatre environment)

Goal
Come up with a working definition of sourcing and outsourcing.

Instructions
1. Ask members of the class to define sourcing and outsourcing or give examples of global sourcing. (3 minutes)
2. Write down and display this list of definitions and examples.

Definitions

• "Outsourcing is the procurement of goods and services from external suppliers" (Mol, 2007)
• "Sourcing is the act through which work is contracted or delegated to an external or internal entity that could be physically located anywhere." (Oshri et. al, 2009)
• "Outsourcing is defined as contracting with a third service provider for the management and completion of a certain amount of work, for a specified length of time, cost, and level of service." (Oshri et. al, 2009)
• ...
• ...

Examples

• ...
• ...
• ...
• ...

Comments
There are no wrong answers, just build up a list, tabulate and provide back to the class

Definitions offered (edited) by each group (2015)

References:
Mol, M.J. Outsourcing: Design, Process and Performance Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J., and Willcocks, L.P. The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p. 266.

Footnote
The lecturer then makes a bold statement that in fact, these academic definitions are WRONG!
Follow up with the second part of this exercise with "What is (out)sourcing? Part 2". Possibly 2 or 3 weeks later.

Exercise: Egypt as an ideal OOS location

Exercise: 
In groups (~10 min)
Identify 2-3 key advantages of Egypt
Identify 2-3 key disadvantages of Egypt

Classroom discussion (~15min)

In light of these advantages and disadvantages, what type of work would you outsource or offshore to Egypt?

Thinking outside the box, what other destinations would you consider?

Summary of responses:

For:
Young working population 82M
Low cost of labour
Proximity to Europe
Language skills (multi-lingual)
Good exchange rates
IT infrastructure
Good numbers of knowledge workers
Corporation tax 25%
Open culture (high level of tolerance)

Against:
IT infrastructure
Unstable political landscape *
Lack of monetary supports for new business
Cultural conflict *
Corruption in government *
Climate conditions
Low standards of living for many
Low economic growth
Gender inequality
Unclear corporate policy environment for business

Other comments:
Suitable for the following kinds of business
Financial, accounting and HR
Manufacturing
Call centres and customer support
Technology R&D
Translation
BPO
Content providers
Law and legal services

Tech R&D requires: good infrastructure, low risk, low cost and good IPR protections

Thoughts on recording classroom sessions...

(At the time of writing this) UCD does not currently have a policy on lecture recordings made by students from the general population.

In view of this I adopt the following policy for my own classes.
In general I do not record or permit recording of my classes for the following reasons.
Classroom discussions may involve confidential disclosure, personal opinions, and draw on privileged information, from students, guests and lecturers. Furthermore the learning process may itself be compromised if being recorded i.e. students may be reluctant to offer opinions.
In certain instances I will permit recording and release edited output, for example to produce additional learning materials or as a statement of record.

First some principles:

Ask permission first. Permission may be withheld.

No copyright is conferred therefore no copies should be made nor should they be distributed to others. Likewise no backup copy to be made.

The recording should be destroyed after a reasonable time, i.e. after reviewing and making notes, less than 3 months.

Turn off the recorder when requested.

Paraphrasing the University of Warwick policy: I believe that attendance in class is an important formative experience and that note taking during class is an important skill that must be practiced to be learnt. Therefore as a general point, recordings are not made to overcome class absence. Absentee students (whether due to illness, work, or other incapacity) have access to the slides and extensive notes provided on the website. 

Unless otherwise permitted by prior consent:

1. Permission is sought by whomever is recording part of a class.

2. Recordings are to be deleted after use.
3. No copyright is given.

4. No distribution allowed.

From time to time, if I (the lecturer) determine a need to record, photograph or video part of a class or exercise I will notify and seek the permission of those involved.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/aro/dar/quality/recordinglectures/
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/sas2/quality/recordinglectures

This statement does not negate UCD's guidelines for students with special access requirements (link).

All editions of the textbook can be used, although some variation in content

All editions can be used although some content varies between them. 

The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring by Ilan Oshri, Julia Kotlarsky and Leslie P. Willcocks. Published by Palgrave Macmillan (link). 3rd Edition (ISBN 9781137437426), 2nd Edition (ISBN 9780230293526) 1st Edition (ISBN 9780230235502).

This may be of interest if you wish to improve your writing.

This MOOC titled "A Beginner's Guide to Writing in English for University Study" hosted by the University of Reading may be of interest to you if you wish to improve or develop your English writing skills, vocabulary and grammar. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-for-study

Notes for myself:
Can I identify focus and supporting evidence in the essay?
One way to assess it is, at the simplest level, by looking for content, structure/organisation, language/grammar. Or, expressed as three questions: What have you got to say? How do you say it? Are you in line with rules and norms of English expression?
A simple way of constructing individual paragraphs is to use the focus/response pattern.

UCD: teaching and learning links for staff and students.

Some Useful links.

• UCD Business Academic Writing Centre: Follow @UCDAWC for info and appointments with Dr Megan McGurk
• The School of Business Utilises the Harvard Style Guide. Please link your students to the UCD Library Harvard Style guides on http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/Guide69.pdf
• UCD Business Proudly Made in Africa Teaching Fellow: link with Siobhan McGee on bringing a focus on Africa to your module
• UCD Teaching and Learning Resources and Teaching Toolkit http://www.ucd.ie/teaching/resources/
• UCD Grade Descriptors 
• https://intranet.ucd.ie/registry/assessment/gradingguidestaff2013_2014.pdf
• UCD Library Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism 
• http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/Guide101.pdf
• http://www.ucd.ie/library/supporting_you/support_learning/plagiarism/
• UCD Late Submission of Coursework Policy
• http://www.ucd.ie/registry/academicsecretariat/latesub.htm
• Unless stated otherwise in the module outline, students can submit work up to two weeks late with penalty of two grade points per week.
• User's guide to UCD general regulations 
• http://www.ucd.ie/registry/academicsecretariat/asug/
• UCD Student Code http://www.ucd.ie/registry/academicsecretariat/regs_sc.html
• http://www.ucd.ie/registry/academicsecretariat/docs/student_code.pdf
• Guidelines for staff for working with students with a disability 
• http://www.ucd.ie/openingworlds/ucdaccesscentre/supportsforstudentswithadisability/