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Major Metropolitan Newspapers - IT Program Management for Divestiture
Background
As part of a private equity buyout, two newspapers and a related web site needed to eliminate dependence on the former parent company within six months. This meant that new business processes, IT systems, and contractual relationships had to be established quickly. The paper’s coverage extends to nine counties in a metropolitan area, reaching over a million people daily. The W Group was selected to lead the IT program management office to ensure smooth operation of the newly formed company.
Approach
The systems and services needed to operate independently from the former parent company were established in a new and tailored environment within six months.
The W Group started by developing a program management office to coordinate the wide-ranging set of projects necessary to complete the transition to independent processes.
The W Group also managed the two most complex projects: selecting new financial back-office systems and creating a new Web environment for the online newspaper. Each project began with defining the requirements and evaluating vendors, and continued through contract negotiations for products, implementations, and hosting services.
The paper chose SAP over the incumbent Oracle, and pursued a hosted solution that was new for the newspapers. The W Group led the negotiations of the hosting and support agreements.
For the web environment, The W Group supported implementation of new solutions for managing content, serving advertising, and managing inventory, as well as for the vehicle, real estate, and general classifieds. Each third-party application solution required separate outsourcing and hosting arrangements. The W Group leveraged its tools and methodologies to model the collaboration of internal and external partners to continue, as well as enhance, the web site’s operations.
Throughout this evolution toward independent systems, The W Group helped address issues such as skills shortages and ongoing organizational changes.
Results
The news must be delivered daily: There was no room for error or lapsing timelines. The paper had not outsourced before, but recognized that outsourcing was needed to meet the imposing timeframe. The company called upon The W Group to introduce outsourcing as a mechanism for change and support.
The W Group’s experience in program management for complex sourcing solutions provided the intellect, support, and subject-matter expertise needed to meet the aggressive transition timeline without a glitch.
This allowed the paper to avoid a costly extension of services from the former parent company
Readers received their news as usual, while the paper reinvented and enhanced mission-critical systems and services within its operations.
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