eDiscovery Daily Blog

• December 8, 2010

Yesterday, we discussed effectively communicating with a service provider before a project even starts.  To ensure successful results with service provider work, there are a few things you should do throughout the life of a project:

• Make sure that you are available:  It is likely that a service provider will have questions about your project.  If those questions are not addressed quickly, it could affect approach, schedule and costs.  Make sure that a decision-maker is available who can respond to service provider questions and who can make decisions quickly when issues arise.  This is especially important at the start of a project – that’s when the most questions are likely to surface.
• Review the work:  Just like with your own staff, you need to carefully check service provider work to ensure that they have understood your requirements and are doing the work properly.  Ask the service provider to provide small batches of initial work as soon as possible, and review that work and provide feedback right away.  It’s always better to catch problems early when they can be fixed before significant rework is required.  And spot-check work throughout the life a project.
• Monitor status:  Review status reports and talk to the service provider if it looks like they are getting off track with schedule and costs.  If schedule variances are caught early, the service provider may be able to reallocate resources and get back on track.

These techniques work well for most projects.  There may be times when you’ve got a small, rush job that needs to be done overnight or within a couple of days – and there won’t be time to check work and give feedback before the work is done.  When you are faced with a project like that, it’s probably best to work with a service provider with whom you have already worked and you know is reliable.

What do you think?  How do you work with service providers?  Please share any comments you might have or tell us if you’d like to know more about a topic.