Book excerpt: Organizations are increasingly delegating their information technology (IT) intensive business activities to external service providers to take advantage of the rapid evolution of the global telecommunications infrastructure. The business processes being outsourced range from routine and non-critical tasks, which are resource intensive and operational, to strategic processes that directly impact revenues. Managing and meeting client expectations is a major challenge in sourcing of IT-enabled services, and examples of failure abound. The eSourcing Capability Model for Client Organizations (eSCM-CL) is a "best practices" capability model with two purposes: (1) to give client organizations guidance that will help them improve their capability across the sourcing life-cycle, and (2) to provide client organizations with an objective means of evaluating their capability. The eSCM-CL was developed by a consortium led by Carnegie Mellon University's Information Technology Services Qualification Center (ITSqc). This work began in March 2003. Data collection activities have included an extensive review of the published literature; interviews with clients, service providers and advisors; and numerous workshops with global participation. This White Paper presents the architecture and rationale for the eSCM-CL. This document provides valuable information about the eSCM-CL, its implementation, and methods to evaluate and certify client organizations.