"Excellence combined with quality"- A case study of how QAI assisted Oracle-NAIO in their CMMI based Process Improvement Initiative

1. www.qaiasia.com
com
softwaredi xide
CASE STUDY
ORACLE NAIO
A CMMI Case study
Excellence combined with Quality
®

2. Oracle-NAIO has been at the forefront in customer satisfaction
ratings and financial performance, now the importance turned
towards enhancing competencies and delivering business value to
customers. To achieve this, NAIO had to be appraised through
processmaturityunderonesinglegloballyacceptedqualitymodel.
The measurement was a long-term strategic effort in response to
process maturity. NAIO's approach to process maturity and quality
®was intended to be compatible with that of CMMI , as detailed in its
®standards and procedures. The decision was made to adopt CMMI
forSoftwareEngineeringunderthestagedrepresentation.
Although the processes were used as discrete elements with well-
defined interfaces, in practice, some unified other aspects of the
system and some overlapped. Business reasons such as, product
and project performance, meeting market requirements, continuous
cost and cycle time issues had scope for improvement. Such core
business reasons were assimilated across the organization and
provided a fundamental starting point for the Process Improvement
initiative.
The Sponsor defined the measurements to assess customer
satisfaction,suchas:
! On-timeandon-budgetdelivery
! Reducing cost to customer by increasing productivity
andreducingdefects
! NoescalationmailsfromcustomertoC-levelexecutives
! Obtainreference-ableandrepeatcustomers
THE CLIENT
Process and Quality are important for measuring improvement.
Improvement means different things to different organizations.
ForOracle-NAIO,itwasbusinessgoalsandmeasuringprogress.
Oracle-NAIO(NorthAmericaIndiaOperations)wasstartedinJun
'03 as Oracle North America consulting's dedicated Offshore
unit. It is a flagship of Oracle's Global Blended Delivery model,
throughwhichitprovidessolutionsandservicesaroundtheareas
where Oracle Consulting operates. Oracle-NAIO's primary
service areas are Consulting Services, Core Technical Services
andManagedServices.
®The Objectives of the CMMI based Process Improvement
Initiativewereasfollows:
! Benchmark Oracle NAIO processes against the
®CMMI framework
! I d e n t i f y s t r e n g t h s a n d i m p r o v e m e n t
opportunities
! Characterizethematuritylevel
OBJECTIVES
CMMI
- Released in 2000
- Evolved from several capability maturity models
- Focus on infrastructure and process maturity
- Intended for software and systems engineering
- Knowledge management plan
®
CMMI
Improvement is a continuous journey and the strategy was to
follow the benchmarks in Quality and also implementing the
®CMMI framework and best practices. In this context, the
improvement effort began by chartering a Software
EngineeringProcessGroup(SEPG).
The SEPG team's major focus was on the first milestone, to
achieve Maturity Level 3. It emphasized on defining
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Project
Management & Delivery, each with its own primary focus and
internal customers. It also focused on Trainings, Gap
analysis and compliance checks. All these were driven by
robustplanningandactions,suchas
! Measurement and analysis plan for the entire
organization(NAIO)
! Sharedvisionforintegratedteams
! Statisticallymanagingtheprocess
! Riskmanagement
! Process for selection of solutions based on well-
reasoned evaluationofalternatives.
! Process and product quality assurance plan for
qualityassurance.
FOCUS
DEMAND PROCESS MATURITY
® CMM and PCMM are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University. (SM) SEPG, CMMI PSP and TSP are a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University.

3. The Process Excellence Drive was initiated in Aug 2004:
Focus for Improvement
Milestones
The Roadmap
®- Establish SEPG to drive CMMI based
Process Improvement
®- CMMI Level 3 in May 2005
®- CMMI Level 5 targeted appraisal in May 2006
Achieve through
CMMI -5
®
- Consistent Quality processes & standard practices across NAC
- Elevate the overall Quality
- Quality Assurance services for delivery Organizations
- Monitor Quality Control functions in the standard Practice
Operations of the Service Lines
- Target for ‘first-time-right’
- Elevate overall Oracle Project Management
- ‘Best Practices’ of Project Management for delivery organizations
- PM Certification and Training initiative
- Communication channels for early escalation
- An independent Escalation Channel for NAIO SDM’S and NAC Pm’s
Project
Management
Quality
Management
APPROACH
®The CMMI looks for the people in management, engineering, and
infrastructure to adopt new behaviors and beliefs. In this
environment, the core culture is a principal factor in achieving
success, and change leadership is as important as change
management.
SEPG team started with forming and training distributed Task
Forces to begin the task of adopting the process areas within the
®CMMI . The idea was that a distributed development of the
standard operating procedures (SOP) and shared views would
make the buy-in much easier. Task Force Team was made up of
personnel from PMO (quality management team, knowledge
management team & SEPG) and from different practices (SME's
®and CMMI Champs). It was supported by the Files-online (oracle's
internal common share place) that provided workspaces for each
Task Force member, information and references concerning the
overall effort, and a viable means of communicating among theTask
Forcemembers.
Apart from the internal team, QAI team facilitated periodic process
implementation reviews and checks, primarily to avoid future
®surprises in successfully adopting and institutionalizing the CMMI
ProcessAreasandPractices.
TEAM
®With the core team of SME's and the CMMI Champs (internal to
organization), the initiative began with the task of process definition
®in earnest. SEPG and the QAI team translated the CMMI -SW
process areas into core processes that were meaningful to Oracle-
®NAIO’s business operations. The CMMI champs along with the
SEPG team, came up with a robust milestone based review process,
whichhelpedexecutetherestoftheactivities,suchas:
! Definition of Guidelines for baseline Document
development
®! CMMI Overview Training, GAP Analysis and Action
Planing
! IdentifyingProjects
! PublishingPlananddefiningdatesandexpectations
Due to the nature of the organization's business environment,
adopting the Systems Engineering practices offered a major
advantage because the organization now had the potential to
®develop a true single process for engineering. Also the CMMI
implementation Task Force & QAI's consultant provided frequent
feedbackonareasandopportunitiesforimprovement.
Two dimensions to Process improvement
Our next Milestone
- by MAY ‘06
We are here
today
Process Discipline
Process Definition
Process Control
Continuous process
improvement
Process Area level
Improve Capability
Organization level
Improve maturity
Process Management
Engineering Management
Quantitative Management
Change Management
CMMI®
Level 1
Initial
Level 2
Repeatable
Level3
Defined
Level 4
Management
Level 5
Optimizing
PLANNED VS. ACTUAL
CMM Level 3 Milestones®
2004 2005
Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
Sep 1- Oct 12
Sep 1- Oct 29
Oct 11- Nov 5
SOP Development & Rollout
Delivery SOP Development
Training & Metric Definition
Nov 8 - Jan 3
Gap Analysis & Implementation Reviews
Jan 15- Mar 30
Compliance Checks
Apr 1- May 31
Pre & Final SCAMPI-A Appraisal for Level 3
The pen-ultimate phase was the Pre-Appraisal & Readiness Check
conducted by the QAI’s SEI Authorized Lead Appraiser to ensure
that all parameters for attaining the desired maturity level was
feasible and fully prepared. This actually helped NAIO set for the
FinalSCAMPI-A Appraisal.

4. ®CMM and Capability Maturity Model are registered in the US Patent & Trademark office by
Carnegie Mellon University.
SM
SEI is a service mark of Caregie Mellon University.
The SCAMPI-A appraisal was led by QAI India Ltd., a transition
partner of the Software Engineering Institute and one of the
world's leading Software Process Improvement consultancies.
Oracle plans to continue this journey for excellence and is
®currently focussing on the next milestone of CMMI Maturity
Level5andsubsequentlyitalsoplanstotakeittotheotherOracle
®Services in a phased manner under the CMMI initiative scope in
thecomingyears.
'Capability level of an organization provides a way to predict the future
performance of an organization', this statement proved right for NAIO
whenitmetthefirstmilestoneofMaturityLevel3.
®At CMMI Maturity Level-3, NAIO had consciously adopted a staggered
®approach for the CMMI implementation which inturn has resulted in the
followingbenefits
- Improvedscheduleandbudgetpredictability
- Improved cycle time
- Increased productivity
- Improved quality (as measured by defects)
- Increased customer satisfaction
- Improved employee morale
- Increased return on investment
- Decreased cost of quality
Belowarethemetricstosubstantiatetheresults:
Schedule Variance - Org. Baseline
15% 15%15%
-15% -15%-15%
0% 0%
-7%
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
20%
Q2 Q3 Q4
ScheduleVariance%
Upper Limit Low er Limit Schedule VarianceLower Limit
Defect Per Object - Org. Baseline
13
1515 15
22 2
0.9400
5
10
15
20
Period
NormalizedDefect
Upper Limit Low er Limit Total Normalized Defects per Object
CHALLENGES
®The challenges to the CMMI based Process
Improvement Initiative proved to be manyfold, ranging
from developing a relationship with the project team to
establishing a buy-in from all levels of organization
practices.Listedbelowaresomeofthem:
4 ChangeinCurrentBusinessMix
> Revisedtheplanbasedoncurrentsituation
> Change in NAC (North America Consulting)
Direction
®> Published the CMMI implementation plan to
NACSeniorManagement
4 Focus & Drive from NAIO Senior Management
®forCMMI Implementation
> Ensured Senior Management Commitment
upfront
> Updated status to the Senior Management on
amonthlybasis
4 Ability of Task Forces to complete deliverables
inTime
> QAIActivityScheduling
> Reviewed the plan with QAI and got their
commitment on deliverables and support
upfront
> Updated the status / schedule slippage if
anywithQAIonamonthlybasis
4 Integration of PM SOP, Delivery SOP and
Metrics
> SEPG trackedandhelpedinintegration
4 TrainingonsiteNAIOmembers
> Published the training plan, solicited
participation
4 Training outsourcing team members who work
inshifts
> Publishedthetrainingplan
> Conductedtrainingsaspershifts
Customer Satisfaction Report (Q3 & Q4-05)
4.29 4.29
3.8 4.1 3.8
4.5
0
1
2
3
4
5
Parameters
Projectontime
Projectwithin
Budget
Qualityof
Deliverables
Communication
Turnaround
time
Transitioning
totechnical
codes

5. Oracle was looking for a consulting partner with global reputation and
thought leadership and consisting of knowledgeable, committed and
technically outstanding professionals, who truly understood the industry
and Oracle NAIO's line of business and could guide them in their process
improvementinitiative.
They needed someone who could hand-hold & provide relevant, specific
and practical advice to help them improve their Software Processes and
achieveOperationalExcellence.
QAIwastheunanimouschoice,becauseitstandsoutfor:
Credibilityandreputationinthemarket
Professionalism,Knowledge&Experienceofitsconsultants
Global&multi-culturalexposure
And overall, being an international organization committed to
offering a complete range of multi-disciplinary skills & services
with working knowledge across domains & technologies for most
oftheleadingSoftwareCompanies.
Duringthecourseofthisjourney,QAIIndiacontributedby:
IdentifyingthebusinessprocessrequirementsofOracleNAIO
Assisting in aligning the process improvement plan to Oracle's
businessobjectives
Providing structured feedback during all milestone reviews &
check points; sharing practical process improvement ideas;
innovative methods & solutions resulting in proper & timely action
byOracleNAIO
Competent and confident consultants, with their high
involvement they virtually “became a part of the organization”
duringtheengagement
Continuous feedback and guidance to the organization helping
towards institutionalization of practices and preparing for a
successfulappraisal
Making process improvement part of people's jobs and getting
ownership (people like to contribute more than they like to take
ownership)
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
QAI stepped in with their extensive expertise and rich experience and
deployed their best practices to overcome several of the typical
challengesfacedbyOrganizationsintheirCMMIjourneybybringingtothe
table it's learning with over 100+ successful ene-to-end implementations
acrossseveralleadingSoftwareCorporationsoftheworld.
QAI is Asia’s largest and amongst the world’s top three firms in the
enterprise wide deployment of process initiatives that contribute to
‘OperationalExcellence’.
Setupin1994astheAsia-Pachub,QAI’smissionistofacilitateenhanced
competitiveness in Software, BPO and other knowledge intensive
organizations through multi-faceted interventions in the areas of Process
Improvement, be it business, engineering, people management or IT,
throughourservicesin:
Consulting
Training
People,ProcessandOperationalAssessments
Benchmarking
Certification
Conferences
Resourceprovisioning&QualityOutsourcing
e-LearningthroughQAIeSchool
This unique blend of services enables clients using one service to benefit
from our experience, knowledge base, network, and learning in other
services.
QAI's holistic approach to process improvement consultation is based on
the objective of integrating People, Process, and Technology, which are
criticaltotheperformanceofanorganization.
QAI’s helps organizations, achieve their business goals better, faster
and cheaper by facilitating Operational Excellence, through: Process
Management, Project Management, Quality Management, Change
Management, Human Capital Management, IT Service Management
and Innovation Management thus helping companies the world over to
reduce cycle times, increase productivity and improve quality of service
deliveryandprocesses
QAI has provided it’s range of services to over 200 organizations
spanning over 30 countries across 5 continents. QAI’s engagements
cover implementation of most of the globally accepted and recognized
® ® ®
process frameworks & quality models like SW-CMM , PCMM , CMMI ,
SM ®
COPC ,ITIL ,BS15000,BS7799,SixSigma,OPM3,etc.
QAI believes in contributing to the development of the ‘Nations of
Software and BPO Excellence’ by working closely with government
bodies, government funded agencies, research institutions, defense
organizations, software parks, local industry associations, and World
Bankfundedprojectsinseveralcountries.
Our regional bases across the globe - in USA, Singapore, China, Hong
Kong, Malaysia, Middle East and India, help us innovatively distribute
andmanageengagementsacrossmultiplelocations.
WHO WE ARE
www.qaiasia.com
INDIA
qaiindia@qaiasia.com
Phone: +91-11-26219792, 26220580
SINGAPORE
qaisingapore@qaiasia.com
Phone: +65-6225-8139
CHINA
qaichina@qaiasia.com
Phone: +86-21-50804311
MALAYSIA
qaimalaysia@qaiasia.com
Phone: +603 2169 6241, 2169 6246
WHY ORACLE TRUSTED QAI
FOR THEIR CMMI JOURNEY?