Quantifying changes in IT metrics after outsourcing transitions

When IT development is (partly) outsourced to third parties, the development process often has to be changed. Therefore, the outsourcing transition affects important software metrics in domains such as cost, size, quality, time to market and productivity in two ways. First, they are influenced by changes made in the development process. Second, they are affected by the change of supplier. In this paper, differences in IT metrics caused by introducing a new development process are quantified using simulation techniques. These techniques are illustrated and validated by applying them in a real-world situation. By using such quantifications it becomes possible to make a fair assessment of the changes truly caused by the supplier.