This is the fundamental stream for controlling and managing the Service Engagement and therefore must always be executed. This stream defines the approach to deliver and manage the Service Engagement. It is essential that the output from the stream is aligned to the contract and does not contradict or increase Capgemini’s responsibilities. The intent of this stream extends beyond managing service actions, operations and deliverables. It necessitates governing the service engagement to deliver value (as per contract) and a positive experience to the Client and business users.

It is through this stream that the Engagement Manager understands the nature of the services to be delivered. Service levels are a shared view of the quality of service between the Client and Capgemini. By reviewing and understanding the objectives and service parameters, the Engagement Manager should determine the feasibility of the service levels. At this point, the Engagement Manager must confirm whether he/she will proceed with the Service Engagement under the existing conditions and constraints or seek changes before continuing. 

Once committed to the Service Engagement, the Engagement Manager should then determine the details, building on the contract, of how the services will be controlled and hence which USM activities will be used and how they need to be tailored for the Service Engagement. The resulting Service Governance Plan (SGP) details the scope, objectives and overall approach for management and delivery methods for the Service Engagement taking into account the latest group and local standards.

The governance stream hosts activities which will define the service organization, the service governance structure, including roles and responsibilities required during the life of the Service Engagement, the monitoring and reporting processes and tools, and business continuity requirements.

During the Close-Down phase of the services, the Engagement Manager has to facilitate the handover of governance that will support the ongoing operations and to ensure that all relevant information and documentation necessary for a smooth transition to the organization responsible for the services onwards. In addition, a summary report on Governance Management will be produced.

In order to secure and go beyond the sold contribution margin, in the Governance stream, the following delivery levers can be used for contribution margin management and improvement:

• Cost Reduction (e.g pyramid optimization, rightshoring)/ Producitivity Improvement Levers (automation, productivity enhancements, reuse , LEAN methods, optimize idle time)
• Contract Management (e.g. knowing all contract clauses, client obligations, penalties, commitments)
• Cost Analysis (e.g. all direct costs including margins, CSS)
• Quality Management (e.g. balance over and under quality)
• Scope Management (e.g. scope changes, delay due to client or quality of inputs provided by client, change in contractual environment, price increase)
• Add-on sales (e.g. extending current engagement, adding resources, new work)
  

The Governance stream can in many ways be seen as the hub of the Service Engagement and central to all Service Engagement management activities. As a result, there are strong links between the Service Engagement Governance stream and all the other streams within USM, each of which will need to be referred to in the SGP.

For example:

• The Client Relationship Management stream covers the management of the relationship with the Client (including the measurement of client satisfaction) while the client involvement in the overall Service Engagement management activities is defined in the Governance stream.
• The Demand and Supply Management stream covers the definition and management of the Service Engagement requirements and demand for services, which consistent delivery the Governance stream needs to manage. Any change to the Service Engagement Catalogue must be handled through the Change Control stream.
• The Performance and Improvement Management stream assures the definition, implementation, capturing, analysis and reporting of all Service Engagement measurements to be used in the reporting to internal and external stakeholders by the Governance stream.
• The Financial Management stream covers Service Engagement forecast and budgets for costs and revenues based upon the demand for services as discussed with the Client.
• The Resource Management stream covers the recruitment of the Service Engagement team and the definition of the Service Engagement roles and responsibilities, all of which have a direct bearing on Governance.
• The Quality Management stream covers the management of quality within the Service Engagement and will be dependent upon the Service Engagement organization and governance structures defined in the Governance stream.
• The Security And Data Protection Management stream covers the strategic direction for IT security activities across both the Client’s and Capgemini’s processes and ensures that the information security risks are appropriately managed.
• The Risk Management and Issue Management streams include the identification and proactive management of risks and issues which could seriously affect the delivery of the Service Engagement.
• The Supplier and Procurement Management stream covers the management of suppliers and the procurement process, while the progress made by suppliers must be integrated in overall progress reports produced in the Governance stream.
• The Communication Management stream covers the set up and running of Service Engagement communications based on a formalized meeting structure and is therefore dependent upon the Governance stream for organizing proper communications and reporting to all stakeholders.
• The Document and Record Management stream covers the effective management, versioning and control of documents and related records within the Service Engagement, including all Governance documents.
• The Management Environment Support stream covers the set up and management of the Service Engagement infrastructure and as such will be dependent upon the Service Engagement approach, roles and responsibilities defined in the Governance stream.
• The Knowledge Management stream covers knowledge sharing within and outside of the Service Engagement and therefore has some strong links with the Governance stream, especially when experience and lessons learned should be captured for the benefit of future engagements.

Considerations for Remote Delivery

Governing Service Engagements with the services being delivered remotely would require modelling the engagements for remote delivery & management perspective in collaboration with Client and other vendors within Client value chain. Focus areas may include service strategy, remote ratios, specific practices in terms of transitioning in the services in a remote way, monitoring, service engagement model, meeting framework, regular communication, team activities & rituals, collaboration within and outside team, Client acceptances etc. Moving a running engagement to adopt remote working would also need above considerations in collaboration with Client and other stakeholders. Refer to the Capgemini Remote Delivery Guideline for further details.

Considerations for Service Engagements in the New Age

In the new age, concepts like agility, intelligence, DevOps, Swarming, and product-oriented models are rapidly taking over Service Engagement models & practices. Engagements are expected to align to newer industry standards like ITIL4, Verism, etc. In addition, complexities get added due to multiple new-age scenarios like multi-tower, multi-vendor, remote working, etc. The Engagement Manager must understand the impact of these new-age scenarios on the various Governance deliverables like the Service Engagement Model, and Engagement Organization and re-design them to align with the new-age concept. The procedure and approach for engagement management and delivery processes must also be revisited to accommodate these modern ways of working. Visit the New Age Considerations for USM page on Service Engagement Playbook for more details.

Considerations for Multi-Tower Engagements

Model

• Decision on Governance set-up across multiple towers (Business Lines such as Application Services and Infrastructure Services), including responsibility delegation from the Market Unit to the Business Lines ensuring one Capgemini approach with Client, must have been taken during Collaborative Sales process. Teams, available during the Collaborative Sales Process for decision on Governance setup across multiple towers, should demonstrate the same to the Service Engagement teams during Sales to Delivery Handover.
• The Prime entity (Business Line) that is identified, will in-turn establish working arrangements with other entities (Business Lines), and drive the engagement as the face of Capgemini.
• The Service Catalogue, representing an integrated view of services across all entities (Business Lines) in the engagement should provide a clear definition of criticality and priority of services agreed between Business Lines as well as their responsibilities with respect to the same.
• Joint planning sessions across towers to be organized focused on understanding the multi-tower engagement / account strategy from Capgemini as well as from Client perspective.
   

Organization and Roles

• An agreed pattern of working should be established across Towers/Business Lines within multi-tower engagement to provide an integrated/one Capgemini experience to Clients and users. The multi-tower engagement’s Organization Structure and RACI, produced during THI, should detail the same.
• Internal Steering Committees, including all towers/BLs, should be created, and led by Engagement Manager of the multi-tower engagement and Delivery Executive / Partner agreeing on the membership, agenda, and frequency of the meetings, to facilitate reporting across towers.
• Depending on the size of overall multi-tower engagement, Service Delivery teams for multiple towers/Business lines can be established in one of the following setups to deliver one Capgemini Service experience.
  • common team in each service. E.g., Common team for Incident Management Service.
  • separate teams in each service managed by single point of contact / cross tower Service Delivery Lead for each service. E.g., Cross Tower Incident manager
  • separate teams in each service but are managed by single Service Integration manager across all services.
  • a combination of the above
• A multi-tower resource planning governance with decision-making authority must be created with representatives from the Business Lines, focusing on reducing redundancies and exploring opportunities for mutualization for different types of work.
   

Approach

• During THI, scope verification workshops conducted with the Client should include all Business Lines with a focus of clarifying any SLA and scope related queries. along with appropriate solutions.
• During THI, the integrated approach must be implemented for all services before the delivery hand-over to RUN teams This includes Service Delivery areas (e.g., Incident Management, Problem Management, etc.) across the towers/ Business Lines, the Suppliers, and the Client with interfaces to other suppliers, as necessary. 
• Organization Chart, Escalation Chart, Communication Plan,. should be agreed between all Business Lines and planned for, with clear responsibilities, during THI. The responsible roles should keep these artefacts available and updated during RUN.
• Multi-Tower Engagement M-review should be conducted between Engagement Manager (Engagement Manager of the multi-tower engagement) and Delivery Executive / Partner covering scope and reports across the towers.
• Internal escalation process for the multi-tower engagement must be setup for settlement of cross Business line disputes to ensure Capgemini’s agility for client’s requests.

Click here for overall Multi-Tower guidance.