Jeri Lykke, Senior Manager, Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory

A few years ago, I observed the following discussion during a Human Resources outsourcing (HRO) transition and implementation status meeting. The client described significant issues with the initiation of User Acceptance Testing, detailed relevant associated risks and asked that the project’s status be changed to Red. While the service provider acknowledged there were significant issues, it believed they were addressable and recoverable, and therefore the project didn’t need to be escalated to Red. When asked what status it believed the project was at, it offered up “Deep Amber.”

In an eerily similar discussion in late 2010 (different client and different service provider), the provider’s response was “Tinting Yellow.” Deep Amber? Tinting Yellow? What’s next? “Honey Mustard”? “A Whiter Shade of Pale”? (Just couldn’t resist citing British rock band Procol Harum’s debut song title). As you can imagine, neither Deep Amber nor Tinting Yellow were defined project status colors, and in both instances the project plans were eventually extended by several months as the underlying issues and mitigations were not addressed in a timely manner.

Have you found yourself in a similar “yellow” status situation? If so, you were likely scratching your head, wondering what happened to the standard green/yellow/red dashboard nomenclature, and asking questions around what it means to be in yellow, how long you should expect to remain in yellow, and what actions both you and your provider should take to move the project back into green.

These questions are most effectively addressed at the project initiation phase. Most service providers have a standard project management methodology that includes the definition of status and when/how it changes. As a client, you should make sure you understand and agree with these definitions, including how long a project is allowed to remain in yellow status. And once you’ve agreed, you and your provider should hold each other to the agreed process and timeframes. This way, there are only three dashboard status color options, and “Deep Amber” is not one of them.

Please click here to read our full article on Avoiding the Pitfalls of HR Outsourcing (HRO) Transition.

Filed under: How to..., Human Resources, Outsourcing by EquaTerra