Building and managing a Quality Center of Excellence

1 Building and managing a Quality Center of ExcellenceTable of contentsAbstract .. 3 What is a Quality Center of Excellence (CoE)? .. 3 How a Quality CoE works: three simple examples .. 4 Quality CoE maturity model: start small and grow organically .. 5 Quality CoE resources and services .. 5 Common Quality CoE Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) .. 6 Why adopt the Quality CoE model? .. 7 Problems with traditional Quality management practices .. 7 The business value of the Quality CoE model .. 8 How to build a Quality CoE.

2 8 Assessment .. 9 Scope .. 9 Design .. 10 Implementation .. 10 Validation .. 10 Iteration .. 10HP Quality Center : an integrated solution .. 11 Answers to CIO questions about the CoE model .. 11 Summary: 10 tips for Building and managing a Quality CoE .. 12 AbstractToday, more than ever, the Quality of your applicationsdirectly impacts your bottom-line business results. Thisis the reason IT departments of most enterprises investheavily in products, people, and processes that canmaximize application individual projects, this meticulous attention to qualityusually pays off in an excellent software application.

3 Yet,all too often, limited effort is made to apply the lessonslearned and Quality management expertise, newlyacquired, to multiple projects. The result: Project teamsconstantly reinvent the wheel, wasting time, money, andIT talent; and businesses perpetually reinvest inapplications and create shelfware. One leading solution that has been embraced by keycustomers and analysts alike is the Quality Center ofExcellence (CoE) model. The solution essentiallyconsists of an internal consulting team that acts as acentral source of standardized Quality managementand optimized best practices.

4 A Quality CoE can alsoprovide the entire organization with a central platformfor Quality asset management that will create visibilityinto Quality parameters of the delivered application,keeping everyone informed and applications alignedwith business objectives. Among the advantages of thismodel are: Efficiency The Quality CoE integrates managementexpertise and tools and makes them convenientlyaccessible to all project teams through one centralsource. Consistency The Quality CoE standardizes qualitybest practices that helps ensure consistent,cost-effective, and rapid implementation of optimizedquality processes.

5 Practicality The Quality CoE is an achievable can start on a small scale, leveraging existingresources, and expand its capabilities as the value is proven. Career advancement The Quality CoE modelcreates compelling new career opportunities for ITprofessionals, helping the organization recruit andretain top general, the Quality CoE can improve Quality whilecutting TCO and enable your best people to contributeto the organization better. As the industry leader inbusiness technology optimization (BTO) products andservices, HP Software is uniquely positioned to offerassistance to companies that wish to make the move tothe Quality CoE model.

6 This paper summarizes thebusiness value of the CoE model and outlines theprocess for Building and managing a Quality CoEusing the HP Quality Center suite of integratedapplications. Together, the Quality Center applicationsprovide a management and automation platform thatlets you build and manage a Quality CoE with minimalexpense, risk, or disruption to current is a Quality Center ofExcellence (CoE)?Simply put, a Quality CoE is an internal organizationfocused exclusively on optimizing the Quality ofapplications.

7 It provides a management andautomation platform for Quality processes, consultingand support services, and leadership and advocacy tohelp the organization optimize Quality . Through theQuality CoE model, project teams are able to takeadvantage of all the expertise, toolsets, and bestpractices the Quality CoE has developed and3consolidated. This section provides an overview of theQuality CoE and examples of the services it canprovide. The next section will take a closer look at thebusiness value of implementing a Quality should transition to the Quality CoE model if youhave the following issues.

8 Poor Quality applications Consistently late-to-market and over-budgetapplications Applications with perpetual problems resulting inconstant development patching Fragmented responsibility for Quality management Piecemeal, incompatible resources for qualityimplementation Inconsistent Quality practices among different projectteams Inconsistent application of Quality practices acrossapplication lifecycle stages Underutilized expertise in Quality tools andtechniques Low or declining morale among Quality managers,QA professionals, and testersHow a Quality CoE works:three simple examplesThe following examples contrast how an ITorganization might respond to real-world situationswith and without a Quality 1:The CIO notifies IT management that anew application is urgently needed to enable customerservice representatives to check inventory levels in realtime over the Web.

9 With a Quality CoE:IT management contacts theQuality CoE practices manager and requestsassistance. The Quality CoE manager provides aproject manager, solution architect, and domainexperts to lead the Quality aspects of the expertise, standardized tools, and bestpractices help focus and streamline the developmentand testing processes, leading to a faster deploymenttime frame and a higher Quality application. And bysetting up KPIs, the CoE staff provides objectivevalidation that the application meets qualitystandards and is ready to the traditional model, everyproject team is an island, with itsown staff, tools, and practices.

10 TheCoE model centralizes the expertise,processes, and sharable APROJECTTEAM BPROJECT TEAM AROLE-BASED APPLICATIONSCENTRALIZED INFRASTRUCTURESHAREDPROCESSES& EXPERTISEPROJECT TEAM CPROJECT TEAM BPROJECT TEAM DPROJECTTEAM CPROJECTTEAM D Without a Quality CoE:IT management quicklyassembles development and Quality assurance (QA)teams, pulling individual coders, testers, and QAspecialists off their current projects. Each individualhas his or her own tools and processes and ideasabout best practices. There is risk of misalignmentand lack of coordination among the variousparticipants in the project.