ISSC Solution

Center

ISSC-Dallas

IBM
ISSC
ISSC Dallas

Functions:
Applications Planning
Requirements definitions
Software Development
Business systems testing
Applications developed with IBM Marketing and Services
organizations.
Marketing applications include
Product Configurators
Contract Management Systems
Dallas Development Center:
$50 million portfolio of applications
Provided support for high volume business change

ISSC-Dallas
Problems faced:

Large development projects breached delivery dates

Internal IBM customers were unhappy

Presence of major deficiencies

Pilot Strategic Product

Configurators

Product configurators consisted of 26 individual applications

Configurators assisted in selecting hardware and software

features within the engineering boundaries

Reliance on configurators increased manifold as engineering

rules increased

Configurators defects led to invalid orders.

Evolution of configurator to solve complex problems dint happen.

Nice to
have tool

Mission
Critical
tool

Development Process

Redesigned the generic process and streamlined the

development process

Consolidation in common platform

Parallel Testing and Development

Early information from customer (IBM Marketing)

Early delivery of configurator

Frequent and regular interaction with the customer and

developer

Easy processing of change requests post approval

Results
Development
Cycle time
23 w -> 17w

65%
reduction in
defects

11% Cost
savings

50%
reduction in
testing time

Drivers of Transformation

Product oriented hierarchical structures

Created imbalance in resources and skill utilization

Productivity suffered

Heterogeneity prevailed

Inconsistent methods across the structure

More rigid system

Less responsive

TRANSFORMING ISSC-DALLAS
The central elements of change:

Restructuring the centre based on Balridge criteria

Defining & implementing centre-wide processes

Changing the culture towards empowered & self-directed teams

Using automated tools & adopting common methods and techniques to support the
processes

1) BALRIDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

& NEW ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
Management Driven Quality (MDQ) Program:
define market needs
Eliminate defects
Reduce cycle time
Empower employees
Measure progress

August 1991 new organization structure

matrix management technique Just-intime resource deployment

Task force managers responsibility to bring up quality across the center

New organization structure mapped into Balridge Quality Award categories

Major change HR deployment & development

2) BUSINESS PROCESSES & ENTERPRISE MODEL

Enterprise model basis for Business Process Redesign

Starts with Identification of customer needs & wants

Products are no longer in the organization chart

Generic product group with common processes

3) CULTURAL CHANGE
Decision making responsibility:
Previous: management
Now: Employees

Management by control Management

by empowerment & teamwork

Free to discuss the problems

Awards for innovation even it fails

2-way channel:
Town meeting
Monthly round table meetings
On-line question box

A week long course on transformational leadership

4-day course The Journey Continues
Unleashing Team Potential planned for 1992

Initial Results
The initial results were encouraging.
Improvements in employee morale, job satisfaction, productivity, and quality were
recorded after the pilot tests were implemented
Employee Morale and Job
Satisfaction
75 item survey used as an
indicator to measure worksite
morale
Employees upto 45% more
positive about job opportunities ,
own job content and immediate
mangers performance
Morale for managers at an all
time high.
Participation index scores
improved by 12 points to 81%

Productivity

Quality

Productivity posted a 161% gain

over previous years.

16 fold improvement in the area

of quality

Function points per work month

of effort at 47 as opposed to 18
at the beginning of the year

Reduction error from 2.79 sigma

to 3.97 sigma

Significant increase in customer

satisfaction levels for major
product areas such as contract ,
commission and master product
system.
Changes seen as adding value

Error rate reduced from 99000

per million to 6700 per million
75% more effective at meeting
site installation commitments
and was sustained at 100
percent throughout the second
half of 1991

The Next Steps

Main challenge in the coming years: ensuring continuous quality improvement while increasing
attention to business growth and profitability.
Self directed , self empowered teams to drive daily businesses while seeking improvement in
common business processes.
Long term objective to achieve quick organizational adaptability and flexibility to meet
environmental and market changes.
Short term objective :Full implementation of self directed teams.
Aggressive quality improvement targets for the years ahead:
Goal for cycle time: 20% in 1992 and 30 % in 1993, Six sigma in product quality by 1994.
Customer satisfaction index of 80% or greater targeted.

THANK YOU