The need to put up a systematic, data-driven approach to improve operations comes in the face of increasing complexity and competition for the same, or similar, products in the market. Thus born the term quality management.
Middle of the 1980s saw the birth of many quality management strategies. Some even claim that all these strategies are all the same, save that they are renamed or packaged differently. This may be true but many will agree that the philosophy of quality management delivers tangible bene?ts to any process, such as greater cost-control, visibility, and alignment with strategic objectives. These promised benefits however do not happen as a direct consequence of implementing quality management. Testimonies of organizations that dipped their toes in the water claim that the road to improved processes is long and winding due to resistance to change, inadequate tools, and poor internal communication.
To address these inadequacies, the business world developed technologies that can help organizations plan, track, and manage projects according to the speci?c procedures set forth by their chosen methodology. Today, discrete project management tools are coalescing into integrated portfolios of solutions to address quality management at all points in the enterprise. Microsoft® is among those leading the way in this emerging market.
The company developed Microsoft’s Six Sigma® Solution to help organizations overcome barriers and help them achieve maximum bene?t from their quality management initiatives. Built on the Microsoft Of?ce Enterprise Project Management Solution platform, Microsoft’s Six Sigma Solution can help organizations achieve the following:
•Analyze project impact with powerful portfolio management and analysis tools.
•View the financial results of Six Sigma projects and their alignment with key business performance metrics.
•Optimize resource use by assigning projects based on practitioner skills, experience, and availability.
•Use simple, real-time status reports to monitor timelines, costs, resource requirements, and projects status.
•View projects collectively to make decisions regarding resource allocation, prioritization, and investment approvals.
•Standardize and streamline processes through all DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) phases.
•Use collaboration and process reporting tools to view, enter, update, and analyze project information, and to create Six Sigma reports more quickly.
•Make better decisions using data from automatically created reports and tracking tools
Then Microsoft developed the Microsoft Office Solution Accelerator for Six Sigma. Once deployed, the Microsoft Of?ce Solution Accelerator for Six Sigma helps relieve the complexities and expenses associated with Six Sigma rollouts by:
•Accurately re?ecting the ?nancial impact of projects
•Optimizing Six Sigma resources
•Integrating Microsoft Of?ce and other collaboration tools with Six Sigma methodologies
•Leveraging knowledge and data gathered across the enterprise
Read more about Microsoft’s Quality Management portfolio here.
The value of technology on any process improvement is obvious. Technology has advanced rapidly over the years and it seems like everything it touches turns to gold. Tasks are made faster and can be done simultaneously. People and organizations can now connect in a manner that is impossible to do before. It is no wonder, therefore, that the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies will be at the forefront of all these developments in quality management.
Not all companies however are ready to take on both Six Sigma and high technology. Six Sigma is ideal for companies that are heavily focused on customer service and satisfaction. Its framework is designed to improve both these outcomes and continuously sustain highly positive improvements. Achieving this within an IT environment can be extremely challenging.
As Gartner analyst Lars Mieritz says, “To achieve Six Sigma, you have to be able to precisely define the process, measure the process, analyze the effectiveness and then implement improvements. That requires a great deal of communication between the IT and business units, which can be difficult for some organizations if they are not used to that level of collaboration.”
On the other hand, I believe that if an organization is convinced that both Six Sigma and IT can give them the edge over the others, I don’t see why they cannot have both and make them work together for the good of the whole organization. In the long run, an improved system is all that matters.
