SEI CMM: The software Engineering Institute (SEI) has developed a Capability Maturity Model (CMM) that has gained widespread acclaim. Today, it has become the de facto standard for process improvement among money software companies. The SCI CMM model describes the principals and practices underlying software process maturity and is intended to help software organisations to improve the maturity of their software processes in terms of an evolutionary path from chaotic processes to mature and disciplined software processes.
The CMM is organised into five maturity levels. A maturity level is a well-fined gradual change base towards achieving a mature software processes. Each maturity level provides a layer in the foundation for continuous process improvement. The SEI has developed a formal process assessment method that enables an organisation to determine its level of process maturity on a 1 to 5 scale. Currently, India dominates the SEI CMM Level 5 certification list with 32 companies at SEI CMM Level 5 Assessment when only 58 organisations across the world who have acquired such assessment.
The process of getting SEI CMM Level is called CBA IPI (CMM Based Appraisal for Internal Process Improvement) and it is the same for all Levels. An assessment team consisting of , members from within as well as outside the organisation, led by an SEI authorised Lead Assessor, assesses the organisation using the methodology described in the CBA IPI. The output is a set of final finding for the organisation.
ISO 9000: The ISO 9000 series is an internationally accepted system of rating quality management and quality assurance schemes in organisation. The ISO 9000 series was developed by industry representative from many countries and published by the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) The basic aim for a organisation to achieve ISO certification is achieving customer satisfaction by using ISO standards as a tool to put system in place. The certificate is an assurance to customer of getting a quality product and good customer service.
ISO 9000 is one in the ISO 9000 series of standards for quality Assurance There are three standard in the series that’s can be used by a manufacturer. The three standards are the ISO 9001, which is the broadest design and development manufacturing, installation and development. The ISO 9002 series covers manufacturing and installation activities while the ISO 9003 covers only final inspection and test activities. Today organisations are also going in for the ISO 14000 series, which is an environmental standard. It is called an Environmental Management system (EMS) as opposed to the ISO 9000 series, which are for Quality Management systems (QMS). The ISO14001requires an environmental policy to be in existence within the organisation, which outline the policies of the company, not only to the staff but to the public.
COBIT: COBIT has been developed as a generally applicable and accepted standard for good information technology (IT) security and control practices that provides a reference framework for management, users, and IS audit, control and security practitioners. The framework enables companies to control all the different activities underlying IT deployment. As a result, companies deploying this standard are assured that will contribute to the achievement of their business objectives. Business orientation is the main them of COBIT and provides a comprehensive checklist for business process owners. COBIT applies to enterprise-wide information systems, including personal computers, mini-computers, mainframes and distributed environments. It is based on the philosophy that IT resources need to be managed by a set of naturally grouped processes in order to provide the pertinent and reliable information an organisation needs to achieve its objectives. With the addition of management guidelines, COBIT currently supports self-assessment of strategic organisation status and identification of action to improve IT processes and monitoring of the performance of these IT processes.
Six Sigma: Six Sigma is a quality philosophy that uses customer-focused goals and measurements to drive continuous improvement at all levels in any enterprise The goal is to build processes that are so robust that defects are measured at levels of only a few parts per million. The Six Sigma methodology originated at Motorola in the 1980s as a means for comparing variation in any process related to customer satisfaction. A sigma level of six means defects occur within a process only 3.4 time in one million chances. Six Sigma is a philosophy of doing business with a focus on eliminating defects through fundamental process knowledge.
IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award: Today poor quality costs Indian businesses and industry as much as 20 percent of national sales revenue. With a view to promote national quality awareness, the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) announced the establishment of IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality award in 1997. The key objective of the award programme are to promote quality awareness and practices in India firms, recognise quality efforts of Indian companies and publicize successful quality strategies and programmes. Explains Niraj Bajaj managing director, Mukund, “In order to compete effectively in the global marketplace, fundamental changes are needed in the way Indian companies do business. The award is a step in the right direction which will lead to quality improvement programmes which are management-led and customer-oriented” Adds Suresh Lulla, chairman, Award Sub-committee, “The IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj award is a quality award which recognises accomplishment in the areas of leadership, customer satisfaction, continual improvement, response time, employee empowerment and quantifiable result. In the final analysis, the methodology does not tell an organisation how to be excellent. Rather, it given a roadmap for a company to attain world class quality”
CREDITS: Express Computer