Quality Focus

Effective integration of information technology into an organization’s business processes has become increasingly crucial to prosperity. IT includes such items as the systems software, application software, computer hardware, networks and databases associated with managing an organization’s information. The chief information officer leads the department that manages most aspects of an organization’s IT. However, when it comes to implementing quality standards in the IT realm, most Business Lead’s face so many pressures to deliver systems and technologies which meet the organization’s ever-changing needs that quality falls by the wayside. The industry as a whole has fallen short of delivering technology that people understand and can use. Many of the problems occur because of the complexity of technology and the rapid pace of change. Neither of these conditions are likely to abate; in fact, they’re accelerating at an alarming rate. If flawless execution was an elusive goal in the past, it is even more so today. Nevertheless, performance can be substantially improved by ensuring that tactical decisions to develop and support IT emphasize quality. Experience tells us that quality improvements in IT delivery and service support can be achieved by introducing such considerations as user satisfaction, integration and flexibility early on in the decision process and reinforcing them throughout the review process. Although there are no perfect solutions, there are standards in these areas below which an application and its support cannot be allowed to fall. Quality management means ensuring that these standards are rigorously enforced and embedded into the thinking of the organization’s entire IT community. Past experience The challenge for IT is to mine from in & around of these key Points: Set quality measures and standards on customer or user wants and needs. Place ultimate responsibility for quality with line organizations, and mobilize quality networks or communities within these organizations. Make quality a shared responsibility. Create clear standards and measurements, e.g., “dashboard measurements,” which provide quality status information clearly and quickly. Make use of existing process measures and checkpoints wherever possible rather than introduce new measures. Incorporate and align quality measures and business objectives. Do not limit interventions to identifying failures to meet standards; require corrective action plans based on root cause analysis. Focus on correcting the process that contributed to failure rather than installing short-term fixes to problems.