Outsourcing has become a go-to solution for many companies. Instead of using in-house resources to develop new features, many organizations opt to use external contractors to meet their needs. This can make economic sense, since it frees in-house resources and can speed up the development cycle.
Issue Tracking in Outsourcing
We recently had a call with a representative from a company in the United States that manufactures cellphone hardware for a top tier provider. Their daily operations include close collaboration with a software team based in India. There is a large amount of work and cooperation involved, from working on new design features to troubleshooting existing. All this is dependent on effective, clear, and secure communication. which is not always easy to achieve.
Problem #1: Information Exchange
Communicating through emails and instant messengers can lead to information loss. At both ends, issues have to be approached in a structured way, otherwise issue resolving may not be effective enough. Communication by email or phone is not going to work in this case, as important details about a specific issue can be scattered across their issue tracker. As a result, the final message about a problem might be lacking important information.
Problem #2: Different Status Updates
Often different companies have completely different approaches toward describing problems or naming issues. Add organizational differences to the mix and you have a recipe for a disaster. Even though the two teams speak very good English, differences in workflows and status updates often lead to misunderstandings.
How does Exalate Improve efficiencies?
Since the two companies were doing their issue-tracking tasks using JIRA, we suggested using Exalate. It is an out-of-the-box solution that makes it possible to manage issues over different issue trackers. Thanks to the improved flow, all issue-relevant information becomes available locally. Exalate automatically shares two or more instances of that issue tracker, which means an improved flow of information.
The Solution to Problem #1
We suggested they use Exalate. The solution cuts down the number of errors related to manual data copying by 80%. Information is no longer copied manually but automatically synchronized between the US and Indian instances of JIRA. This allows the US team to get a nice overview of all the details about an issue that the Indian team is working on, without having to access the remote system. The result is a jump in efficiency on both sides.
The Solution to Problem #2
Exalate includes very straightforward status updates. Both teams are now very clear about what is going on with each issue. Our solution allows for synchronizing attachments, work logs, or comments. Also, metadata, like versions, components or priorities are being transferred between the two instances.
This translates in a reduction of delays across the board. Clear status updates also make it easier to provide timely progress reports to management.
Exalate: Other Advantages
Installing Exalate is straightforward . The solution works out of the box, without the need to set up servers. Thanks to that, you can start using it right away.
Also, you can easily tailor Exalate to the needs of your company almost like a bespoke solution. With its powerful scripting language, Exalate is highly configurable. Like Jira, our solution is easily customized to your needs.
Using Exalate is particularly beneficial for outsourcing, as the solution lets two teams keep track of their work. This means easier invoicing and better control over services costs provided by external parties.
Conclusion
With Exalate, eradicating communication problems becomes much easier, which translates into improved cooperation and efficiency standards between companies.