White paper demystifies "outsourcing contract governance"

Governance—the management and determination of policies, decision rights, and responsibilities under a contractual agreement—is an important element of a successful outsourcing relationship. It's also an extremely complicated topic. But luckily there are resources that provide some expert guidance.

One of those resources is "Unpacking Outsourcing Governance: How to Build a Sound Governance Structure to Drive Insight Versus Oversight," a white paper developed by the University of Tennessee's Center for Executive Education, The Corporate Executive Board (CEB), and the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM).

The paper is organized in two sections. Part 1 outlines governance concepts and principles for developing a sound governance structure. Part 2 explains how to develop a "vested" governance structure, in which both parties have a vested interest in each other's success. The paper's recommendations on what should go into an outsourcing governance structure are based on the Vested Outsourcing concept championed by UT's Kate Vitasek, combined with research and data from CEB and IACCM.

The paper is available as a free download at www.vestedoutsourcing.com/resources/whitepapers.