Lesson 2 of 6
Designing the onshore and offshore split
9 min
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Once a service is sourced, the next design question is where each activity happens. Get it wrong and you pay twice: offshore testers who cannot judge whether a pricing result is right send everything back for checking, and onshore experts spend their days on work anyone could do. The guiding rule is simple: keep close to the process owners whatever needs business knowledge, judgment or accountability, and move away whatever is repeatable, well specified and done in tools.
Who does what
| Activity | In-house onshore (TCoE) | Partner onshore | Partner offshore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test strategy, risk ranking, regression scope | Owns | Contributes | Informed |
| Business acceptance and sign-off evidence review | Owns with process owners | Supports | Not involved |
| Process test leadership per value stream | Owns | Pairs with | Informed |
| Regression execution (automated and scripted manual) | Monitors | Coordinates | Performs |
| Automation build and maintenance | Sets standards, reviews | Leads design | Builds and repairs |
| Test data recipes and golden data upkeep | Owns the service | Coordinates | Runs recipes and replenishment |
| Failure triage, first level | Escalation point | Coordinates | Performs and classifies |
| KPI extraction and draft reporting | Owns the report | Prepares | Extracts data |
Contoso's split for the managed regression and automation service. Judgment stays onshore; repeatable tool work moves offshore.
Make the time difference work for you
Detroit runs on US Eastern time; India runs on India Standard Time, UTC+5:30. That is 9.5 hours ahead during US daylight saving time and 10.5 hours in winter. The gap is a problem for conversation and an advantage for execution. Contoso uses it for a follow-the-sun regression: Detroit hands over the scope, data and known issues at the end of its day, the offshore team runs and triages overnight Detroit time, and results are waiting in SAP Cloud ALM when Priya's team arrives.
Follow-the-sun only works with a clean handover. Contoso's handover note is a fixed template: what changed today, which tests are in scope, which data is reserved, which failures are already known, and who to call for each value stream. Without it, the offshore team spends its night rediscovering what Detroit knew.
Access, data and authorizations
Offshore work needs access to SAP systems, which raises three questions. Which systems? Only test environments in the catalog that are masked or synthetic (sap-tcoe-405); never production, and never unmasked copies. Which roles? Test roles designed and approved through Nadia's SAP Access Control 12.0 process, with the same role review cycle as employees. Which data crosses borders? Remote access to personal data from another country is a cross-border transfer under many privacy laws; for EU personal data, the GDPR's Chapter V (from Article 44) sets the conditions. Contoso's rule avoids the question for most work: offshore teams see only masked or synthetic data, and the privacy office approves any exception.
- Does the task need a real business judgment?Yes → onshore, with the process test lead · No → next question
- Is the task fully specified with inputs, steps and expected results?Yes → offshore candidate · No → specify it first, or keep it onshore
- Does it need unmasked personal data?Yes → onshore with approval, or redesign with masked data · No → next question
- Is the time difference an advantage, as in overnight runs?Yes → offshore · No → nearshore or onshore partner
What would you do?
Offshore testers keep raising "defects" in Contoso's intercompany billing that turn out to be correct behavior, and Priya's team spends hours rejecting them. What is the best fix?
- Keep business judgment, acceptance and scope decisions close to process owners; move repeatable, specified tool work offshore.
- Use the time difference for overnight regression with a fixed handover note and one daily overlap.
- Offshore access only to masked or synthetic test environments, with roles approved through the GRC process.
- Build knowledge deliberately, for example with process twins who meet daily and visit during regression windows.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which activity should stay with the in-house TCoE in Contoso's split?
2. How far ahead of Detroit is India during US daylight saving time?
3. What makes a follow-the-sun regression work?
4. What is Contoso's rule for personal data in offshore work?