Total Quality Management In The Software Industry

Total eccentric care In The Softw be painsAs total char turn of eventser management has a great command in todays parcel environment it is al delegacys better to understand not only this c at a measurept, but whatever(prenominal) invention with the help of a movement study. In this chemise we have chosen American multinational engineering and consulting firm which has its head office at Armonk, New York (IBM). In this case study we exit try to strike an understanding of what is total forest management (TQM) and what atomic number 18 the essential steps to be followed to have a successful TQM writ of execution. We even discuss briefly ab off the management sevener (M7) and look seven (Q7) tools which are commonly used in TQM march. We withal provide recommendation for the people to fit success during (TQM) implementation.IBM is a globally renowned shaping which is operating over 170 destinations crossways the world. immediately there are about 40000 employees portionting their heart and soul to do work in innovative solutions to a diverse client base to come upon some of the toughest challenges in their condescension. IBM is not just the worlds largest IT firm it also cognize to bring innovation and solution for unhomogeneous worldly line of works. It is well cognise for its research and phylogenesis. It partners with various governments to build a smarter planet. IBM can be called as the leading in varianceation technology and operate in the planet today.It briny work includeIT valuesBusiness consultingApplication servicesOutsourcing servicesServices for small and medium business(SMEs) parcel serviceAsset retrievalIts main increases includeSoftwareStorageSystems ServicesInternet aegisSemiconductors(US)Point of scale(US)Printing systems from info pointIBM certified pre owned equipmentIts main financial backing includesDownloadTroubleshootDocumentationInstallOpen a expert foul service requestSupport by product guest suppo rtCustomersThere a range of guests from a verity of business sectors and a range of countries, few of them are listed belowWinn-Dixie Stores (US)Tran zaps (US) on the wholeied Irish confidePost bank Ag(Germ whatever)Japan airlinesPs bank(Philippines)Industrial bank of koreaIBM Qualifiers break off to End IT Enterprise Services Ranging from single onsite resource deployment on a time and materials basis to fully managed services of entire system subject fields. area Expertise Core IT sector skills, expertise and experience of working across software product, Banking, Utilities, Government, Healthcare and Manufacturing, Hardware and Software..Cost Effective Global Delivery simulation IBM provides clients with cost-effective solutions through with(predicate) worldwide for successful execution of bulge out.Service lie Architecture (SOA) Provides services to the clients and operates progressively.Shows eight Web pages, different processes but like designSourcewww.ibm.com/ break d anceerworks/rational/library/edge/08/jul08/peraire/index.htmlWinnersIndustry ideal best practices Quality initiative at ISL is driven by ISO 90012002, SEI CMM take aim 5, SEI CMMi Level 5, SEI PCMM Level 5 backed by IBM processes and mannerologies.Technology Collaborations In global grocery IMB associations created own repos and given access to all the customers. available ProcessesIBM solutions main Operational processThe main operational process that confers to the services delivery of the company can be discept in greater event as belowTechnology DivisionGenerally the development of any IT applications and services delivery project usually requires the chase main iterations insure PlanningThe Project planning is key for any project success. This physical body prioritizes the identification of potential aspects such as scheduling and developing.Requirements Specification The inventory that specifies the functional, operational, design and reference points destinys of the project is called requirement specific document, this document is loosely put together by the inputs taken from the high level chest of drawers of the project.Design Development Design is the next step that follows after the requirement specification document is created, This is the phase where the intended features, process diagram, functional hierarchy templates and ER diagram are listed, This phase is immediately followed by the development process, developers use these design elements to develop their source code. integrating Testing Integration is the process where the various modules of the project are integrated in to once system, I E code developed by various developers is put in to matchless place and the software is now ready to de tried and true , The testing process is used to test the correctness, reliability and the completeness of the software and defects and incompleteness identified in this phase are corrected by the developers and then again tested, this cy cle continues until all the bugs in the software are eliminated. founding Acceptance Once the software is tested completely and all the imperfections are eliminated the next phase is the installation phase, In this phase the developed software is installed for the clients to use the software, Though this is not the last phase, once the installation is done, the project is almost complete, the final phase of the software implementation process is the user acceptance test(UAT), Here a personal or a team up from the users test the application or the software to confirm that all the initial requirements laid out in the SRS document are achieved and there are not bugs in the applicationMaintenance Support This basically depends on the agreement that the client and the development company have agreed, it may follow that the company that has developed the software is responsible for the maintenance and support or the user may hire professionals to do this job for him, any and enhanc ements to the software can also be added to the finished software.The other business functions or supporting processes involved areCustomer Services This is an ongoing process where any suggestions and complaints or requests from the client are communicated to the development team for any encourage removes to the application .This process also involves providing technical helper to the customers.Marketing SalesThis is a very important aspect where any future business is generated, this team is responsible for finding new customers for the product, this team is responsible for giving demonstrations of the product in an effort to improve business. They also have the responsibility of extending the current time bound contracts to generate further business and future(a) up with existing and new clients until the deal is pissed and the case is handed over to the technical heads.Accounting FinanceAll the financial aspects starting from the pricing of the product to the employees pa y scales are handled by this department. Any audit to tax payments are carefully invoiced and documented by this department.Human ResourcesHuman resource department need to undertake the recruitment of new talent, satisfaction and retention of the existing staff, maintaining the training and learning unavoidably of the staff and ensuring minimum wage levels and tracking the attendance of all the employees of the organization. They form the back bone of the firm in the sense that they provide the technical manpower to satisfy the clients requirements for skills.Literature reviewAccording to the Websters Dictionary, prize is a degree of excellence a distinguishing attribute. That is, quality is the degree to which a product lives up to its performance, endurance, maintainability, and other attributes that a customer expects to receive from purchasing this product. In order to produce quality product, one must adopt TQM concept into ones product development process.TQM is a managem ent technique for continuously change the performance at every level and in every area of responsibility to ensure customer satisfaction (Schulmeyer McManus,2007).It is a way of managing an try towards achieving business excellence (Dahlgaard et al., 1998). TQM can be traced to the work of Dr. Edwardss Deming and dr. Joseph M. Juran during the rebuilding of the Nipponese economy in the after math of World War 2. Since American business discovered TQM in the 1980s it has been successfully implemented in a number of well known corporation in the US and XEROX, federal express and IBM (capezio. 1995).Deming (1986) suggested the use of statistical techniques for quality control, and hence mentioned the following principles on qualityThe Deming Management MethodAlthough Walter Shewhart is considered as the founding start of statistical quality control system, W. Edwards Deming is the first one who introduced the TQM concept. Deming offered the management his xiv points of management obligations and identified seven deadly diseases and some obstacles of TQM implementation.The fourteen points as listed below are also known as the Deming management method Walton, 1986.Juran (1986) emphasizing on the vitality of two technical and managerial aspects mentioned the following aspects of qualityPlanningorganizationControlThe aim of the management is to boil down the cost of mistakes, reaching a point where the total costs of quality are minimal (Juran Gryna, 1993).TQM Techniques, tools and systemsStatistical Process ControlISO 9000 series Pareto abbreviation Matrix Diagram HistogramsTree Decision DiagramCritical room AnalysisFishbone or Ishakawa DiagramTABLE Hard TQM Practices Identified in Quality Management LiteratureISO 9000 seriesThe International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000 is peradventure the most popular quality improvement system. It is an international set of documents widely known as standards written by a worldwide organization known as the ISO/ Technical Committee 176 (Lamprecht, 1992).Critical path outline (CPA). This tool is associated with managing projects. It is related to TQM because project management is critical to the implementation of quality programs within an organization (Bicheno, 1998). CPA seeks to establish, through the use of a meshing of arrows or nodes, a logical order of activities in terms of time and importance for the completion of a project (Bicheno).Fishbone or Ishakawa DiagramThis is one of the classic TQM tools called fishbone or Ishakawa diagram. The fishbone diagram is used to identify causes of a problem without using statistical methods (Bicheno, 1998 Goetsch Davis, 1994). According to Goetsch and Davis, the fishbone diagram serves as an excellent varan for the things that have to be done.Crosby (1979) defined 14 steps for quality improvement, including swipe and intermediate management commitment, quality measurement, evaluation of quality costs, corrective action, training, a zero-defe ct philosophy, objective setting and employee recognition(Crosby, 1979) cited in (Tar, 2005).The key components required to carry out the TQM process include top management commitment, employee involvement, problem-solving tools, continuous improvement and customer satisfaction, based on the work of Deming, Juran, and Crosby (Haag et al., 1996).The research by all these authors shows both strengths and weaknesses, for none of them offers the solutions to all the problems encountered by firms (Dale, 1999).Total Quality Management for SoftwareProcess ImprovementThe TQM philosophy described above can be applied to any development process, be it product development or software development.The Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC)This phase primarily involves intelligence, design, choice, and review Simon, 1977.The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)This phase involves planning, analysis, design, implementation and support Whitten and Bently, 1998.The application of TQM to softwareSoft ware development is a process in which the developer precisely converts the requirement specifications into software products. It is clear that the quality of software is largely determined by the quality of the process used to develop and maintain it (Sanders Curran, 1994).A number of authors have advocated the adoption of TQM for the development and maintenance of software systems (Rowe Neal, 1993).Specific materials do exist for the software industry like ISO 9000 and CMM which act as stepping stone towards attaining TQM.Software quality managementMajor quality management processes identified by Schwalbe (2004) areQuality planning ascertain which quality standards are relevant to this specific project and deciding how these standards volition be met.Quality assurance involves evaluating overall performance regularly to ensure conformance to the set standards. Quality audits or reviews can support this function.Quality control monitoring the activities and end results of the project to ensure compliance with the standards utilizing various available tools and techniques.TQM ConceptsTotal Employee Involvement Continuous Improvement Continuous nurture TeamworkEmpowermentTop-management Commitment and Support Democratic Management Style Customer/Citizen SatisfactionTable Soft TQM Concepts Identified in Quality Management LiteratureChallengesMany of the firms implements CMM or ISO 9000 series for improvement and reach their TQM goals. For any Organization to have a successful implementation of TQM it must ensure that the majority of its employees and those part of the value chain of mountains are willing to go into and embrace the TQM philosophy before embarking on the transit. Everyone involved in the chain need to actively play participate and engage themselves in the journey to TQM realization otherwise the whole process will be hindered.The obstacle or factors which need to be taken care off musical composition implementing TQMImproper Management su pportLess knowledge and improper market analysis.Short term involvement inability to stay on home run for longFailure to get worker inputMeasuring scratch in short term spanFinancial problems- not doable to invest requisite amounts to bring the changeDespite the benefits TQM brings, problems have been encountered dapple implementation. Firms must develop a number of components in an integrated way for successful implementation (Easton Jarrell, 1998).Future of TQMThe new age TQM is being built upon the information contained in databases rather than on generic and research models. Thus, TQM will be informed and shaped by customer requirements reflected in perfect data and information systems (Aurand et al., 1996).In summary, technology would remain the key driver of TQM through the use of IT and e-business.The future of the TQM is being designed to address the needs of service based and SMEs, rather than on the conventional product based framework of TQM. Also there would be f ast track TQM implementation processes as firms are trying to march ahead on the technology change front.Thus, there is likely to be a requirement for more interdisciplinary research as the future of TQM develops (Dale et al., 2001).Also, newer environmental legislation, quality standards, carbon stair and quality-award model development related issues would be redefining the future versions of TQM.