Infosys Technologies Limited, defines, designs and delivers IT enabled business and sourcing solutions to increase your competitiveness and improve your odds of meeting your business goals. Each service and solution is delivered with the industry-benchmark Infosys Predictability that gives you peace of mind.
Infosys initiated Six Sigma for its projects in Engineering Servicesgroup emphasizing on capturing project metrics and its statistical analysis. Infosyspiloted the Microsoft Accelerator for Six Sigma (MSA) on a live project. A typical engineering project underway was selected for this to study the suitability and extent of customization of MSA required for such typical projects before implementing across various projects. The objective of this pilot was to understand the benefits as well as compare it with the previous situation to get accurate information on the process improvements.
By implementing MSA, the Infosys team was able to manage the project at macro and micro levels. MSA was also intended to help management to view relevant project information on dash-boards in real-time.
Engineering Services unit of Infosys focuses on Engineering and IT Solutions for Aerospace and Automotive Industries. This unit works with a number of large companies including major Aerospace companies, Automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers across the globe.
The Product Development team in Engineering Services offers collaborative design services from concept to product launch using state of the art CAD/ CAM/ CAE solutions, re-engineers existing products/ systems by adding new functionality and features, provides value analysis and value engineering, rectifies field problems by using failure investigation techniques and enables data migration across systems.
Infosys uses world-class techniques like the Six Sigma methodologies to facilitate product/ process development and improvement.
In 2003, the company saw an opportunity to further strengthen its Six Sigma initiative by implementing a tool that can manage effectively the Six Sigma projects.
This tool would enable the group to manage a large number of projects, easily track theproject metricsand optimize resources.
Infosys evaluatedMSA and was impressed by the solution functionality and benefits. The MSA provides added functionality designed specifically for Six Sigma organizations. “MSA was the best fit as our server side technologies are based on the Microsoft Windows platform. Therefore, we were sure that we would be able to deploy the solution quickly,” explains Suresh Gopalakrishnan, Quality Manager, Infosys Technologies Limited.
Built on the Project Server family, the MSAcomes with an integrated set of products and services that leverages software such as Microsoft Project and SharePoint Team Services and is customized for Six Sigma practitioners.
Infosys began implementation of the Microsoft Accelerator for Six Sigma during August 2003 on a pilot basis.
During the pilot, Infosys carried out many customizations on MSA to suit project requirements and developed a very good understanding on the architecture of MSA, which will strengthen our future Six Sigma initiatives and add more value to clients.
Customizable Functionality Offers Flexibility
MSA offers customizable project-tracking tools that map on to the DMAIC frame work (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) as well as DMADV frame work (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Validate).
Customizing to suit the project needs, the interactive Project Guides led the Infosys project team through each DMAIC project phase in a seamless manner.
Real time Information for Better Decision Making
A browser-based dashboard leverages Microsoft SharePoint Team Services and Project Web Access to provide at-a-glance views such as financial impact, resource allocation and tracking, and progress reports on Six Sigma projects.
MSA assisted the Infosys project team to monitor the tasks online. MSA also helped in drill down of efforts at task level as well as resource levels. This helped in scrutinizing the various bottlenecks and in identifying the improvement areas.
Resource Utilization
EPM combines with MSA offers a host of improved resource utilization techniques.
With information on resource availability, it was possible to deploy resources very fast and accurately. Additional information provided by MSA on Six Sigma professionals by categories such as Master Black Belts and Black Belts were very useful.
At a Glance Project Tracking
The dashboard provided with the Microsoft Accelerator for Six Sigmaprovides a clear picture of the projects.
It was possible for the Infosys project team to monitor the project health and tracking the details such as effort deviation, schedule adherence, issues, risks etc. This also facilitated logging of any issues and risks that could arise at different stages of the project.
Integration with Existing Microsoft Technologies
The tools in the Microsoft Accelerator for Six Sigma help project managers integrate existing Microsoft software products with Six Sigma.
Many Microsoft-based tools built using Power Point, Excel, Word were easily integrated. MSA also helped Infosys project team to integrate few specific Six Sigma tools like Process Map and Project Charter that were necessary for project execution.
Microsoft Accelerator for Six Sigma is an integrated set of products and services customized for Six Sigma practitioners. The accelerator can help Six Sigma project teams more effectively manage a large number of projects, more easily track their financial impact, optimize and track resources, and electronically share knowledge gathered across the enterprise. Reducing costs and business cycle times and solving business problems using Six Sigma projects depends on technological standards, operational processes, the skill level of the people involved, and the tools used. The accelerator enables companies to effectively manage Six Sigma initiatives across the enterprise.
For more information about Software Microsoft Accelerator for Six Sigma, please go to: