Information Technology Reference
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measurement systems (Scorecards) into the design to ensure effective ongoing pro-
cess management, and leverages a common language for design within a design
tollgate process.
DFSS projects can be categorized as design or redesign of an entity whether it
is a product, process, or software. “Creative design” is the term that we will be
using to indicate new software design, design from scratch, and “incremental design”
to indicate the redesign case or design from a datum (e.g., next-generation Micrsoft
Office suite). In the latter case, some data can be used to baseline current performance.
The degree of deviation of the redesign from datum is the key factor on deciding
on the usefulness of relative existing data. Software DFSS projects can come from
historical sources (e.g., software redesign from customer issues) or from proactive
sources like growth and innovation (new software introduction). In either case, the
software DFSS project requires greater emphasis on:
Voice of the customer collection scheme
Addressing all (multiple) CTS's as cascaded by the customer
Assessing and mitigating technical failure modes and project risks in their own
environments as they linked to the tollgate process reviews
Project management with some communication plan to all affected parties and
budget management
Detailed project change management process
8.4
SOFTWARE DFSS: THE ICOV PROCESS
As mentioned in Section 8.1, Design for Six Sigma has four phases over seven
development stages. They are as follows: Identify, Conceptualize, Optimize, and
Verify. The acronym ICOV is used to denote these four phases. The software life
cycle is depicted in Figure 8.2. Notice the position of the software ICOV phases of a
design project.
Naturally, the process of software design begins when there is a need, an impetus.
People create the need whether it is a problem to be solved (e.g., if a functionality
or use interface is not user friendly, then the GUI needs to be redesigned) or a new
invention. Design objective and scope are critical in the impetus stage. A design
project charter should describe simply and clearly what is to be designed. It cannot be
vague. Writing a clearly stated design charter is just one step. In stage 2, the design
team must write down all the information they may need, in particular the voice of
the customer (VOC) and the voice of the business (VOB). With the help of the quality
function deployment (QFD) process, such consideration will lead the definition of the
software design functional requirements to be later grouped into programs and routine
codes. A functional requirement must contribute to an innovation or to a solution of
the objective described in the design charter. Another question that should be on the
minds of the team members relates to how the end result will look. The simplicity,
comprehensiveness, and interfaces should make the software attractive. What options
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