SOFTWARE DESIGN FOR SIX SIGMA (DFSS) RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS - Software Design for Six-Sigma: A Roadmap for Excellence - page 388

CHAPTER 15

SOFTWARE DESIGN FOR SIX SIGMA
(DFSS) RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS

15.1 INTRODUCTION

Risk management is an activity that spans all identify, conceptualize, optimize, and
verify/validate Design for Six Sigma (ICOV DFSS) phases. Computers and, therefore,
software are introduced into applications for the many advantages that they provide. It
is what lets us get cash from an automated teller machine (ATM), make a phone call,
and drive our cars. A typical cell phone now contains 2 million lines of software code;
by 2010 it likely will have 10 times as many. General Motors Corporation (Detroit,
MI) estimates that by then its cars will each have 100 million lines of code. But
these advantages do not come without a price. The price is the risk that the computer
system brings with it. In addition to providing several advantages, the increased risk
has the potential for decreasing the reliability and, therefore, the quality of the overall
system. This can be dangerous in safety-critical systems where incorrect computer
operation can be catastrophic.
The average company spends about 4%-5% revenue on information technology
(IT), with those that are highly IT dependent—such as financial and telecommunica-
tions companies—spending more than 10% on it. In other words, IT is now one of
the largest corporate expenses outside labor costs. What are the risks involved, and
how they can be mitigated?
Governments, too, are big consumers of software. The U.S. government cataloged
1,200 civilian IT projects costing more than $60 billion, plus another $16 billion for
military software. What are the risks involved, and how they can be mitigated?