Staff Augmentation Case Study for Application Lifecycle Management Tool Configuration
Customer profile
- Our customer, established in 1936, is the largest supplier of healthcare coverage in the state of Alabama.
- Estimated annual revenue: $3.5 billion
- Estimated annual IT budget: $141 million
Business Challenge
Our customer was in the process of implementing a best of class Quality Management Office within its IT division, when IT executive management determined that the:
- Lack of quality methodologies, templates, and reporting caused a significant number of projects to be over budget and behind schedule.
- An Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tool needed to be installed, developed, and
administered. The Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tool needed to ensure traceability of
requirements throughout the Software Development Life Cycle.
The IT organization consists of 600+ employees, with all levels and specialties, including: Program &
Project Managers, Functional & Technical Analysts, Quality Assurance, System Architects, Operations,
etc.
Business situation
The customer needed to gain control over its SDLC methodologies. Millions of dollars were being spent
annually developing customized software, and the development units didn’t see manageable value from
the existing testing tool. The immediate need was to gain control of the SDLC methodologies through an
Application Lifecycle Management tool. Senior Management identified the need to develop a SDLC
methodology, and to integrate it into an AML tool to ensure future development projects were managed in
a repeatable, successful manner.
The Senior Management team selected an enterprise-level AML tool. Initially, the AML tool provider was providing the necessary vendor consultants to implement the tool at a combined rate of $420/hr. The installation phase was estimated to take three months with the associated vendor consultant cost from the AML tool provider to be $210K. The development phase was estimated to take an additional three months with the associated vendor consultant cost from the AML tool provider to be $210K. Additionally, the administration was to last another 6 months, with the associated vendor consultant cost from the AML tool provider to be $420K.
Thus, the total cost to our customer for the installation, development, and administration of the AML tool was estimated to be $840K if the processes were completed using consultants provided directly by the vendor.
Solution
Our customer wanted to explore a better option for their AML tool staff augmentation and engaged
Hamilton-Ryker for a national search for highly-technical consulting talent with the necessary AML skills.
Working with the V.P. of the Professional Services Office, the Hamilton-Ryker recruiting team began
documenting the required skills for an ALM tool installation, development, and administration project.
Once the requirements were defined, Hamilton-Ryker was able to recruit and provide a contractor that
possessed all of the necessary technical and “cultural fit” skills to complete the project. Once on site,
Hamilton-Ryker’s contractor demonstrated that not only could he provide the necessary skills, but also
revealed that the vendor provided by the AML tool provider did not have the necessary skills to complete
the full installation and development needed by the customer.
Within two weeks of being on site, the customer decided to exclusively utilize the recruited HamiltonRyker
contractor for the duration of the project, including the installation, development, and administration
of the AML tool.
Benefits
Our customer was able to gain a significant number of benefits, including:
- Operation efficiencies
- Better ‘traceability’ between requirements and test plans
- Cost reductions from taking the previously-manual processes and replacing them with new
automated workflows
Most significantly, by utilizing a specialized contractor recruited by Hamilton-Ryker, the customer was able to realize a net savings of over $680,000 over the course of the project.
Recruiting Tools and Resources Used
Recruiting Staff:
- Locally-based recruiters
- Regionally-based recruiters
- Off-Shore recruiters
Recruiting Tools:
- Hamilton-Ryker proprietary candidate database
- Job Board databases (Monster.com, ComputerJobs.com, Dice.com, HotJobs.com, and
CareerBuilder.com)
- Job Board Posting (Monster.com, ComputerJobs.com, CareerBuilder.com)
- Social Media resources (LinkedIn, Facebook, Craigslist, Twitter)
Screening Resources:
- Hamilton-Ryker Technical Reference Form (including Company Name, Dates of Employment, Supervisor’s Name & Contact Info, Description of Job Duties, and Assessment of Key Employee Qualities) completed by Hamilton-Ryker recruiter
- 7-panel Drug Test (conducted by ESS, Inc.)
- 7-year Federal and Statewide Criminal Background Investigation (conducted by ESS, Inc.)
