The methodology you use to execute an offshore project - or any software project - affects its success or failure. Although many organizations have defined standards for the software development life cycle (SDLC), such as the CMM, offshore development has no industry standards. These projects follow their individual paths. The offshore movement model (OMM) is a generic process you can follow to execute offshore projects.

Project definition - Define your business reasons for initiating the IT project. Here, you specify the project's scope and decide what technical platforms and tools to use on the project. You should avoid all possible ambiguity by stating the project's objectives in precise and measurable terms.

Offshore justification - Explain why the project should be done offshore: time and money savings, flexibility, expertise, a combination of all these factors, or something else. The reasons are critical because project expectations develop from this assessment.

Partner selection - Once you decide what you need to move offshore and why, you should look for a suitable partner. People and processes can make or break a project. The important criteria you should use to evaluate a vendor include available skill resources, Experience executing similar projects, Infrastructure capabilities, Development methodologies and quality processes.

Initiation - This phase is the first interaction between the on-site and offshore staff that will be working on the project. It ideally covers a pilot study so that both parties can increase their mutual comfort and compatibility levels. The pilot's cost will save you money later when meeting tight schedules and deliverables makes time valuable.

Execution, delivery, and quality analysis - The project starts with design and follows the standard path of SDLC in coding, unit testing, system or integration testing, acceptance testing, and documentation.

Acceptance - This phase begins during the acceptance testing in the previous phase and includes system end-user training, implementation or go-live.