| Summary: | The goal in this research was to design a model for optimizing the use of Information Systems (IS) sub-contractors during application development. This was accomplished through an investigation of organizations that were providers or sellers of IS as well as an investigation of buyer-seller relationships in the manufacturing and health care industries. The manufacturing and health care industries have had considerable success with this process of matching buyers and sellers. Models and structures of organizations and inter organizational relationships investigated within the targeted industries were ported to, and modified for use within, the IS industry. This study identified and evaluated four models for potential porting. Structured analysis that consisted of concept modeling, process modeling, and Bockle's et al. (1996) delta chart methodology refined the models and reduced the final number to two models. These models led to the conclusion that improved models for outsourcing IS application development could be derived from other industries. One of the two final models, the Vendor Network (VN) model, was derived from the healthcare industry, and the other model, the IS Vendor Strategic Center (VSC) model, was from the manufacturing industry. Both of these models were examples of how the outsourcing of functionality from the domain of a single buyer into the buy generic or multi-buyer domain enabled opportunities that were not afforded to the buyers that insourced the same functions.
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