Towards Effective Project Management across Multiple Projects with Distributed Performing Centers

Software service providers develop custom solutions to meet their customers´ requirements. Large customers can typically contract out multiple projects to the same vendor which run the projects assigned to them simultaneously. Large providers are increasingly using a distributed/global model for software development (delivery) wherein they can leverage the skills and cost-advantages of different sites to deliver the projects effectively and efficiently, for which project coordination with accurate information is of central importance. In this paper, we highlight the challenges in effective project coordination for a customer across multiple projects with distributed performing centers. This situation is not addressed by current project manage mentor software development tools. The nature of the problem requires standardized metadata, schedule and resource management, and measurements for project monitoring. We propose a framework for global project management and governance to addresses the identified challenges which also takes current project tools into perspective. Our approach extensively leverages historical data gathered on metrics pertaining to different types of work requests.