Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management for software development process improvement

Transcription

1 Int. J. Services and Standards, Vol. 2, No. 1, Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management for software development process improvement Ming-Chang Lee Department of Information Management, Fooyin University, Ta-Liao Hsiang, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan To Chang* Department of Information Management, Shu-Te University, Yanchao Hsiang, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan *Corresponding author Abstract: Traditional software development process emphasises testing techniques, but show weakness in planning. However, it does not satisfy the requirement of the user to cause failure cost heavily. ISO 9001 Quality Management System, Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and Total Quality Management (TQM) are quality management technologies, which can be applied to the quality industry. In addition, Knowledge Management (KM) technology transforms these quality documents and process into actionable knowledge in a format, when it is made available, can be utilised effectively and efficiently throughout the entire software development. The aim of this study applies ISO 9001, CMM and TQM in quality orient KM for software development process improvement. Keywords: ISO 9001:2000; Capability Maturity Model (CMM); Knowledge Management (KM); Total Quality Management (TQM); software development process. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Lee, M-C. and Chang, T. (2006) Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management for software development process improvement, Int. J. Services and Standards, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp Biographical notes: Ming-Chang Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Management at Fooyin University. His research interests include knowledge management, parallel computing and data analysis. His publications include articles in the Journal of Computer and Mathematics with Applications, International Journal of Operation Research, American Journal of Applied Science and Computers and Industrial Engineering. To Chang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Management at Shu-Te University. His research interests include system development, information security and management information systems. Copyright 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2 102 M-C. Lee and T. Chang 1 Introduction Software quality and productivity are the key issues of software development. In recent years the software development industry begins to recognise the need to apply the principles of quality management to software engineering. Quality standards, such as ISO 9000 series of standards and Software Process Maturity (SPM) are becoming increasingly important to software development organisations throughout the world. The software developers use SPM assessments to analyse the maturity or competence of an organisation s software development process. A new version of SPM, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is under development in the USA by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) (Baumert, 1992; Bollinger and McGowan, 1991). ISO 9001 pertains to software development and maintenance, identifies the minimal requirements for quality system, while the CMM underlines the need for continuous process improvement (Card, 1992). The CMM provides a conceptual structure for improving the management and development of software products in a disciplined and consistent way. It does not guarantee that the software products will be successfully built or that all problems in software engineering will be adequately resolved. Since the CMM is not an exhaustive model, it does not address the software management and engineering practices that are important for successful projects (Paulk et al., 1993). The CMM does not yet directly address expertise in a particular application domain: specific tools, methods or software technologies; or address issues related to concurrent engineering, teamwork, change management or system engineering. ISO 9001 describes only the minimum criteria for an adequate quality-management system, rather than addressing the entire continuum of process improvement. In general, ISO 9001 focuses on the areas such as standards and procedures process management, software quality assurance and document control; while the CMM focuses on project management, technical development and management, software configuration management, process management, software quality assurance and software capability evaluation (Dion, 1992). But, either ISO 9001 or the CMM still lacks in empowerment of software developer, leadership and strategic quality. In any case, organisations should focus on improvement to build a competitive advantage, not on achieving a score whether that is a maturity level or a certificate. Total Quality Management (TQM) is defined as commitment of all employees to the continuous improvement of work process with the purpose of satisfying internal and external customers (Quazi et al., 2002). TQM is a management approach aimed at satisfying all the customer requirements, needs and expectations using a continuous improvement approach (Wang et al., 1995). The TQM principles can be grouped into the following practical and common sense concepts (Wang et al., 1995): 1 customer focus (internal and external customers) 2 leadership (management role changes to active leadership) 3 teamwork (multidisciplinary teams, include involvement of customers and suppliers) 4 continuous improvement process

3 Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management measurement (the improvement process is based on quantitative and qualitative metrics) and 6 benchmarking as a driver to improvement in a competitive environment. Knowledge Management (KM) is the process of creating values from an organisation s intangible assets (Liebowitz, 2004). KM has been considered as a new corporate information system paradigm for knowledge-intensive enterprises of the information age (Choi et al., 2004). Over several years, there have been intensive discussions about the importance of KM with the business community. Effectively implementing a sound KM strategy and becoming a knowledge-based company is seen as a mandatory condition of success for organisations as they enter the era of the knowledge economy (Bose, 2004). Yang (2004) found that the KM plays significant roles in improving the performance of a new product development. In particular, the speed knowledge acquisition and the availability of knowledge dissemination facilities affect the cycle time and new product development. In the software development context, KM can be viewed as the foundation for the continuous improvement of software process and consequently the resulting products. Using a KM approach, knowledge created during the software process can be captured, stored, disseminated and reused, so that better quality and productivity can be achieved. KM can be used to better support several activities, such as software process definition, human resource allocation, estimation, requirement analysis, quality planning and so on. There are three major aspects to consider when we implement KM. The first is to identify the key knowledge for the company and to find out how to establish a process for managing that knowledge. The second aspect relates to the fact that knowledge comes from people s thoughts. The third aspect has to do with establishing a mechanism to encourage people to create, share and reuse knowledge (Kurose, 1999). Therefore, knowledge structure of solution software process improvement is showed in Figure 1. There are three parts: (1) field knowledge, (2) organised knowledge and (3) systemised knowledge. Field knowledge: This is the most important part. Field knowledge is captured, accumulated and reused by the software process implement. The important point here is not to try to standardise the formats and approaches for the task of each software project. Organised knowledge: Organised knowledge is field knowledge that is organised for reuse as know-how by the entire software development process. Systemised knowledge: Systemised knowledge consists of: (1) systematically organised and summarised known-how which comes from field knowledge and organised knowledge and (2) tools that can be used very effectively for system integration. Systemised knowledge is given to system integrators as an efficiency improvement tool (Parzinger and Ravinder, 2000). From the above statements, the aim of this study applies ISO 9001, CMM and TQM in quality orient KM for the software development process improvement. Focusing on the combined approaches and methodologies, the software development process of a software company is analysed for a quality system design. The main functional modules include ISO document management system, CMM document management system and TQM plan-do-check-action cycle.

4 104 M-C. Lee and T. Chang Figure 1 Knowledge structure of solution software process improvement Source: This study. 2 Software quality management 2.1 ISO 9001 standards ISO 9001:2000 is an international standard on quality management system requirements necessary for quality assurance in an organisation. Organisations use it when they must ensure that the supplier conforms to specified requirements during several stages of development, production, installation and servicing (ISO 9001:2000). For example, it provides guidelines for the application of ISO 9001 to establish an infrastructure framework, involving various emerging technologies, for the development of an agent-based quality enhancement system (Ho et al., 2005). Any organisation that wishes to survive in the market, needs to offer their products at a practical price which the customers are willing to pay. Hence, the organisation must implement and maintain a management system that is designed to constantly improve their performance, to provide best value for memory products. This was shown in the quality management system process model in Figure 2. The strengths of ISO 9001 are described as follows: 1 It has been internationally compiled and commonly used as a general standard model for integration of quality into business applications for around 100 countries and in multitude different fields of business. 2 It supports complete documents procedure and adopts process model and disciplined guidelines for software organisations.

5 Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management It adopts top-down approach to develop software guidance for performance improvement. 4 It encourages companies to examine critically their internal quality management system. Figure 2 ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System process model Source: ISO 9001:2000. However, ISO 9001 has the following weaknesses: 1 It does not define the benchmark effectiveness of organisation s process. 2 It takes too much time to prepare documents and communication between developers and users. 3 It requires auditor to find the requirements of the standard and structure the improvement program to ensure that action items are designed to close gaps. 4 It loses the global picture of the company and often measures are not tied to business goals. 2.2 The Capability Maturity Model CMM for software developed by the SEI is a framework that describes the key elements of effective software processes (Paulk, 1995a,b). CMM has had a major influence on the software process and quality improvement around the world (Silver, 1992). The model provides an evolutionary scale of five maturity levels. These levels describe an evolutionary path from ad hoc, chaotic process to mature, disciplined in detail and are summarised in Table 1. The five levels can be briefly described as: Level 1 Initial: Processes are ad hoc, unpredictable, poorly controlled and reactive. The success of a project depends mainly on individual heroes, fire fighters. Level 2 Repeatable: Project management and commitment process are defined and disciplined. Previous successes can be repeated in a new project.

6 106 M-C. Lee and T. Chang Level 3 Define: Standard organisational processes for project management and engineering are in place. Level 4 Managed: Process is measured and controlled quantitatively. Level 5 Optimising: Process capability is being continuously improved. As Table 1 shows, the CMM is organised into five levels. Except for level 1, each level has a set of key process areas that an organisation should focus on to improve its software process. Each key process area comprises a set of key practices that indicate if the implementation and institutionalisation of that area are effective, repeatable and lasting. Table 1 The CMM is organised into five levels Level 5 Optimising: Continuous process improvement is enabled by quantitative feedback from the process and from piloting ideas and technologies. 4 Managed: Detail measures of the software process and product quality are collected. Both the software process and products are qualitatively understood and controlled. 3 Define: The software process for both management and the engineering activities is documented, standardised and integrated into standard software process for the organisation. All projects use an approved, tailored version of the organisation s standard software process for developing and maintaining software. 2 Repeatable: Basic project management processes are established to track cost, schedule and functionality. The necessary process discipline is in place to repeat earlier successes on projects with similar application. 1 Initial: The software process is characterised as ad hoc, occasionally even chaotic. Fee processes are defined and success depends on individual effort and heroics. Source: Paulk (1995a). Key process Define prevention, technology change management and process change management Quantitative process management and software quality management Organisation process focus, organisation process definition, training program, integrated software management, software product engineering, intergroup coordination and peer review Requirements management, software project planning, software project tracking and oversight, software subcontract management, software quality assurance and software configuration management 3 The scope of TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 In this section, we discuss what is TQM compared to ISO 9001, CMM compared to ISO 9001 and a proposal of integrating models into the software development process to establish a correct and complete quality management framework for information systems. To mean the comparison of TQM with ISO 9001 and CMM, it should be examined the scope of TQM, CMM and ISO 9001.

7 Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management TQM: TQM framework to software quality improvement TQM means that quality involves everyone and all activities in the company. Quality means that conformance to requirements (meeting customer requirements). Management means that quality can and must be managed. TQM is an organisational management concept of the voice of the customer and is defined as commitment of all employees to the continuous improvement of work processes with the purpose of satisfying internal and external customers. The framework is outlined in Figure 3. Its components are described in the following section: The need to improve the quality of a certain portion of the company information is identified and an improvement process is Initiated (1). This is activated by any of the following information stakeholders: customer (user), providers, solutions suppliers, MIS organisation or company management. A Team (2) is formed. It includes representatives of the information customer (user), information providers, information suppliers, information organisation and other stakeholders. The team uses the continuous improvement cycle of PDCA as the backbone of the improvement process. In the Plan (3) phase, the customer needs are examined and translated into Information Quality (IQ) dimensions and then into IQ specifications (4), which become a critical part of information solution specification. The team Benchmarks (5) IQ performance in external organisations/functions/information domains. In the Do (6) phase, information specifications are translated into a solution. IQ targets, expressed as quantitative metrics, are designed into the solution. In the Check (7) phase, the team uses the metrics to compare solution performance with a predefined target. Gaps between customer needs/expectations and actual IQ are identified. In the Act (8) phase, activities to close these gaps are agreed and implemented. A new PDCA cycle begin (9), to further improve the same information or handle a different portion of the information used by company. The process contributes to the organisation information quality metrics and dimension knowledge Base (10). The process is customer focused (11), meaning that satisfactions of the customer needs serve as the overall objective of the framework. The leadership (12) role is to deploy an information quality culture in which the improvement process can flourish. Its responsibility includes: resource provision, improvement process initiation, example setting in demanding, using and providing high-quality information.

8 108 M-C. Lee and T. Chang Figure 3 TQM framework to information quality Source: Modify a framework for analysis of data quality (Wang et al., 1995). TQM comprises some primary activities: Business System Planning (BSP), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Critical Success Factors (CSF) and Balanced Scorecard (BSC). CSF developed by IBM is requirement of analysts, developing systems for planning and control. QFD is cross-functional so that all departments work together to achieve the common goal of satisfying customer demands. BSC is a method for translating strategy into action and has been successfully implemented in all kinds of companies all around the world. With this integration, an organisation that develops software systems can produce a quality assurance plan and successfully carry out all the tasks involved. TQM methodology is a new concept to information development process. Applying TQM to software development, process can control software quality and productivity, and selecting a suitable tool that can strengthen the capability of software quality policy, quality awareness, prevention, correction and feedback. Table 2 describes TQM to software development process.

9 Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management 109 Table 2 Describes TQM to software development process Step Item Objective Task Tool Plan System A process of definition, Identify problems/ Brainstorm planning analysis, specification, estimation and review Feasibility study/ CSF Defined software BSP project/ CSF Do Software requirements analysis The requirements analysis task is process of discovery and evaluation Information flow Information structure Software requirements specification/ Techniques CASE tools Training Check Software design process Programming languages and coding Software testing Software design is a process through which requirements are translated into a representation of software Translate a detailed design representation of software into a programming language realisation To design tests that systematically uncover different classes of errors Design process/ Transform analysis/ Transaction analysis/ Data structure design Program coding/ Unit testing/ Valid testing/ Validation testing/ Static testing Dynamic testing Action Software maintenance It is expanding all variable resources maintaining old system Preventive maintenance Corrective maintenance Performance award Feedback Adaptive maintenance Source: This study. In Table 2, there are six processes for software development. System planning includes a process of definition, analysis, specification, estimation and review. The objective of software requirements analysis is process of discovery and evaluation. Software design process is a process through which requirements are translated into a representation of software. Programming languages and coding translates a detailed design representation of software into a programming language realisation. Software testing design tests that systematically uncover different classes of errors. Software maintenance expands all variable resources maintaining old system.

10 110 M-C. Lee and T. Chang 3.2 TQM compared to ISO 9001 ISO 9001 is a quality system management standard. TQM is a philosophy of perpetual improvement. The ISO quality standard sets in place for a system to deploy policy and verifiable objectives. An ISO implementation is a basis for a TQM implementation. Where there is an ISO system, about 75% of the steps are in place for TQM (Pijl, 1997). In short, implementing TQM is being proactive concerning quality rather than reactive. The principles of TQM are as follows: 01 quality can and must be managed 02 everyone has a customer and is a supplier 03 processes, not people are the problem 04 every employee is responsible for quality 05 problems must be prevented, not just fixed 06 quality must be measured 07 quality improvements must be continuous 08 the quality standard is defect free 09 goals are based on requirements, not negotiated 10 life cycle costs, not front-end costs 11 management must be involved and lead 12 plan and organise for quality improvement. TQM focuses on quality plan, quality assurance function, review and inspection and internal audit. The strengths of ISO 9001 are described as follows: 01 project management process 02 document configuration control 03 defect tracking and status report 04 training activities and plans. Table 3 illustrates how areas converge by TQM map to some elements of the ISO 9001 standard. Table 3 Summary mapping between ISO 9001 and the TQM ISO 9001 section Management responsibility Quality system Document control Design control Internal quality audits Training Source: This study. TQM (focus, methodologies and project management) Project management: project management process Quality focus: quality plan, quality assurance function Methodologies: documentation configuration control Project management: project plan Methodologies: methodology and process control Quality focus: reviews and inspection Metrics: defect tracking and status reports Quality focus: use of internal audits Project team variables: training activities and plans

11 Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management Comparison of CMM and ISO 9001 models Both the CMM and the ISO 9001 standards were designed to improve organisational processes. Paulk (1995a,b) and Rozman et al. (1997) have performed comparison of the models clearly where there is a strong correlation between ISO 9001 and CMM, although some issues in ISO 9001 are not covered in CMM and vice versa. The two documents are the explicit emphasis of the CMM on continuous process improvement. ISO 9001 addresses only the minimum criteria for an acceptable quality system. Another difference is that the CMM focuses strictly on software, whereas ISO 9001 has a much broader scope that encompasses system, software, processed materials and services. The biggest similarity between the two documents is their bottom line: Say what you do: do what you say. ISO 9001 requires documentation that contains instructions or guidance on what should be done or how it should be done. CMM shares emphasis on processes that are documented and practised as documented. From the above statements, comparison of ISO 9001 and CMM is showed in Table 4. Table 5 is oriented towards users who are already using CMM and are additionally interested in ISO 9001:2000 compliance or towards users concurrently addressing CMM process improvement and ISO 9001 compliance. Table 4 Comparison of ISO 9001 and CMM ISO 9001 Minimum requirement to become certification with implied continuous improvement Designed to apply to all industry development Outwardly focused Yearly recertification Third-party certification Source: This study. CMM Five levels of certification with explicit continuous improvement Designed specifically for the software industry Inwardly focused No yearly recertification process Certified by SE Table 5 Mapping ISO 9001:2000 to CMM ISO 9001 clause CMM process areas and practices 4.1: General requirements Outsourcing, supply agreement management, quality assurance and management, process definition and process improvement 4.2: Documentation requirement Integrated enterprise management: evaluation, quality assurance and management: configuration management, information management 5.1: Management commitment Integrated enterprise management 5.2: Customer focus Needs, Requirements 5.3: Quality policy Integrated enterprise management 5.4: Planning Integrated enterprise management, needs, quality assurance and management 5.5: Responsibility, authority, Integrated enterprise management and communication 5.6: Management review Integrated enterprise management Project management 6.1: Provision of resource Integrated enterprise management Project management

12 112 M-C. Lee and T. Chang Table 5 Mapping ISO 9001:2000 to CMM (continued) ISO 9001 clause CMM process areas and practices 6.2: Human resource Integrated enterprise management training 6.3: Infrastructure Evaluation, deployment, transition and disposal, innovation 6.4: Work environment Needs, outsourcing, design implementations, evaluation, deployment, transition and disposal, project management, supply agreement management, integrated 7.1: Planning of product Requirements, project management, quality assurance realisation and management 7.2: Customer-related process Integrated enterprise management, needs, requirements, evaluation, operation and support, project management, configuration management 7.3: Design and development Requirements, design, outsourcing, design planning implementation, integration, evaluation, project management, integrated teaming, configuration 7.4: Purchasing Alternatives analysis, outsourcing, evaluation, supply 7.5: Production and service provision agreement management Requirement, design, design implementation, integration, evaluation, deployment, transition and disposal, operation and support, project management, quality assurance and management: configuration management, information management 7.6: Control of monitoring and Design implementation, evaluation, measurement measuring devices and analysis 8.1: General Evaluation, quality assurance and management, measurement and analysis 8.2: Monitoring and measurement Integrated enterprise management, needs, integration, evaluation, project management, quality assurance and management, measurement and analysis 8.3: Control of non-conforming product Integrated enterprise management, evaluation, operation and support, project management, configuration management, information management 8.4: Analysis of data Needs, evaluation, supplier agreement management, quality assurance and management, measurement and analysis 8.5: Improvement Needs, evaluation, operation and support, quality assurance and management: configuration management, process management, process improvement Source: This study. 4 An integrated framework for software development process Leem and Kim (2004) created an integrated evaluation systems performance, it is developed based on the continuous improvement model of information systems performance. The traditional approaches to software evaluation are based on the development process point of view, Leem and Yoon (2004) suggested a maturity model and a corresponding evaluation of software. Rozman et al. (1997) created a process use integration of CMM and ISO quality models. In this study, an integrated quality management model was created. A framework that integrates quality management model with the concept of TQM and the strengths of the CMM and ISO 9001with KM system is

13 Applying TQM, CMM and ISO 9001 in Knowledge Management 113 shown in Figure 4. Software development process involves many different activities such as planning, analysis, design, coding, testing, verification, validation and maintenance. In general analysis, design, coding and testing are called process. Software verification and validation is the process of ensuring that the software under development or change will satisfy functional and other requirements (validation) and that each step in the process of building the software yields the right products (verification). Verification evaluates system or component to determine whether the product of given life cycle phase satisfies the conditions imposed at start of the phase. Validation involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed. Validation occurs at the end with user acceptance testing. The quality improvement problem-solving process (PDCA plan, do, check and action) is hired. Software quality requirement and software quality planning use CSF, BSC or BSP to gather the requirements of customer and translate these requirements into specific activities that software system does meet or exceed these requirements. Figure 4 An integrated framework for software development process Source: This study.

14 114 M-C. Lee and T. Chang Software development quality use CASE tool, development techniques for development system analysis, design and coding phase. Software product quality check with static and dynamic testing tools to find out whether defects and errors exist or not. Software service quality is act to system service evaluation. It begins with a change request and feedback to life cycle. In this framework, ISO 9001 has quality strategy, quality assurance, prevention and correction to help software development process. The principal tasks are quality management, internal/external audition and management review. 5 Conclusion Software quality and productivity are the key issues of software development. In recent years the software development industry begins to recognise the need to apply the principles of quality management to software engineering. Quality standard, such as ISO 9001:2000 standards and SPM, are becoming increasingly important to software development organisations throughout the world. TQM can help organisation increasingly efficiency and reusing information. KM can be used to better support several activities, such as software process definition, human resource allocation, estimation, requirement analysis, quality planning and so on. In this study, we created an integrated model; it applies ISO 9001, CMM and TQM in quality orient KM for the software development process improvement. Our next effort will be the illustration of the software development process using this model. References Baumert, J. (1992) New SEI maturity model targets key practices, IEEE Software, November, pp.78 and 79. Bollinger, T.B. and McGowan, C. (1991) A critical look at software capability evaluations, IEEE Software, July, pp Bose, R. (2004) Knowledge management metrics, Industrial Management and Data System, Vol. 104, No. 6, pp Card, D. (1992) Capability evaluations rate high variable, IEEE Software, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp.105 and 106. Choi, I., Jung, J. and Sung, M. (2004) A framework for the integration of knowledge management and business process management, International Journal of Innovation and Learning, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp Dion, R. (1992) Elements of a process improvement program, IEEE Software, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp Ho, G.T.S., Lau, H.C.W., Lee, C.K.M and Ip, A.W.H. (2005) An intelligent forward quality enhancement system to achieve product customization, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 105, No. 3, pp ISO 9001:2000 (2000) Quality Management System, Geneva: International Organization for standardization. Kurose, K. (1999) Revolution of way of work in Software & Service Group, Information Processing Society, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp Leem, C.S. and Kim, I. (2004) An integrated evaluation system based on the continuous improvement model of IS performance, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 104, No. 2, pp Leem, C.S. and Yoon, Y. (2004) A maturity model and an evaluation system of software customer satisfaction: the case of software company in Korea, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 104, No. 4, pp

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