[Three Questions on it Operation and Maintenance Outsourcing] IT Operation and Maintenance Service Outsourcing Contract

The IT operation and maintenance of Beijing Higher People's Court are all outsourced. The competent IT department no longer intervenes in trivial matters such as installing software and replacing hardware in computer systems of various departments, and controls the healthy development of IT operation and maintenance from a global perspective. Will this full outsourcing become the next hot spot in IT construction?

So far, in many industries, there is basically no unit that completely outsources it operation and maintenance like Beijing Higher People's Court (hereinafter referred to as Beijing Gaofa).

Will Beijing's high incidence of IT operation and maintenance outsourcing become the general trend of information construction in the next stage? Do major IT operators support it? How to solve the interest sharing between them? How does the Information Department view this IT operation and maintenance mode? With these questions, our reporter visited the information directors and operators of several units and found that IT operation and maintenance outsourcing has begun to take shape.

Why outsource?

Why should IT operation and maintenance services be completely outsourced? Wang Lansheng, deputy director of Beijing Gaofa Technology Department, said: "Beijing Gaofa began to discuss operation and maintenance services in 2005. At that time, the high-incidence business system construction in Beijing entered a mature stage, and the system was spread all over the business departments, so the daily work could not be separated from the support of information systems. IT is impossible for the IT department to have a team of 12 people responsible for complex systems. "

In this context, Beijing Gaofa adopts the mode of complete outsourcing and "letting go" operation and maintenance. They outsourced the operation and maintenance to a general outsourcer-Ziguang Huayu Operation, which signed subcontracting agreements with five sub-operators. "After handing over the IT operation and maintenance services to a third party, IT first solved the problem of high occupation of IT personnel in Beijing, and at the same time provided sufficient IT power to achieve the operation and maintenance effect; Secondly, the total IT assets, operation and maintenance priorities and operation and maintenance satisfaction are clarified. Finally, IT promotes the deep integration of IT systems and businesses, and IT outsourcers extract various requirements before telling our business personnel, which promotes business development. " Wang Yusheng said.

In 2002, Dalian Municipal Government officially launched its own city portal-"Dalian, China". Through this single portal, the public can contact the municipal government offices: social security, taxation, industry and commerce, public security, transportation and vehicle management. Since 2003, Dalian municipal government website began to try to outsource operation and maintenance services. Geng Zhao, deputy director of the website management center of Dalian municipal government, said: "There are only 12 people in charge of information construction on the website, and it is impossible to maintain more than 600 terminals. It is necessary to outsource some work to IT companies that are good at IT. "

Henry Hui Wang, deputy director of Beijing Public Health Information Center, told the reporter that the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau has also partially outsourced the operation and maintenance of information systems. Including server, network equipment operation and maintenance outsourcing, database operation and maintenance outsourcing, UPS operation and maintenance outsourcing, air conditioning operation and maintenance outsourcing, PC and network basic operation and maintenance outsourcing.

So, can this outsourcing mode of IT operation and maintenance services become a trend?

Tong Tengfei, director and assistant director of the Development Planning Department of Beijing Information Office (hereinafter referred to as the Information Office), believes that this outsourcing method is bound to be the general trend. He said: "Outsourcing is not new in the IT industry. Whether it is BPO (business process outsourcing), KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) or ITO (information technology outsourcing), etc. It is a way of outsourcing, but this kind of outsourcing in Beijing is more thorough and takes a step forward. "

Li Jigang, Director of Consulting and Service of Digital China Information System Company, has been engaged in IT consulting, construction and operation and maintenance services for a long time. He said that outsourcing has become a trend in the non-IT industry, ahead of the IT industry. IT operation and maintenance outsourcing will also develop in a similar direction. Judging from the development of IT technology, IT systems are becoming more and more complex, and there are more and more operators, which is far from being accomplished by just one IT department and a few people. From the management point of view, the complexity of the system, communication and coordination with operators and communication with business personnel also exist. IT operation outsourcing has risen to complex management, not as simple as technology. Outsourcing also helps managers get rid of technology and guide IT operations at a higher level.

Li Jigang believes that IT is these factors that lead to the outsourcing of IT operation and maintenance services, which is not only conducive to the professional division of labor in society, but also allows both parties to do what they are good at.

Geng Zhao also told reporters that operation and maintenance outsourcing is a trend, but more standardization work is needed at present. He believes that some e-commerce standards can be referenced now. Under this concept, the government should do well what it is responsible for, and the operation and maintenance outsourcing can be done by the general contractor and subcontractors to improve the service quality within the norms.

Wang Lansheng said: "Outsourcing is an inevitable development trend of operation and maintenance services and an inevitable stage of IT operation development. At this stage of IT development, the intensity and difficulty of operation and maintenance work is far greater than the construction stage. The task of the IT director is how to manage the IT system well, so he must pay attention to the operation and maintenance work, thus promoting the deep integration of informationization and business. "

What can be outsourced?

According to the construction of IT, it can be basically divided into infrastructure, application systems and business processes. All kinds of business applications in the industry need to deal with the above aspects. Is there a clear boundary for outsourcing operation and maintenance services? What can and cannot be outsourced?

In Henry Hui Wang's view, operation and maintenance service outsourcing is the outsourcing of non-core, complicated technology and relatively independent business functions.

Tong Tengfei believes that industry units must first distinguish which content needs to be outsourced and which content cannot be outsourced. Therefore, when signing the agreement, Party A and Party B must clearly sign the outsourcing agreement, and the outsourcing content, service items and the degree to be achieved must be clear, otherwise the service quality will be affected.

Henry Hui Wang believes that the main purpose of defining the scope of outsourcing is to clearly define what can and cannot be outsourced. Especially for the outsourcing of information security, the outsourcing scope should be defined in strict accordance with the requirements of the competent authorities. "To ensure clear responsibility management and control, the information department must accurately define the demand boundary and assessment indicators of outsourcing services, clarify the property rights of various derivative equipment, software and hardware and information resources, and reduce controversial clauses. The scope of external insurance is not clear, so it is difficult for internal management departments to effectively manage outsourcing companies. There are great risks in operation and maintenance quality and capital investment. It is difficult to communicate smoothly between outsourcing companies and government departments, and the supervision and management of outsourcing services will be out of control, let alone the norms of outsourcing management. "

Geng Zhao also has his own views on what can be outsourced in IT work. Geng Zhao once inspected turnkey projects of outsourcing IT operation and maintenance services in some areas, and he thought that this method was not suitable for Dalian municipal government website. "The so-called' turnkey' means that the operator takes over all matters of operation and maintenance services. At least at this stage, the operation and maintenance of' China Dalian' is not suitable for complete outsourcing. One is to consider security issues, and the other is to consider the continuity of the business itself. "

At present, the portal website of Dalian municipal government adopts the mode of partial outsourcing, and the service items are divided into 1 1. Among them, the computing environment, server upgrade, backup and maintenance outsourcing of the application system are signed by the general office of Dalian Municipal Government and various operators (subcontractors). These outsourcing agreements even include some "fine" service terms of "three days for dust removal and half a month for complete dust removal". In order to ensure the quality of service, the website management center of Dalian municipal government plays a role similar to that of the general supervisor.

"IT operation and maintenance outsourcing is a new thing and has just begun to develop. What are the specific contents, what effect should be achieved, and whether the standards should be unified and standardized. These are all under exploration. " Tong Tengfei believes that it is necessary for the information authorities to guide this new thing from policies and regulations.

Under this background, Beijing Information Office and Information Association, with the support of some ministries and commissions, jointly issued "Beijing E-government IT Operation and Maintenance Service Support System Specification" at the end of last year. This specification clearly puts forward the application requirements, technical requirements and testing methods of the operation and maintenance service support system.

"This is actually the standardization of operation and maintenance tools, and the service standard is affected by this standard." Tong Tengfei said that the specification defines the scope, management process and support system of operation and maintenance services, hoping to provide reference for operators and e-government departments from the perspective of marketization.

In the case that the outsourcing of operation and maintenance services is still unclear, will it be beneficial to the next development if the competent information department takes the lead in proposing specifications?

"Operation and maintenance service outsourcing tests the maturity of both parties. If Party A doesn't know which systems have been built and what services are needed, then as a government department, we don't recommend it to engage in operation and maintenance outsourcing." Tong Tengfei believes that operation and maintenance outsourcing can not be done by talking about it.

"Only when Party A is mature, familiar with the IT system, grasps the risk judgment and degree, and the government affairs are controllable, can we do a good job in operation and maintenance outsourcing and core business." Tong Tengfei hopes that more mature IT can adopt operation and maintenance outsourcing services. He believes that at this stage of IT, 99% of operation and maintenance services can be outsourced. "According to the relevant provisions of the National Law on the Openness of Information, there are more and more non-confidential information of government departments, and it is becoming more and more transparent. As a whole service, operation and maintenance outsourcing is bound to promote the standardization of outsourcing if it is bound by relevant system standards. Even a confidential system can be solved by technical means. For example, Party A and Party B each hold half of the key to ensure system security. "

Henry Hui Wang introduced that in practical work, they implemented the safety responsibility system and signed confidentiality agreements for outsourcing companies in the operation and maintenance service contracts. Ensure that outsourcing companies will not violate the regulations and disclose some sensitive data within the government. "In addition, it is also necessary to prevent outsourcing companies from setting up the right to dispose of and develop core data and government information resources privately. Government departments must strengthen the monitoring of operation and maintenance status, fully grasp the actual operation status of network systems, regularly organize system operation status and risk assessment, and establish an accountability system for outsourcing operators' accidents and an inquiry system for major issues. "

Li Jigang said: "It is still impossible to judge when this market will become bigger, but there is no doubt that this is a trend, mainly depending on the consciousness and concept of government departments. Security cannot be an excuse for e-government not to adopt operation and maintenance outsourcing. After all, in the construction, the government departments are strong, and they can guide Party B how to abide by the corresponding laws and regulations and solve the safety problems technically. "

There is a call hall on the 7th floor of Beijing Gaofa office building, which is not far from the two big offices of Ziguang Huayu, and there are all kinds of equipment stacked inside. As the dispatching organization of Ziguang Huayu, this operation and maintenance department rented a high-incidence office in Beijing and served here all the year round.

Mi Kun, manager of Ziguang Huayu Operation and Maintenance Department, said: "We have been providing IT services for Beijing Gaofa since 2003. If there is a problem with the system built before 2006, we will also repair it as technical support, and Party A (Beijing Gaofa) will also pay a certain fee. In the past two years, we have worked together with Party A to find out the asset demand and signed a detailed service agreement. As the general service provider of outsourcing, we lead other subcontractors to provide operation and maintenance services for Party A. "

He revealed that in this office building area, Ziguang Huayu has 14 resident staff and a support team of nearly 10 staff at the company headquarters. If the personnel of other subcontractors are added, there will be more than 60 personnel providing operation and maintenance services for Party A. According to the agreement, the subcontractors will sign with Party A respectively, and a third-party supervision company will evaluate Party B's business.

"From the outside, everyone's work is similar. In fact, after the general contracting, the nature of service now is completely different from before. It may have been passive before, but now it is active. If there is something wrong with the system, Party A will find our general service provider as soon as possible, which will affect our performance appraisal and whether to renew the contract next year. " Mi Kun believes that outsourcing has turned technical support into management support, which is a change in the functions of service providers.

In the case of clear division of labor, Party B is responsible for the non-confidential IT system in Beijing, from equipment maintenance and replacement, to video recording, live broadcast, quick recording of trial, and even data sorting and archiving in the later period. Beijing Gaofa gives operators a certain fee every year, and the specific IT business and processes are no longer involved.

Mi Kun revealed that driven by the outsourcing mode of Beijing Gaofa, some courts in Beijing are also trying to operate outsourcing services, which will soon show the trend of "a single spark can start a prairie fire".

At the end of 2004, Digital China signed a five-year service outsourcing contract with the Haidian District People's Government of Beijing. Digital China is responsible for infrastructure construction and maintenance, but not for specific applications and business processes. Li Jigang said: "Now it seems that operation and maintenance outsourcing is a' package' service scheme, which includes not only the operation of infrastructure and business systems, but also the process, and has higher requirements for operators."

He believes that IT departments need to master the scale from the scope and understand the core business and non-core business if they want to do operational outsourcing.

Beijing Information Resource Management Center (hereinafter referred to as the Center) was established on 200 1, which is mainly responsible for the sharing, exchange and integration of information resources in Beijing and centralized management of important information resources in the city. The center has also done some operation and maintenance outsourcing. Gao Shunwei, director of the planning department of the center, said: "We are considering the next step of outsourcing recently, whether to adopt the big package method or the subcontracting method?" He said that from the current outsourcing mode, the first mode is to ignore the preliminary construction, and the operation and maintenance is done by the general contractor and can be decomposed into subcontractors; The second way is that the early construction and development are done by one company, and the operation and maintenance are handed over to another general service provider; The third is the way who develops and operates.

Gao Shunwei believes that each method has advantages and disadvantages. Beijing Information Resource Management Center adopts the first method, and gives the maintenance of software and hardware, system upgrade and other things to a general contractor. However, due to the limited strength of the general contractor, they introduced subcontractors. In addition, the center has also handed over resources construction, website columns and other things to subcontractors, which can be considered that the center is moving towards the way of process package.

"The technical strength of the center is relatively strong, and daily maintenance is handed over to operators. But at key nodes, our engineers put forward requirements and are responsible for the assessment, thus ensuring the quality of service. " Gao Shunwei said that there is an annual outsourcing fee of10 million yuan. Due to the complexity of the system, it is necessary to introduce the general contractor, and the requirements of good luck dimension should be clearly written in the contract. And the general contractor can't do everything, so they appoint subcontractors to undertake certain subcontracting business.

"What can package and what can't package? Process things must be outsourced, such as system development and maintenance, which is conducive to improving efficiency. What the government can do cannot be outsourced, which is within the scope of government functions. The scope of security cannot be outsourced. " Gao Shunwei analyzed.

Gao Shunwei said that there is actually another outsourcing method, which is to find a role similar to that of a supervision company, and then the company will find an outsourcer. He said that big package is definitely the trend, and government departments must consider their own control ability when outsourcing. They have high requirements for outsourcers and need a certain scale and technology. However, government departments should control external contractors and should not be led by outsourcing service providers.

How to do outsourcing well?

Beijing Gaofa's annual operation and maintenance outsourcing expenses are allocated by the municipal finance 10 million yuan. Wang Lansheng said: "I must find out where every penny is spent and what role it plays, otherwise how can I get approval?"

Before outsourcing operation and maintenance, Beijing Gaofa asked Party B to find out the sum of all IT assets, asset distribution map, physical location of the system and all application systems. Subsequently, six categories, 1700, were formulated, with details such as response time, service standards and service types.

Wang Lansheng said that if the service is not standardized and meticulous, no one can say clearly how much it will cost, nor can it guarantee the quality of outsourced services.

Tong Tengfei agrees with the high incidence in Beijing. "Party A must be very clear about its own needs in order to sort out the clear scope of operation and maintenance services, realize productization and standardization, and improve service quality." He reminded that in outsourcing, IT is necessary to pay attention to the existence of "shadow government", that is, after the outsourcer is dominant, Party A can be overhead from the IT business, or Party A's business may be affected by the operator's own reasons.

Beijing Gaofa has also adopted the practice of letting outsourcing operators check and balance each other. At first, there were three subcontractors, and then two subcontractors were added to try out CD burning service and security service. Third-party supervision companies will evaluate the quality of work of these outsourcers.

Tong Tengfei believes that the productization and standardization of service outsourcing is the trend of outsourcing services. If the scope of good luck outsourcing is defined in advance, we can figure out what the cost is, what services are needed, and the proportion of infrastructure and systems, so that Party A can make good use of every penny. He emphasized that IT operation and maintenance can be outsourced, but government functions cannot be outsourced, which requires government departments to really play the role of e-government after IT outsourcing is marketized.

Mi Kun told reporters that he can understand the two additional contractors introduced by Party A again. "In fact, we can also do the services provided by these subcontractors, and it takes a certain grasp to decompose the services into how many outsourcers are appropriate."

According to the requirements of the service catalogue, they decompose the service tasks and put them into practice on the premise of ensuring the quality, and put forward assessment requirements from the aspects of personnel, equipment, processes and objectives to ensure the service quality. "Before 8 o'clock every morning, staff members patrol some key systems to eliminate hidden troubles and ensure the normal operation of Party A's business. After we solidified the service process, the service also changed from passive monitoring to active monitoring. " Mi Kun believes that adopting the operation and maintenance outsourcing mechanism can give Party A a clear responsibility interface, so that Party A can only pay attention to the final performance, which is the embodiment of improving the efficiency of operation and maintenance outsourcing.

Li Jigang of Digital China said that the introduction of market competition mechanism and mutual restriction among operators are the prerequisites for ensuring service quality. The same is true of information construction. There are various standards in the early stage of construction. With the maturity and competition of the market, the market has gradually matured and standardized, forming a recognized standardization in the industry. The same is true for operation and maintenance services. There may be various standards at the beginning, and the price is opaque. When it is fully developed, it will definitely be on the right track.

Li Jigang believes that IT operation and maintenance service outsourcing can enhance the strategic level, ensure the continuity of IT systems in time and space, and ensure the development of IT systems. From the operator's point of view, this also avoids the waste of resources every time the service outsourcer is changed.

Henry Hui Wang told reporters, "In the future, the operation and maintenance center of the Information Center of the Municipal Health Bureau will change from the self-operation dimension mode to the mixed operation and maintenance mode, and the operation and maintenance focus of the information center will shift to the management of outsourcing service providers, the combing of operation and maintenance management processes and the development of operation and maintenance service support systems. For the next step of operation and maintenance management, we will further deepen the operation and maintenance system, service process and supporting tools in combination with the relevant norms of operation and maintenance management of the Municipal Information Office; Explore new mechanisms and methods of operation and maintenance performance management, study the correlation of system operation and maintenance costs, and provide basis for scientific and standardized IT operation and maintenance management; To further strengthen the management of information assets, the meanings of information assets and fixed assets are different. Only by strengthening the management of information assets from hardware, software and materials can we do a better job in operation and maintenance. "

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Operation and maintenance service outsourcing tests management ability

In this interview, the vast majority of respondents expressed support for IT operation and maintenance outsourcing. Some IT executives have different accident packages just because of security problems.

Do you want to outsource operation and maintenance? How to do a good job in operation and maintenance outsourcing is a hot topic for discussion.

It can be concluded that e-government operation and maintenance outsourcing is the focus of the next stage of construction. It can be seen from several dimensions: first, the development direction of e-government is that it is time to make good use of it; Second, the views of government departments on e-government, how e-government should be done, and whether it belongs to the jurisdiction of tools or functions.

E-government IT operation and maintenance outsourcing is not produced by manufacturers, but by government departments themselves. Take Dalian website as an example, they can do operation and maintenance outsourcing under the pressure of personnel and operation. Manufacturers say their profit is less than 20%, which is much lower than that of the project construction, and the operation and maintenance service is more complicated than the project construction, and there are some flexible management in it.

Famous management scientist Peter? As early as 1989, Drucker said: "Any enterprise that only provides back-office support without generating turnover should be outsourced, and any activities and businesses that do not provide advanced development opportunities should also be outsourced."

What are the functions of government departments? In order to provide more efficient and transparent services, if we put too much energy into the management of IT systems, it is bound to be "grasping small and magnifying". At this time, the outsourcing of operation and maintenance services will help the government to focus on services and get rid of trivial IT business.

Looking forward to more and more e-government IT operation and maintenance outsourcing services. (Text/Wu)