By the People, For the People , Of the People !

Technology has revolutionalized the way today's business is run - whether its SOA, RFID or webcasts.What may be the breakthrough innovations in technology ,the soul of business are the 'PEOPLE'.
Its very interesting to note that,the global giant Microsoft promotes its products and services with a recently launched 'People - Ready Business' campaign.Its the people who make the difference not the systems or technology.In this context how does one view process compliance with people perspective.
Read the article P-P Matrix for panoramic view of Process Compliance published in CM Crossroads journal.

Learn @speed of Mach

Learning Libro :Practical Learning
In the present knowledge driven era , 'learning' for/in organizations in indispensable. In other words only learning organizations , hold on and strive in the strong current of competition and change .When E-learning holds sway in all corporates today , its' also time to structure our learning process to be more practical and real time oriented rather than just knowing concepts and theory. Correlate and learn some Quality concepts from case study published in http://thequalityportal.com/quiz/jsh.htm
Image: Michael Jastremski http://openphoto.net

Auditophobia!

It all started from our school days , Teacher questioning pupils and the trail continues till one finishes graduation . After crossing innumerable hurdles which were presented in the form of - periodic tests,examinations,viva-voce,practical exams,internal assessments,project thesis (oof...) ,finally people tend to get a sigh of relief when they join profession.
But as luck would have it , there enters the concept of " Quality System Audits " to check whether one does things as defined by organization !! For few right from beginning all these checks are a cakewalk but for a majority these acts present themselves as Damocles sword. In profession how to sway away the fear of Quality Audits !
Read the article 'Auditophobia!' published in http://www.thequalityportal.com/gs/gseries.htm

C.U.S.T.O.M.E.R

Books on Management and the words of Management gurus define ‘Customer’ in numerous ways . Right from the days of ancient civilizations , success of a business has been essentially determined by none other than the “King” Customer .
From a petty retail trade to cutting edge technology solutions, Customer and Customer Service holds the key for success in business.
In this context , one of the interesting definitions on Customer & Customer Service from a person not directly connected to business, calls for a special mention.

It comes from - Mahatma Gandhi, who is fondly remembered as ‘Father of the Indian Nation’ .

"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.
He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider to our business. He is part of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving him.
He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so."
- Mahatma Gandhi
( 1869- 1948)

These perspicuous thoughts from a legend , conveys a noteworthy message for today’s modern business ,where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) rules the roast .

NUTS & BOLTS

This section is intended to give an overview on some basic fundamental concepts related to Business processes, Quality Management System, Information security, Knowledge Management etc...
Here we go …!!

Right from the early days when, “Management” evolved as a separate discipline, there has been lot of theories and concepts. The four schools of thought-Classical approach, Behavioral approach, Quantitative approach, & Modern approach on Management gained prominence with their own merits and demerits. The various thought models and frameworks like Maslow’s needs theory, Theory X and Theory Y, Taylor’s Scientific Management, Hawthorne effect, Systems theory etc.. complemented the evolution of Management practices. Once these practices were well established , there came the time to standardize the Management systems on a common line of understanding to facilitate business in the international arena.
To cater to this need of business community - Quality Management models, standards and frameworks were developed .

The latest Quality models and frameworks that are well prevalent in few industries are listed below.
Standard/Frameworks/Concepts :CMMI
Acronym :Capability Maturity Model Integration
Industry :Software and System (Manufacturing industries )Though proclaimed to be applicable for any standards
Description :
§ Process improvement framework , to establish and maintain effective and efficient processes § Has two representations-Continuous and Staged
§ Assessments are carried out by external agencies
§ Once assessed at particular level ,it holds good for the entire life span of organization !!
§ Replaces the earlier existed CMM model
§ Governed by Software Engineering Institute (SEI)of Carnegie Mellon University
www.sei.cmu.edu

Standard/Frameworks/Concepts : TS 16949 :2002
Acronym : Technical Specification
Industry : Automobile
Description :
§ Automobile industry specific standards
§ Completely aligned with ISO 9001:2000
§ Replaces the earlier existed QS 9000 standards
§ Certification system similar to ISO 9001:2000

Standard/Frameworks/Concepts : CoBIT
Acronym : Control of Business Objectives for Information Technology
Industry : IT related systems for any industries
Description :
§ Comprehensive IT governance framework which elaborately address the best practices of Information security
§ Issued by IT Governance Institute, which is a part of ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association)
http://www.isaca.org/

More standards and frameworks will be presented in subsequent sections of 'Nuts & Bolts '..

Just a Charla ..

‘Hi Linda, its long time since we had met..’
“Oh yeah, Tarun, it’s been quite a while ...So how are things on your side?”
‘Quite well, lot of new assignments and the heat is on.’
“That’s great, even I had a hectic schedule full of last month.. Ok Tarun , what’s hot in the Quality circuit..”
‘Everything is hot in Quality ...Recently ISO has released ISO 9000:2005, Quality management systems – Fundamentals and vocabulary.’
“Is it a new standard?”
‘No no ..its the updated version for the ISO 9000:2000 series vocabulary, which gives the descriptions of the fundamentals of quality management systems (QMS) .Now the standards, vocabulary has been enriched with new terms .Its just to bring in clarity among the community on what exactly certain key words in ISO 9001:2000 standards mean .’
“Ok..I also heard that a new standard for Information security is going to be released “
‘That’s true, the existing BS 7799-2:2002 has been relaunched as a new ISO 27001:2005 standard with few upgrades.’
“Oh.Its already released! What are the changes from the existing BS7799-2:2002 standard?”
‘Not much, the core sections remain the same. I have not really noted the changes yet. But it’s said it is more aligned toward other ISO standards – ISO 9001, ISO 14001.
“Will organizations have to get certified to ISO 27001:2005?”
‘Ya..From now on new certifications will be against ISO 27001:2005 and for organizations already certified to BS 7799-2:2002, there shall be a transition period ‘.
“Really everything looks hot in Quality. Everyday new things come up.”
‘Very true.You need to be constantly learning and upgrading your knowledge to keep on par with these changes…Ok tell me something why don’t I find many women in Information security area .Is it that women feel its too complex to handle netsystems,firewalls and LAN !’
“ Oh not really, we women handle more complex things than LAN – we handle MAN, a complex system which needs a lot more skill set than what it needs for managing your networks and firewalls …“
‘mm m that’s a good one..”
……
“It’s time .I am on my way to attend a seminar on BPM “
‘Business Process Management. That’s quite a substance in the business arena ‘
“Very much ..as a knowledge worker you need to be constantly learning and upgrading knowledge !!!.Ok Tarun , Catch up with you soon “
‘Oh sure. Take care ..’

Q FUNDA -001

ACROSS

1 Want to translate Customer needs to product specifications. Try this out (3)
5 Yes!!...got the vital few from trivial many.. Thanks to this tool (6)
7 One of the principles of ISO 9001:2000 means this. Together, lets find out (8)
8 Implementing ISO 9001, CMMi, BS7799 - nothing happens without this.. (8)
9 Business is on because of this King (8)
11 Continuous improvement is part of our culture. We do it the Japanese way (6)

DOWN

2 Want to find all possible ways of product failure. This technique may come handy (4)
3 'Chance causes, assignable causes.....'Oops..let me see the........... chart first (7)
4 Oh! Shop floor is a complete chaos.” Better find a place for everything and put everything in its place" .Get help from '5S' Inc.!(5)
6 No more detection failures .Lets do some mistake proofing (8)
10 ISO: ISO 9001:2000 :: __ : CMMi v1.1 (3)

For answers check out the Comments section!