Once the tasks begin, Marriott's proc-esses and methodologies require that no matter who does what, it will all be done to the same standards. Melnick calls this "one of the key components of our success. You have the same mechanisms for how you report, how you manage the project, how you measure success," he says.

"We manage by our metrics; we live and die by our numbers," Petty adds.

Having strong methodologies heads off a common problem with outsourcing, says John Whitridge, vice president of information resources enterprise architecture at Marriott. "If this methodology didn't exist, when you bring in someone from the outside, they would bring their own. But because this is so institutionalized, there's no vacuum to fill."

The result: "When you manage projects, it's a lot more consistent," he says.

One of those methodologies is earned value accounting. Marriott breaks down internal and outsourced projects into manageable chunks and does regular earned-value assessments. When an assessment shows slippage, the project managers determine what has changed, why and how they can make a course correction.