Quality Excellence

Mercedes Factory - Quality at its best

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Webinar on Accelerating "Real" Process Improvements

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:17:00 +0000

Due to changes in market conditions, it is significant that organizations review all aspects of their business and implement process improvement to minimize waste. Traditionally, the process improvement effort is a challenging and lengthy process. However, given tough economic times, it is appropriate to consider the organizational factors before starting such an effort in order to maximize your chances of success. In this webinar, we will focus on the organizational parameters that play a critical role in the success or failure of an organization, and will also highlight how this can help you accelerate your process improvement effort.

Presenter: Raj Sharma
Ph. D, Six Sigma

Raj Sharma has over 12 years combined experience in Process Engineering and Management, Project Management, Quality Management, Process Automation, Workflow, Test and Evaluation Management, and Training Development, Delivery and Facilitation. He has expertise working in Model-Based Process Improvement using the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®) and Six Sigma. Raj also has extensive experience as a CMMI® Consultant providing/developing training and coaching related to Process Improvement, CMMI®, and readiness reviews. Raj has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of Business Management, Healthcare Management and Administration, Computer Information Management, and Nutrition Management. His professional experience also includes- Justice Information Exchange Model (JIEM), workflow, and metrics.

Title: Accelerating "Real" Process Improvements

Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/934468194

Webinar on The Survivability Analysis Framework

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Date: Thursday October 1, 2009
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Cost: Complimentary

Complexity and change pervade today's organizations. With the increase in net-centric operations, technology plays an increasing role in normal operations and crises response. Few techniques can address the analysis of this mixture of people, processes, and technology that must interact effectively for mission success. Each component can be managed independently resulting in unexpected impacts as uncoordinated changes are implemented.

The Survivability Analysis Framework (SAF), an analysis approach developed by the SEI, prescribes a sequence of steps to assemble an operational view of these components that can be evaluated for operational response to change.

This webinar will introduce attendees to the analysis framework and how it has been applied by DoD to analyze operational survivability and information assurance as interoperability increases.

Dr. Carol Woody is a senior member of the CERT technical staff. She has more than 25 years of experience in software development and project management leading acquisitions and implementations in industry and government. Dr. Woody leads the Survivability Analysis Team in the Networked Systems Survivability Program. Her current research is focused on software assurance and approaches to software design that improve operational security. She has led five pilot projects successfully applying SAF to a range of complex government operational environments.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/684310344

Webinar on Determining "Appropriate" CMMI Metrics

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:33:00 +0000

The SEI CMMI-DEV® offers an excellent framework and reference for developing better organizational processes and associated metrics. This webinar will help to train attendees to:

Understand the rationale of CMMI® and metrics in managing projects.

Understand how to determine appropriate CMMI® related metrics for project management.

Learn the application of metrics to improve management and support processes to projects.

Become familiar with ways to expand and improve processes and metrics for continuous improvement.

Title: Determining "Appropriate" CMMI Metrics

Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements

PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/639904171

CMMI level 5 IT company

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:31:00 +0000

Quality Engineer - Joke

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:10:00 +0000

An Interesting Story - Customer is King

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Never underestimate your Clients' Complaint, no matter how funny it might seem!

This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. Pls read on.....

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you
for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that
we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after
dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night,
after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we
should have
and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I
recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then
my trips to the store have created a problem.....

You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from
the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream,
the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this
question, no matter how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac
that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to
start whenever I get any other kind?" The Pontiac President was
understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check
it out anyway.

The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well
educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man
just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to
the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure
enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.

The Engineer returned for three more nights.
The first night, they got chocolate. The car started.
The second night, he got strawberry. The car started.
The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that
this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged,
therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the
problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down
all sorts of data:
time of day,
type of gas uses,
time to drive back and forth etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy
vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of
the store.
Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the
front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept
in the back of the store at a different counter where
it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start
when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the
vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly
came up with the answer: "vapor lock".

It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the
other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start.
When the man got vanilla, the engine was still
too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems
seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking.

Don't just say it is " IMPOSSIBLE" without putting a sincere effort.... Observe the word "IMPOSSIBLE" carefully... Looking closer you will see, "I'M POSSIBLE"...

What really matters is your attitude and your perception !

SEIR - Software Engineering Information Repository

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:00:00 +0000

SEIR is one of the best knowledge sharing sites I have ever seen as far as the domain is concerned.

The user gets a feel to browse through so many articles and literature that helps one t increase their knowledge and skill.

Here is the link,

https://seir.sei.cmu.edu/seir/

SEIR is owned and moderated by SEI (Carnegie Mellon), Pittsburgh, USA.

Its a must have login for every quality individual or one who wants to be in this field.

The Five Essentials For Software Testing

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:18:00 +0000

1. A test strategy that tells you what types of testing and the amount of testing you think will work best at finding the defects that are lurking in the software

2. A testing plan of the actual testing tasks you will need to execute to carry out that strategy

3. Test cases that have been prepared in advance in the form of detailed examples you will use to check that the software will actually meet its requirements

4. Test data consisting of both input test data and database test data to use while you are executing your test cases, and

5. A test environment which you will use to carry out your testing.

40 Things A Green Belt Should Know

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:00:00 +0000

1. Green Belts lead Six Sigma improvement projects part time. Usually 25-50% of their time is spent on Six Sigma projects.

2. Six Sigma will become a "way of doing business" for Green Belts.

3. Green Belts will be able to explain why the y=f(x) formula is important for their process and business.

4. Becoming a Green Belt is an opportunity to gain valuable tools and experience.

5. Green Belts who display prowess of Six Sigma methods and produce significant benefits are usually promoted within organizations.

6. Unlike Black Belts who typically lead cross-functional projects, Six Sigma Green Belts usually work on projects within their own functional area.

7. Green Belts receive less instruction on Six Sigma methods, tools and techniques than Black Belts. They usually receive between three and 10 days, whereas Black Belts receive upwards of 20 days.

8. Six Sigma Green Belts are selected by the organization's management team.

9. Six Sigma Green Belts will be able to explain the Kano diagram and how it relates to customers.

10. Some organizations require all exempt employees to be "certified" Green Belts before promotion. Many require employees to at least undergo training.

11. Green Belts can be trained in classroom sessions, completely online, or a combination of the two (hybrid).

12. The Six Sigma Green Belt training curriculum varies from company to company.

13. Green Belt performance is usually evaluated in the employee's regular performance appraisal, although some companies may provide additional incentives for completing a project or becoming certified.

14. Six Sigma Green Belt certification requirements vary from company to company. Typical requirements include: completion of training, passing a written or online test, and completion of a Green Belt project.

15. Certification as a Green Belt from one company most likely will not be recognized at another company.

16. Some companies require Green Belts to complete one project per year to maintain certification requirements.

17. Green Belts are usually instructed on the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology and a limited tool set, including basic statistics. More advanced statistics usually require support from a Black Belt coach.

18. Six Sigma Green Belts should expect to schedule regularly occurring meetings with their Black Belt coach to review project progress and seek advice.

19. Project tollgate reviews usually take place with the organization's management team. Whether you like it or not, at some point you'll either get kudos or a kick in the bottom for your project's progress.

20. Green Belts will be able to create a histogram and pareto diagram, and know the difference between the two.

21. Adding Green Belt training and a project adds to what must be accomplished in the work day, but remember: productivity and benefits you gain from your project will make your life much easier later. Would you rather put out fires everyday or start preventing fires from occurring?

22. Not everyone on your Green Belt team is going to like the Six Sigma improvement process. Change is often difficult for people to embrace. Your leadership will play a critical role in shaping the team and the project's outcomes.

23. Putting off your Six Sigma Green Belt project until tomorrow will leave you a lot of work to accomplish the day before your tollgate review. Just because your project needs resuscitation and is critical to you does not automatically make it a priority for your Black Belt. Plan ahead and stay in control of your project plan.

24. Managing by data is always defensible. "Gut instinct" will not be valued in the business much longer. Green Belt projects help employees "see the light."

25. If you haven't dealt with finances much in the past, your Green Belt project is an opportunity to learn basic equations, quantify project benefits, and speak the language of management.

26. The Six Sigma Green Belt shouldn't necessarily know how to use every tool available. They should, however, know of the existence of tools and be able to ask Black Belts for help.

27. Six Sigma Green Belts will lead the data collection process of their project and validate the measurement system.

28. The Green Belt should expect to work on and improve their team facilitation skills.

29. The Six Sigma Green Belt will be able to calculate the mean and standard deviation of their process data sets.

30. The Six Sigma Green Belt will be able to calculate short term and long term Sigma value of their project's process.

31. Green Belts are selected because they are business professionals, not Quality gurus or statistical geniuses.

32. Green Belts will know how to perform basic statistical tests using a statistical software package like Minitab or JMP.

33. Green Belts will be able to develop a charter and SIPOC for their project.

34. Six Sigma Green Belts will understand how to create a Cause And Effect (Fishbone) diagram to identify possible causes of process defects.

35. Green Belts will be able to lead brainstorming sessions with their project team.

36. Green Belts can make their bosses and co-workers look good by using graphs to show process improvement in a highly visible and easily understood visual form.

37. Green Belts can help win support for Six Sigma by preventing the defects that create so many headaches for their bosses and co-workers.

38. Green Belts can help overcome resistance to change by involving their co-workers in the process and leading them to data-driven solutions.

39. Green Belts should only start a project if there is top management sponsorship willing to commit necessary resources.

40. Green Belts should have a solid communication plan that is reviewed at each meeting to ensure that the right information about the project goes up, down and out to all stakeholders.

TOYOTA Plant in Japan - Quality at its best !

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:59:00 +0000

39 Hand-picked CMM / CMMI Training Sites

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:26:00 +0000

European Software Institute, ESI
Own description: "ESI - Tecnalia"
QAI Asia - Quality Assurance Institute.
Own description: "QAI provides inputs to knowledge organizations seeking ISO9000, Software Engineering Institutes, Software CMM, People CMM, Six Sigma, Knowledge Management and other framework–based business and process improvements."
Wipro - Software development outsourcing and CMM/CMMI based consulting, assessments and training.
Own description: "Wipro Technologies is the No 1 provider of integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform."
DQS India - CMMI training and assessments, and other quality management services. Located in New Delhi, India
Own description: "DQS Certification, SEI Transition Partner, Carnegie Mellon, USA, Partner AFNOR Groupe, AFAQ-EAQA, Fifth Largest Certification Organization, CMMI, ISO"
EdistaLearning - E-learning courses on Software Engineering and Management.
Own description: "EdistaLearning offers elearning courses on Software Engineering and Management (SE and M), BPO, CMMI, People CMM, ITSM and Six Sigma. Register Now for a free demo account."
Integrated System Diagnostics - CMM / CMMI based software process improvement consulting, training and appraisals.
Own description: "Integrated System Diagnostics Incorporated can assist your business with model based process improvements. We offer Intro to CMMI and High Maturity Lead Appraisers and many services including appraisal, consulting, training and more."
Nihilent - Software development and testing services, and CMM/CMMI consulting and training. Located in India with offices in other countries..
Own description: "Nihilent"
Object Training - Training in software engineering technologies, located in Australia.
Own description: "Object Training | Be Smarter. Quicker."
Systems and Software Consortium
Own description: "SSCI - Systems and Software Consortium"
Alcyonix - Software process improvement consulting.
Own description: "Alcyonix - Welcome"
Compita - Process management services.
Own description: "Leading worldwide software process improvement consultancy, providing CMM, CMMI and ISO15504 assessment expertise, skills and training to the IT community. Providers of the Process Professional Assessment method."
CyberQ Consulting - Process improvement and information security consulting, training and appraisals.
Own description: "CyberQ Consulting - Management Consultants in India in IT and Telecom, Training and consultancy in Software Quality Assurance, CMMI, CMMI Consultants, CMMI Consultants Delhi Gurgaon Noida, SEI CMM, ISO 9000, Software Metrics, Software Quality Managemen..."
Dunstan Thomas - Training in various software development related topics.
Own description: "Dunstan Thomas provides Pensions Administration and Pensions Illustration Software provider for the UK Life and Pensions market."
Lamri - CMMI appraisals and training, located in North Yorkshire, UK.
Own description: "Lamri - Process Improvement Management Consultancy"
Method Park - Consulting and training on software processes, software engineering and project management in Germany and USA.
Own description: "Greater Software Quality using a proven process portal with real world CMMI & Automotive SPICE Consulting & Engineering experience."
Process Group - CMM / CMMI based software process improvement consulting and training.
Own description: "The Process Group"
Process Improvement Associate - CMM training and assessment services.
Own description: "Lowest cost CBA-IPI assessment and CMM training"
Process Inc - CMM / CMMI related training, appraisals and consulting.
Own description: "Process and project appraisals (CMM, CMMI, SCAMPI, Project Risk,), training and improvement coaching"
Q-Success - Software Quality Management Consulting. Owner of Software-Pointers. com.
Own description: "Q-Success offers consulting and training for SW-CMM/CMMI based software process improvement and software quality assurance"
SE-Cure - Training and consulting on CMMI and specific process areas, in Switzerland.
Own description: "SE-CURE AG offers high-consulting services to enable informed decision-making for software manufacturers"
Software Management Solutions - Software process consulting and training,
Own description: "Software Management Solutions"
Software Six Sigma
Own description: "Management consulting and training for software process improvement. We use our extensive experience in CMM, PSP, TSP and the application of six sigma techniques to software to help our clients develop and implement an integrated approach to SPI throug..."
Software System Quality Consulting - Consulting and training for software, hardware, and systems engineering process improvement.
Own description: "Consulting services for CMM, CMMI, ISO 9000, 9001, 9000-3, BPR, Business Process Re-engineering, SQA, SPI, Software Testing, Software Quality Assurance, Software Inspections, Hardware Inspections, Business Process Reengnineering, ISO 9000 Assessments, ..."
SPI Partners - Dutch group of independent consultants.
Own description: "SPI Partners. The Dutch website with answers to all your Software Process Improvement questions."
Tantara - Practical advice for software process improvement.
Own description: "Hotlist (links), articles, job aids (toolkit) and more for: software process improvement, software quality assurance / management, ISO 9000-3,..."
Trimentus - CMM, CMMI, P-CMM, Six Sigma process improvement consulting, training and appraisal services.
Own description: "ITIL v3 Foundation by Trimentus Chennai adds value our ISO, CMMI, Quality Certification Services, S/W testing, Training from Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad India"
Abridge Technology - CMM / CMMI based software process improvement consulting and training.
Own description: "Abridge Technology"
Allied Boston Consultants India - CMMI, ISO 9000 and training and consulting in India.
Own description: "ISO 9000 and TQM Consultants India, ISO 9001 Consultant India, ISO 27001 Service Providers, SEI CMMI Consultants in India, ISO 14001 Consultancy Services India, ISO 20000 BS 15000 Service Providers, ISO Product Certification Company in India, Training ..."
ASK Process
Own description: "ASK Process, Inc. helps software development organizations improve quality, streamline processes, cut defect rates, slash testing time, and trim development costs."
Broadsword - CMMI appraisals, consulting and training in Waterford, Michigan, USA.
Own description: "CMMI-SVC, CMMI-Services, CMMI-DEV, CMMI Appraisers, CMMI Certification, CMMI Appraisal, CMM Appraisal, CMM Certification, CMMI Training, CMM Training, CMMI Michigan, CMMI, Agile, Agile CMMI, Lean CMMI, CMMI Consulting, CMM Consulting, CMMI Assessments, ..."
Management Information Systems - Software process improvement training and consulting.
Own description: "Index"
Process and Product Quality Consulting - CMMI consulting, training, and appraisals in Houston, Texas, USA.
Own description: "Process and Product Quality Consulting (PPQC) is an SEI Partner that offers a full suite of products and services to support organizations using the CMMI."
QAI Middle East and Africa - Quality Assurance Institute. Provides CMMI training, consulting and appraisal services.
Own description: "Quality Assurance Institute - Middle East and Africa"
Wibas - CMMI assessments, consulting and training in Germany.
Own description: "Leading Change. Sharing Knowledge."
People, Process & Performance - CMM/CMMI training, assessments and consulting in UK.
Own description: "Home"
Applied Process Solutions - Consulting, appraisals and training for CMMI, ISO 9000.
Own description: "Today's business environment is highly competitive, and organizations must work to continuously improve their performance to meet the challenges they face."
Fusion Technologies - Iso 9000 and project management consulting and training in Secunderabad, India.
Own description: "Company Profile"
Process Plus - CMM / CMMI based process improvement consulting, training and appraisals.
Own description: "Process Plus Inc provides software process improvement engineering assessment consulting and training services to all industries as a means of improving productivity and compliance."
DQS Certification - CMMI consulting, training, and appraisals in India.
Own description: "DQS Certification India provided various CMMI Services like CMMI Certification, CMMI Assessment, CMMI Training, CMMI Appraisal, CMMI Lead Appraiser, SCAMPI Assessments, Process Improvements"

CMMI Process Areas

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:41:00 +0000

CMMI - Process Improvement Model

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:35:00 +0000

Some important Certification Standards

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:39:00 +0000

ISO 9001:2000 - Quality Management System - General

ISO 14001:2004 - Environmental Management System

OHSAS 18001 - Occupational Health & Safety Management System

ISO / IEC 27001 - Information Security Management System

ISO / TS 16949 - Quality Management System for Automotive

ISO 22000 - Food Safety Management System

AS 9100 - Quality Management System for Aerospace

ISO 13485 - Quality Management System for Medical Devices

TL 9000 - Quality Management System for Telecommunication

SA 8000 - Social Accountability System

Quality Management Principles

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:28:00 +0000

Eight Principles are used by Senior Management as a framework to guide their organization towards improved performance.

The ISO model is based on these principles:

Customer Focus
Leadership
Involvement of People
The Process Approach
A System approach to Management
Continual Improvement
Factual approach to decision making
Mutually beneficial Supplier Relationship

Management Standards

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:23:00 +0000

Standardization

Standards make an enormous and positive contribution to most aspects of our lives.

It ensures desirable characteristics of products & services such as quality, environmental friendliness, safety, reliability, efficiency.

When standards are absent, we soon notice.

Management Standards

ISO 9001:2000 (Quality Management Systems)

which gives the requirements for quality management systems, is now firmly established as the globally implemented standard for providing assurance about the ability to satisfy quality requirements and to enhance customer satisfaction in supplier-customer relationships

ISO 14001:2004 (Environmental Management Systems)

which gives the requirements for environmental management systems, confirms its global relevance for organizations wishing to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Key Business Factors

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 08:42:00 +0000

In the world of business, firms are typically measured by the level of success they have achieved in the market place. Every firm desires to attain success, thus surpassing the competition and planting a profitable foothold into their industry of choice. All too often, the means that the successful firms have used to gain this competitive advantage becomes blurred by the focus on the end-result, success. Key Business Factors, also known as KBF’s, can be found within the elusive means to this end. KBF’s, the foundation upon which a given firm’s formula for success is enacted, can be likened to the way-signs chosen to direct a firm throughout its arduous road to success. Specifically, KBF’s are measures or indicators that are significantly related to the business success of a particular firm.

If KBF’s are so easily defined, why is it that firms fail to successfully incorporate them into their infrastructure? Typically, firms tend to forget their own self-declared motivations behind the actions they choose to execute on a daily basis. Due to the ever-increasing size and multiplying divisions within the average firm, the core elements intended to guide the firm’s decisions, often become lost in the multi-directional atmosphere. KBF’s , as declared core elements which glue the firm’s actions together through specified indicators, act as the prerequisite focus designed to guide a firm’s actions. The business criteria for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award states, “The measures or indicators you select should best represent the factors that lead to improved customer, operational, and financial performance. A comprehensive set of measures or indicators tied to customer and/or organizational performance requirements represents a clear basis for aligning all activities with your organization’s goals.” Through understanding, identifying, integrating, and synthesizing KBF’s into core business practices, the critical gap between product/service provisions and customer, operational, and financial needs can be bridged.

KBF’s, found within customer, operational, and financial needs, can be identified by the means of active & passive data gathering. For customers, active data gathering can include things such as focus groups and surveys. Passive data gathering is also an effective tool, and can be carried out via comment cards and internet response databases. On the operational end, active data gathering may include quality teams, whereas passive data gathering might incorporate statistical process control measures and their resulting data. Financially, a firm may choose an active data gathering method such as the formation of a marketing survey team. Passive data gathering techniques such as reporting off of financial results statements may also be opted. Regardless of the tools utilized, firms should strive to build feedback loops and data gathering methodologies into their system structure in order to facilitate continuous improvements. The business criteria for the MBNQA (Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award) declares, “Through the analysis of data from the tracking processes, the measures or indicators themselves may be evaluated and changed to better support such goals.”

Integration of Key Business Factors becomes the next step after the identification process. The integration process is more objective, and can be outlined through what the MBNQA calls the Areas to Address, or the “Where” of the KBF implementation process. The areas of integration include Organizational Environment, Organizational Relationships, Competitive Environment, Strategic Challenges, and Performance Improvement Systems. If for example, one of your identified KBF’s happened to be “maintaining short cycle times”, you could address the category of Organizational Relationships through working with your suppliers toward the implementation of a JIT (Just in Time) operations system. The selected KBF should then be integrated into the other four Areas to Address as well.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award outlines three Evaluation Dimensions within the Areas to Address. The Evaluation Dimensions act as the means of measurement for KBF animation, answering the “What & How” of the KBF integration process. The first two Evaluation Dimensions are Approach & Deployment. They pose the following questions; What do you do? How do you do it? How repeatable is it? How do you measure it? And how do you improve upon what you do? The third aspect of the Evaluation Dimensions is the Results How are you improving over time? And how is your performance relative to the competition and industry standards? When these questions have been answered and satisfied within the Areas to Address, the integration process can be considered complete. Ultimately, any firm seeking to properly integrate KBF’s, will end up with a company that plans, measures, trains, controls, processes, and leads by means of it’s KBF’s. category, which asks; How are you doing?

Finally, you have a business that has successfully identified and integrated its Key Business Factors into the backbone of its company. But how do you retain it, infusing it permanently and continuously? Synthesizing, a firms Key Business Factors can be critical for tying together the loose ends that have a tendency to untie over time. Two key steps should be taken when seeking to synthesize the results. Pervasive alignment of KBF’s and pervasive focus on KBF’s. Ensuring that a firms KBF’s are aligned and focused throughout the areas of Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer and Market Focus, Information and Analysis, Human Resource Focus, and Process Management, will, as the MBNQA points out, bear fruit in the firm’s Business Results. From such results, the firm can begin to learn how to anticipate how it’s KBF’s will impact and drive customer, operational, and financial results. From there, it becomes a repetitive cycle of planning, aligning and focusing accordingly.

In summary, Key Business Factors must be clearly defined as the focus behind the firm’s decisions, permeating every action therein. Through proper and thorough integration and synthesis, Key Business Factors can, and will, become the way-signs which direct your firm down the road to success.

Quality Management Initiative

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:55:00 +0000

Quality is the totality of product attributes that are important to our customers. This quality initiative addresses the topic of managing quality of a business application software product.

For Example, a business application software product is a documented set of tools to capture, validate and archive business transactions and to subsequently transform historical data into meaningful information for decision making and the guidance of an enterprise.

The first phase of this initiative defines the spectrum of quality attributes for such a product and propose a priority of importance (ranking) for these attributes.

Second phase will consist of gaining consensus about the proposed attributes and priorities.

Third phase will define the process of managing quality.

Fourth phase will address the measurement of quality.

Process Tree

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:00 +0000

Cost of Quality

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:30:00 +0000

"The cost of quality."

It’s a term that's widely used – and widely misunderstood.

The "cost of quality" isn't the price of creating a quality product or service. It's the cost of NOT creating a quality product or service.

Every time work is redone, the cost of quality increases. Obvious examples include:

The reworking of a manufactured item.
The retesting of an assembly.
The rebuilding of a tool.
The correction of a bank statement.
The reworking of a service, such as the reprocessing of a loan operation or the replacement of a food order in a restaurant.

In short, any cost that would not have been expended if quality were perfect contributes to the cost of quality.

Total Quality Costs

As the figure below shows, quality costs are the total of the cost incurred by:

Investing in the prevention of nonconformance to requirements.
Appraising a product or service for conformance to requirements.
Failing to meet requirements.

Quality Costs—general description

Prevention Costs

The costs of all activities specifically designed to prevent poor quality in products or services.

Examples are the costs of:

New product review
Quality planning
Supplier capability surveys
Process capability evaluations
Quality improvement team meetings
Quality improvement projects
Quality education and training

Appraisal Costs

The costs associated with measuring, evaluating or auditing products or services to assure conformance to quality standards and performance requirements.

These include the costs of:

Incoming and source inspection/test of purchased material
In-process and final inspection/test
Product, process or service audits
Calibration of measuring and test equipment
Associated supplies and materials

Failure Costs

The costs resulting from products or services not conforming to requirements or customer/user needs. Failure costs are divided into internal and external failure categories.

Internal Failure Costs

Failure costs occurring prior to delivery or shipment of the product, or the furnishing of a service, to the customer.

Examples are the costs of:

Scrap
Rework
Re-inspection
Re-testing
Material review
Downgrading

External Failure Costs

Failure costs occurring after delivery or shipment of the product — and during or after furnishing of a service — to the customer.

Examples are the costs of:

Processing customer complaints
Customer returns
Warranty claims
Product recalls

Total Quality Costs:

The sum of the above costs. This represents the difference between the actual cost of a product or service and what the reduced cost would be if there were no possibility of substandard service, failure of products or defects in their manufacture.

Customer Satisfaction

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:16:00 +0000

Organizations of all types and sizes have come to realize that their main focus must be to satisfy their customers.

This applies to industrial firms, retail and wholesale businesses, government bodies, service companies, nonprofit organizations and every subgroup within an organization.

Two important questions:

Who are the customers?
What does it take to satisfy them?

Who Are the Customers?

Customers include anyone the organization supplies with products or services. The table below illustrates some supplier-customer relationships. (Note that many organizations are simultaneously customers and suppliers.)

Supplier-customer relationship examples
Supplier	Customer	Product or Service
Automobile manufacturer	Individual customers	Cars
Automobile manufacturer	Car dealer	Sales literature, etc.
Bank	Checking account holders	Secure check handling
High school	Students and parents	Education
County recorder	Residents of county	Maintenance of records
Hospital	Patients	Healthcare
Hospital	Insurance company	Data on patients
Insurance company	Hospital	Payment for services
Steel cutting department	Punch press department	Steel sheets
Punch press department	Spot weld department	Shaped parts
All departments	Payroll department	Data on hours worked, etc.

What Does It Take to Satisfy Customers?

Don’t assume you know what the customer wants. There are many examples of errors in this area, such as “new Coke” and car models that didn’t sell. Many organizations expend considerable time, money and effort determining the “voice” of the customer, using tools such as customer surveys, focus groups and polling.

Satisfying the customer includes providing what is needed when it’s needed. In many situations, it’s up to the customer to provide the supplier with requirements. For example, the payroll department should inform other departments of the exact format for reporting the numbers of hours worked by employees. If the payroll department doesn’t do this job properly, it bears some responsibility for the variation in reporting that will occur.

Excerpted from Donald W. Benbow, Ahmad K. Elshennawy and H. Fred Walker, The Certified Quality Technician Handbook, ASQ Quality Press, 2003, pages 1-2.

Juran's Triology Diagram

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:23:00 +0000

The Juran Trilogy, published in 1986, identified and was accepted worldwide as the basis for quality management. After almost 50 years of research, his trilogy defined three management processes required by all organizations to improve. Quality control, quality improvement and quality planning have become synonymous with Juran and Juran Institute, Inc.

Juran describes quality from the customer perspective as having two aspects: higher quality means a greater number of features that meet customers' needs. The second aspect relates to "freedom from trouble": higher quality consists of fewer defects.

As a result of the power and clarity of Joseph Juran's thinking and the scope of his influence, business leaders, legions of managers and his fellow theorists worldwide recognize Dr. Juran as one of "the vital few" —a seminal figure in the development of management theory. Juran has contributed more to the field and over a longer period of time than any other person, and yet, feels he has barely scratched the surface of his subject. "My job of contributing to the welfare of my fellow man," writes Juran, "is the great unfinished business.

PDCA Cycle

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:31:00 +0000

W. Edwards Deming in the 1950's proposed that business processes should be analyzed and measured to identify sources of variations that cause products to deviate from customer requirements. He recommended that business processes be placed in a continuous feedback loop so that managers can identify and change the parts of the process that need improvements. As a teacher, Deming created a (rather oversimplified) diagram to illustrate this continuous process, commonly known as the PDCA cycle for Plan, Do, Check, Act*:

PLAN: Design or revise business process components to improve results
DO: Implement the plan and measure its performance
CHECK: Assess the measurements and report the results to decision makers
ACT: Decide on changes needed to improve the process

Deming's PDCA cycle can be illustrated as follows:

Deming's focus was on industrial production processes, and the level of improvements he sought were on the level of production. In the modern post-industrial company, these kinds of improvements are still needed but the real performance drivers often occur on the level of business strategy. Strategic deployment is another process, but it has relatively longer-term variations because large companies cannot change as rapidly as small business units. Still, strategic initiatives can and should be placed in a feedback loop, complete with measurements and planning linked in a PDCA cycle.

Quality Management System

Ashok.Taurus@gmail.com (Ashok Gunasekaran) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:27:00 +0000

Implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) within an organization needs to be a decision by top management. The objective of the quality system needs to be clearly defined so that the system can be effective.

The design and implementation of a quality management system will vary depending on the type, size and products of the organization. Each company will have it's own objective, however most companies objective is to increase profitability. A Quality Management System will assist by:

managing costs and risks
increasing effectiveness and productivity
identifying improvement opportunities
increasing customer satisfaction

A well managed quality system will have an impact on:

customer loyalty and repeat business
market share
operational efficiencies
flexibility and ability to respond to market opportunities
effective and efficient use of resources
cost reductions
competitive advantages
participation and motivation of human resources
industry reputation
control on all processes

The objectives of your Quality Management System should mirror the above in some form.

Requirements:
ISO 9001:2000 requires a quality system to be documented, tested, measured and assessed.

Management commitment is essential for the implementation and ongoing success of the Quality Management System.

QMS objectives must be measurable and reflect the overall company objectives.

The QMS must be able to be managed properly, adequate resources must be allocated.

The system must be reviewed regularly and measured for effectiveness, adjustments must be made to reflect major changes to the organization and business practices.

The system must be practical and accessible to all employees within the organisation.

Accreditation:
It is not essential to gain accreditation for a Quality Management System to work effectively. It depends on the organization if they wish to gain accreditation, however the benefits should be considered:

Your company will be recognized as an organization that is committed to providing quality products, improvement and customer satisfaction.

You will gain respect through the industry as a fully accredited quality company.