Identification of key process areas for Improvement

K V S S Rama Sarma, Mala Murugappan, Dr.Gargi Keeni

Tata Consultancy Services, India

1.0 Introduction:

The Buzzword in Software Industry is Continuous Improvement in all the Processes internal and

external to the application development. Improvement is the most sought after activity, but the

biggest obstacle is to recognize what to improve and where to concentrate. It is generally

misunderstood that Improvement means a giant leap, but the truth is small improvements in large

number benefit the organization for years to come. There are number of tools available for the

identification and narrowing down areas for improvement.

2.0 Organization Need:

TCS is the biggest Software consulting organization specialized in End to End IT consulting and

Services. TCS has been providing software development and exclusive client Services from 23

client dedicated Off shore Development Centers spanned across 6 major cities in India. TCS has a

unique distinction of its 13 centers operating at SEI CMM (Software Capability Maturity model)

Level 5 and 4 centers at People CMM Level 4. More than 1100 consultants of TCS are Certified

Quality Analysts who bring in their rich expertise into projects. All centers have been accredited

to ISO 9001 Quality system.

• TCS has recognized the Business Drivers for the new Millennium as Productivity

improvement. This has led to the Process improvements as the key initiative at the

organization.

• In addition, Process Improvement also has been a requirement from the Level 5 KPA Process

Change Management of the SEI Capability maturity model on whose framework this

organization operates.

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• Process Improvements have also been embraced as the best practices in the organization, the

reason being Process Improvements directly improve the revenues of the organization.

2.1 Process Improvements Tools in TCS:

Various tools are being used in TCS for the process improvements, these tools are

Ø Pareto Chart

Ø Cause and effect diagram

Ø Control Charts

Ø Process Map

2.2 Process Map

Process mapping is a tool that provides structure for defining a process in a simplified, visual

manner by displaying the steps, events, and operations (in chronological order) that make up a

process [1]

Process mapping is an effective way to gain a thorough insight of a process's steps and to see the

process as it actually is, not just as one think it exists. It is important that process map accurately

reflects the process in order to determine the focus for improvement efforts. Therefore, one need

to confirm the steps in the process, or validate the process map, to eliminate the risk of addressing

problems based on assumptions rather than facts.

3.0 Organizational Solution:

To assist in search for continuous improvement, the organization needs to review the Processes

that it has in place to plan and deliver & seek ways of improving. Process mapping is an essential

and critical stage in the search for performance improvement and yet the approach is not widely

recognized or understood.

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TCS has adopted Process Mapping as the powerful tool in some of its projects. Process Mapping

is used for exploding the process into minute key process activities/tasks. This detailed process

layout becomes the Blueprint for, recognizing the key process areas for improvement.

For Understanding this technique, it is essential to understand the ingredients of a process and

what it gives out.

Process (Fig.1) is a sequence of steps, tasks, or activities that converts inputs to an output. An

effective process adds value to input at each step to change them or use them to produce

something new.

INPUT OUTPUT

PROCESS

Fig.1 What is a Process?

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 3.1 Steps to Develop a Process Map:

The Process Mapping is done in a stepwise approach, which is explained below [2].

3.1.1 Choose a process. As a first step, the Process, which needs improvement, is

identified. Some examples are the process of System Testing, Integration testing of

various software components

3.1.2 Assemble a team. The team includes people from the lowest and highest levels

directly involved in the operation, such as Programmer, Project Leader and Project

Managers and the Lead from Software Process Engineering group. This team will be

empowered to make significant changes in the workflow.

3.1.3 Map out the way work is currently done . The “AS-IS” Process is mapped using the

Process map symbols. The “AS-IS” Process is a sequence of activities/tasks,

decision branches, Inspection activities, Process Delays, Movements, and Storage .

3.1.4 Identify problem areas . The Problem areas will be identified by systematic analysis

for [3]

• Time-per-event (for reducing cycle time)

• Process repeats (for preventing rework)

• Duplication of effort (for identifying and eliminating duplicated tasks)

• Unnecessary tasks (for eliminating tasks that are in the process for no apparent

reason)

• Value-added versus non-value-added tasks

3.1.5 Brainstorm solutions. All possible action steps for each problem area are then

identified.

3.1.6 Development of TO-BE Process The TO-BE Process will be developed based on

the solutions identified in the Brainstorming

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3.1.7 Evaluate action steps . A set of "final" action steps by group consensus will be

crystallized.

3.1.8 Assign responsibilities. Responsibility for each action step has been assigned and

deadlines for actions have been set.

3.1.9 Create a master plan. The Summarized responsibility Matrix with Action items, due

dates and ownership will be distributed to the core committee members.

3.1.10 Follow through. Weekly meetings are held to track the Progress on Improvements

with core committee members, and the plan is revised accordingly.

3.2 Process Mapping Symbols:

Process Mapping is done using the following symbols [4].

Value Added Process Steps

Process Step or Operation

Non - Value Added Process Steps

Quality Check or Inspection

Delay

Storage

Decision

Movement

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 3.3 A Typical Process Map

Process Map of a Software Development Life Cycle at Macro Level is given in Fig.2

Inputs HLD, LLD

URS Code
from STP, UTP
SRS
client

4
1 2 3

1 - Requirement Analysis

2 - Design

3 - Construction

4 – Testing

Fig.2 Process Map for a typical Software Development Life Cycle

Each Process Step has a number of inputs coming in, which can be classified as follows

Ø Critical Inputs

Ø Controllable Inputs

Ø Noise

Those Inputs, which can bring large variability into the process, thereby influencing the outputs

are termed to critical inputs. The Inputs those can be controlled are Controllable Inputs and the

uncontrollable inputs are called as Noise.

The Process Mapping should be done to the maximum micro level possible with proper symbols

and with proper input definitions to identify the root causes.

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 4.0 Organization Results

To illustrate how the Process Mapping is used for improving Processes in TCS, an example is

discussed below

In one of the projects in TCS, the Software development life cycle was consuming more time and

effort. However at this stage it was not known as to which process step (s) is / are causing the

longer cycle time and hence it was difficult to ascertain the area for improvement. This has

prompted to decipher the process in detail, which will enable to identify the problem area. For

this the Process Mapping has been used.

4.1 Process Map of AS-IS Process

The Process Map for a typical Software Development Project was created as explained in Section
3.1 (Fig.3).

SRS URS
High System User
Level Req. Req.
Design Spec. Spec.

System
Design Codes,
Module
Test Cases
Design
Low Unit
Level Construc Testing
Design tion

Tested
Code
Final Complete
System System
Delivery System System
Testing Integration
Test
Cases
Fig.3 AS-IS Process Mapping

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4.2 Inference

The time taken for each process step has been measured. On Analysis it was found that the Steps

marked in have been consuming more time. So these are the processes which need

improvement in order to reduce the total cycle time.

After the Brainstorming solutions were identified and a new process was developed.

4.3 Process Map of the New Process:

SRS URS
High System User
Level Req. Req.
Design Spec. Spec.

System
Design

Yes
Low System System
1 Deliver
Level Integratio Testing
y
Design n

No

Yes
2 Unit
Check Customi Testing
in ze
Library

No

Constru
ction
1 – Check for the Availability of same Function
Modified Process
2 – Check for the Availability of similar function

Fig.3 AS-IS Process Mapping

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4.4 Results after the implementation of the new Process:

The testing effort was a significant step in the total SDLC; to minimize the testing time new

process has been institutionalized. The improved process has resulted in development of a

standard reference library. The new process yielded a saving of 58 man-hours of effort per

project.

5. Conclusion:

The Process Map is a valuable tool for identifying the non-value-added activities, thus helps

strategizing the process improvements in software projects. It also could be concluded that the

outcome of well laid out process map results in improvement actions for Technology Change

Management and Process Change management which are CMM Level 5 Key Process areas.

6.References:

1. Mala Murugappan and Dr.Gargi Keeni, “ Blend of CMM and Six Sigma to meet Business

Goals”, US SEPG Conference, 2001

2. V. Daniel Hunt - Process Mapping

3. Prof. Sid. Sytsma, Ferris State University – Quality Tools

4. Larry Adams – “Mapping Yields Manufacturing insights”- article in Quality Mag, May 2000

Abstract:

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) comprises of many processes which are nothing

but the individual bricks. These bricks when assembled in optimized fashion lead to a superior

process. So the art of finding the processes to be fine-tuned is the most critical step for the

succeeding steps like Process Improvements and Process definitions.

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The six-sigma methodology offers the very powerful tools to accomplish this task. Such tools

spot the flows, and redundancies or idle steps in the processes at macro level, which could further

be drilled down to manageable micro level activities. This paper with the help of various case

studies explains these concepts applied to software projects, using Six-Sigma methodology.

Key words:

SDLC, Optimization, Six Sigma

Author Information:

KVSS RAMA SARMA (ramasarma.kolachana@gedc.tcs.co.in) is the Black belt at Global

Engineering Development centre, Tata Consultancy Services, Chennai, India. He has undergone

Six Sigma training for Black Belt, and mentored more than 20 six-sigma Green Belt projects.

He is a Certified Quality Analyst. He has received his Masters in Machine Tool Engg. from PSG

College of Technology , Coimbatore.

Mala Murugappan (mmala@chennai.tcs.co.in) is the Master Black Belt and SEPG Leader at

Global Engineering Development centre, Tata Consultancy Services, Chennai, India. A certified

Quality Analyst, her interests include process and quality improvement, and Six Sigma Quality.

She has undergone Six Sigma Training for Black Belt conducted by General Electric, India and

carried out a number of Six Sigma Projects for Quality and Productivity Improvement. She has

supervised more than 100 Six Sigma Projects including Green Belt and Black Belt Projects. She

has also been trained by SEI on Software CMM. Mala received her Bachelor of Engineering in

Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai and Master of

Technology in Machine Design from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai.

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Dr. Gargi Keeni (gkeeni@mumbai.tcs.co.in) is the Corporate Quality Head and Vice President at

Tata Consultancy Services, responsible for managing process improvement activities. A Certified

Quality Analyst and CMM Lead Assessor, she has extensive experience in software project

management, software tools development, managing training activities, managing human

resource allocation and managing quality processes implementation. She has conducted several

courses and workshops on Quality Management, Software CMM, People CMM, ISO 9000 and

JRD Quality Value Award (the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award criteria adapted by

the Tata Group of companies). A Doctorate in Nuclear Physics from Tohoku University of Japan,

she was a Research Fellow at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta, and a Systems Engineer

at Fujitsu, Japan. Dr. Keeni is a member of Computer Society of India and IEEE.

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