Achieving Business Goals and Scaling Greater Heights Using CMMIntroductionOrigin/India is part of Origin B.V., a top tier IT consulting and services company with its headquarters in The Netherlands and operations in 31 countries. Origin/India primarily focuses on providing the full range of software engineering and ERP related services to clients in India and across the globe. This paper describes Origin/India's organizational evolution and growth; and how the SEI Capability Maturity Model (CMM) was used and leveraged to achieve business goals and scale even greater heights by continually improving on the achievements.The Quality JourneyFrom the very beginning, people at Origin/India realized the true value and potential of quality. They knew that the price advantage enjoyed by Indian companies in the global IT arena would be shortlived and eventually it would be the quality that counts. Besides, they had ambitious growth plans, which called for proper planning and control. So with a strong commitment towards quality and process improvement, Origin/India started its quality journey in 1993, soon after its inception.The first step was to create a documented Quality Management System. A task force was appointed to document the prevalent practices and procedures and streamline them. The Origin/India Quality System formed the basic foundation for their future plans.Origin/India achieved its first quality milestone, when it received the ISO 9001 certificate in July 1994. While they rejoiced at this achievement, they knew that this was only the beginning and there was still a lot of scope for improvement. Business Goals and the CMMBased on Origin/India's vision and mission, a number of business goals were identified, which formed the basis for a number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The Balanced Scorecard concept was used to facilitate in monitoring the business performance and support the decision making process. The Balanced Scorecard ensured that we covered all the four perspectives, viz. Clients, Employees, Processes and Financial Performance. A number of KPIs were identified for each of the four perspectives and targets were set for each KPI, based on previous performance and the business goals. Figure 1 depicts the Balanced Scorecard with some of the KPIs.While attempting to achieve the business goals, the need for a strong quantitative foundation for virtually all aspects was realized. Although several basic measurements were in place, a robust metrics program was imperative to enable measurement and control, to facilitate achieving the goals. After evaluating various quality models, it was decided to adapt the CMM because:The CMM has a strong focus on software quality and process improvement, which was in line with their organizational commitmentIt provides a robust foundation for quantitative managementIt is a staged improvement model, which would allow them to progress at their own paceIt has a strong focus on efficiency and organizational effectiveness (the concept of institutionalization)The CMM's IDEAL approach tied in well with the Balanced Scorecard approach usedHaving decided to adapt the CMM, Origin/India carried out an informal CMM assessment in January 1996 to determine their position and were assessed to be close to Level 3. However, from the business perspective, they were still struggling to achieve the targets set for the various KPIs.Organizational ChangeWhile traversing the quality journey, Origin/India was also growing very rapidly and undergoing substantial change in terms of the service portfolio and nature of business. The organization was restructured along several Service Practices, each of which focused on a specific business area or ERP package. Several new activities, including implementation and customization of ERP packages and software maintenance activities were added to the service portfolio. Consequently, the Quality System went through several evolutions, until a stage was reached when a complete revamp of the Quality System became necessary.This meant a major improvement initiative, which would have organization wide ramifications. A number of task forces of seasoned practitioners were deployed to redesign the Quality System and set up an organization wide metrics program. After several months of hard work and concerted effort, they had a new Quality System in place.The new Quality System was built on an architecture, which focused on business needs, besides fulfilling the requirements for international quality standards. The architecture also provided adequate flexibility to encompass all the diverse activities and technological environments handled by Origin/India. The new Quality System has a 3-tier architecture as described in Figure 2. The organizational policies form the basic foundation for the Quality System. The next layer consists of common processes, which are applicable to all Service Practices. Thereafter comes the vertical layer, which is comprised of processes, which are specific to each Service Practice and Support Group. And at the very top is the provision for incorporating client specific procedures and standards.Then came the mammoth task of re-educating the entire organization and getting the people acquainted with the new Quality System. A massive training initiative was launched and the quality message was spread across the organization.The transition period lasted several months and was very critical, as Origin/India was growing rapidly and yet business had to continue as usual. Here, the combination of strong management commitment and CMM's organizational focus with the concept of institutionalization ensured that the emphasis on quality and process improvement was not only maintained, but also strengthened during this period of organizational transformation.Achieving Business GoalsThe new processes of the redesigned Quality System increased the efficiency and motivation levels of the staff, enabling them to perform better and more effectively. This resulted in higher quality of deliverables and services to our clients, which had a direct, positive impact on client satisfaction and repeat business. All the above factors together helped improve the bottom line and realize a substantial profit instead of the losses was incurred during the early years.Over the years, a definite upward trend in all the KPIs was observed and soon Origin/India was achieving the targets set for various KPIs. As the business environment changed, some of the KPIs were removed and new ones added, to reflect the modified business goals.Scaling Greater Heights with Continuous Process ImprovementWhile achieving the targets set for various KPIs gave them tremendous satisfaction and increased employee motivation, they wanted to do still better. So higher targets were set for the various KPIs. However, they had to focus their energies for process improvement in the appropriate areas. they needed to identify the critical or key business processes, which had the greatest impact on our KPIs and thence their business goals. Improving those key processes would enable Origin/India to achieve higher targets and scale greater heights. A correlation matrix was created to map the business processes against the KPIs and business goals. This matrix helped identify the key business processes and pinpoint areas for improvement. A number of Process Action Teams (PATs) were created with seasoned practitioners from various areas, to concentrate on these key process areas and identify improvement opportunities. Additionally, the recommendations from the CMM assessment were also considered.Using quantitative process management along with the correlation matrix, the PATs were able to identify improvements in various key processes and implement them, making them more efficient. These improvements greatly impacted the quality of product and service delivery, resulting in highly satisfied clients, improved company performance and enhanced employee satisfaction. Figure 3 shows the measurements of various KPIs and how the performance has improved over the years.The improvement cycle has been institutionalized and continuous improvement has become a way of life in Origin/India. Thus the CMM and continuous process improvement have not only helped in achieving their business goals, but also setting higher targets and scaling greater heights.Read more on

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