IBM Global Business Services New Practitioner Overview

Questions and Answers

What is the purpose of Hours Plan?

To provide a means of regular updates to the forecasted Assignment and enable accurate and timely forecasting data for financial management.

How can Professionals maintain their hours projections related to Assignments and Reservations?

By updating their LinkedIn profiles

By sending an email notification to IBM management

By accessing Professional Marketplace (correct)

By calling the Hours Plan hotline

Professionals are required to maintain accurate assignment details via an Hours Plan in the Professional Marketplace.

True

What is the objective of alerts in R&CM Global Communications?

To trigger corrective actions Signup and view all the answers

Claiming labor for others can be done by any GBS practitioner.

False Signup and view all the answers

Why is it necessary to claim weekly in a timely manner?

To enable accurate reporting, billing to clients, on-time payments, and early corrective actions. Signup and view all the answers

Every professional working for GBS/BPS needs to record time in ___

ILC Signup and view all the answers

Match the following utilization tiers with their definitions:

Billable = GBS Labor performed on COMMERCIAL contracts owned by GBS Lob Chargeable = ANY type of contract owned by ANOTHER Lob Productive = GBS Bid & Proposal + GBS Internal + EDU + Coaching Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Practitioner Expectations

"Return to Billable" (R2B) initiative was launched to require all GBS employees to be identified as Practitioners with Claiming responsibility
Practitioners are expected to:
- Claim weekly in Intranet Labor Claim (ILC), Cross Applications Time Sheets (CATS), or ET&T
- Maintain weekly Assignments via Hours Plan
- Receive automated compliance communications, such as Claim Reminders, Scorecards, and CFO Violation Escalations
- Meet Inclusion in Weekly Utilization Targets

GBS Labor Policy

Practitioners must record their own client services labor accurately and honestly on a weekly basis
Labor must be claimed in compliance with IBM Business Conduct Guidelines
The "Claim For Others" (CFO) functionality should only be used in exceptional circumstances
Priority rules for labor claiming include:
- All practitioners must work what they claim and claim what they work
- All direct labor billable employees must claim all their labor
- All hours of labor should be claimed in the week they are worked
- Claiming labor for others is only allowed when authorized in the CLAIM system

Claiming Importance

Claiming is necessary to control the business, generate reports, and manage GBS productivity
Weekly claiming is necessary to:
- Enable project managers to verify and approve claimed hours
- Enable IBM to charge clients based on accurate invoices
- Enable clients to pay invoices to IBM on time
- Provide visibility and enable corrective actions early on

R&CM Global Communications

Alerts objective is to trigger corrective actions by practitioners, managers, or project managers
Alerts include:
- Claim Reminders
- Scorecards
- CFO Violation Escalations
Managers are expected to:
- Ensure the currency and validity of Resource attributes
- Follow up with direct reports to ensure data accuracy and business rule compliance

IBM Utilization Overview

Three tiers of utilization exist:
- Billable utilization credit for work on commercial contracts within the LOB
- Chargeable utilization credit for work performed for other LOBs
- Productive utilization credit for GBS Bid & Proposal, GBS Internal, EDU, and Coaching

Claiming Guidance

Every professional working for GBS/BPS needs to record time in ILC
Deadline for Claim submission is the system deadline (local time) for the week just worked
Do not submit billable or chargeable time for future weeks

Hours Plan

Provides a means of regular updates to the forecasted Assignment
Helps management with accurate and timely forecasting data for financial management
Professionals and R&CM can have a common understanding of:
- Expected upcoming availability
- Anticipated upcoming workload and schedule
- Expected next Assignment### GBS Hours Plan Policy
All GBS practitioners, including partners, are required to maintain accurate assignment details via an Hours Plan in the Professional Marketplace (ProM).
The Hours Plan should align with what is planned to be submitted in ILC/CATs each week, including overtime.

Submitting an Hours Plan

No need to create a separate assignment record for overtime hours, they can be added to the existing assignment line-item.
Refer to the Hours Plan Education on CAS wiki for detailed instructions on how to access Professional Markets and submit an Hours Plan.
Additional training materials are available for reference.