Nd-T-nd Qulity ssurn rss for Lrg Finnil Srvis lint - Essay Example

ND-TО-ЕND QUАLITY АSSURАNСЕ РRОСЕSS FОR LАRGЕ FINАNСIАL SЕRVIСЕS СLIЕNT АND ТWО ОF ITS ЕХTЕRNАL VЕNDОRS Number: Course: Lecturer: Date: Table of Contents Statement of the Problem 3 Objectives 4 Areas of Consideration 4 Alternative Courses of Action 4 Analysis of each Alternative Courses of Action 6 Conclusion 7 Recommendations 8 References 9 Introduction This paper explores the process of developing an end-to-end quality assurance procedure for a large financial institution and two of its external vendors. The paper will employ workflow based models to develop a comprehensive and integrated quality management procedure. Today’s competitive business environment demands the combination of a number of factors in order to guarantee success. Product quality plays a major role in the success of businesses (Wise, 2012). A high quality product will ensure long term relationships between partners, be it consumers, suppliers, manufacturers or financiers. Management of product quality is an integral part of product development lifecycle. Every organization is laying strategies and systems to ensure that a stringent quality management is applied to their products. Statement of the Problem The current situation is that a vendor in Texas cannot correctly consolidate individual investor performance data. When sending the data to a printer in Massachusetts, errors are also transmitted. The implication is, the printer in Massachusetts cannot correctly convert the consolidated data into quarterly performance reports. Also, the generated report comparing each an individual investor performance against the financial markets benchmark is not accurate (Lans, 2012). Reports emailed to client’s financial correspondents are inaccurate, leave alone the inability of the vendor to email the correct report to the intended correspondent. Objectives 1. To develop an end-to-end quality assurance process that analyzes the sources of errors and drafting solutions to prevent future occurrences. 2. To establish an appropriate quality assurance process for each vendor in the communication chain. 3. To identify an integrated quality assurance process in their systems that ensures end-to-end monitoring. Areas of Consideration Most companies have engaged a number of processes to ensure that they retailed quality products and services. However, the lack of an imply that they still suffer losses in terms of time required to coordinate flow of information between systems, maintaining integrity and sanity of those systems, overhead maintenance, duplication of information and missing critical information that led to detrimental end-customer relationships (James Evans, 2012). Clear identification of roles and responsibilities will facilitate establishment of a communication plan. These two processes lay the foundation for identifying testing data, setting up a test environment and tracking and managing defects. In the end, a testing schedule integrated with the system will be developed to aid in continuous assessment of the vendors and their systems (Michalewicz et al 2006). Alternative Courses of Action The alternative of an end-to-end quality assurance process will be achieved in five distinct phases that include: Initiation Planning Setup Testing Implementation These distinct phases superimpose directly on the conventional software development processes that guarantee that quality is achieved and the product or service meets the expectation of the client. This phase is the foundation of the whole process and involves ongoing meetings and summits taking place over a course of few weeks or months. Initially, BIS had developed a process flow chart that oversees the activity of each vendor. The process bore fruits as quality improved dramatically as a result of regular open communication and the collaborative approach (Black, 2004). In this case, the initiation process need not repeat what was previously done rather a review of the process should be conducted to determine potential loopholes that lead to the failure of the system. The next phase of the process calls for documentation of intellectual capital generated. A permanent guide is drafted to keep the process on track. A common reference guide that dictates the actions of all the parties contributes to consistency along the communication channel. This guide details all the requirements among the concerned parties and eliminates misunderstandings and conflicting interpretation of procedures (Lans, 2012). The root of the problem is lack of consistency and detail in consolidating individual performance data from the source until the last party in the channel. The lack of accuracy in the consolidation of data in Texas leads to inaccuracy. These inaccurate data is transferred to the printer in Massachusetts and finally to the client’s financial correspondent. To restore quality, an analysis should be conducted at the source of the errors that is at the consolidation point in Texas. Questions concerning the tools used to consolidate the data and their validity should be raised. This analysis will zero in the problem to either the system tools, expertise of the personnel conducting the process or problem in the system. Eliminating the source of the problem goes a long way in restoring quality. If, for instance, the expertise of personnel conducting the consolidation is in question, it is advisable to re-train them or look for knowledgeable personnel. If the tools applied for data consolidation are not efficient, the organization can seek ways of improving them. Collaboration is essential for execution of a project like this. Each individual is expected to provide their expertise. People executing the plan the transaction, namely IT managers, QA leads, project managers and all other employees in the three organizations should reach a consensus on the form, integrity and accuracy of the data before it is passed to the next stage (James Evans, 2012). Analysis of each Alternative Courses of Action Once a consensus has been reached on the state of data to be transmitted to the next stage of the communication channel, a testing plan is initiated. The testing plan will probe the resources required to successfully process and transfer data to the next location. For instance, are the PC’s in the organization efficient to output the required data? To avoid the costly trial and error situation currently witnessed where inaccurate data is transferred to the wrong persons, a testing exercise is conducted (Hughes, 2008). The procedure tests the infrastructure for communication, resources allocated to the process and the overall functionality of the system. A simulation exercise will be set up where test data is transferred from a vendor located in Texas to a second location in Massachusetts. The vendor based in Massachusetts will convert the consolidated electronic data and derive quarterly reports that would be emailed to individual financial correspondents according to the performance (Hughes, 2008). This testing process is conducted to ascertain the achievability of the objects in practical situations. It might be essential for each entity to develop its own internal evaluation systems and derive a report that will be reviewed by a panel comprising of representatives from all the three organizations. Testing will weed out effective reports and help identify their origin within the communication system. It will also aid in tracing adherence to agreed requirements. The last phase of the process is the implementation stage. Implementation stage of this process built upon a model that is self-sufficient and extends into the future. This is where the safeguards are placed to ensure a quality cycle that repeats itself into the future (Michalewicz et al 2006). Implementation can be thought of as internal and external. It is internal in the sense that it revolves around the team working on the project and the expectations of the financial institution. Further, it is external because the project involves external parties which the institution must constantly assess to ensure persistence of positive results. It is not unusual for the project priorities to change, and if it does, constant assessment must be done to ensure that the needs of the business, that of the customers and individual are conceptualized and meet (Black, 2004). Conclusion This paper has explored the process of end-to-end quality assurance procedure for a large financial institution and two of its external vendors. It utilized workflow based models to develop a comprehensive and integrated quality management procedure. It established that a competitive business environment demands the combination of a number of factors in order to guarantee success (Wise, 2012). It obtained that high quality product ensures long term relationships between suppliers, partners, consumers, manufacturers or financiers. Management of product quality is an integral part of product development lifecycle. Recommendations 1. The financial organization together with the vendors should participate in a review process to highlight the grey areas that need due consideration. 2. Representation from all the three parties is imperative to keep the project momentum high and make possible the organizations quest on quality management alive. 3. The departments to be involved are those affected by the inefficiency including IT, project management, technical/operational and human resources. 4. By the time initiation phase is completed, parameters such as appropriateness of the quality model adopted, roles and responsibilities of the organization and the vendors, deliverables, draft of quality plan, and a mutual agreement on roles and responsibilities should be reached (Black, 2004). 5. Every organization should lay out strategies and systems to ensure that a stringent quality management is applied to their products. References Black, R. (2004). Critical Testing Processes: Plan, Prepare, Perform, Perfect. Elsevier. Hughes, R. (2008). Agile Data Warehousing: Delivering World-Class Business Intelligence Systems Using Scrum and XP. iUniverse. James Evans, ‎. L. (2012). Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence. Taylor. Lans, R. (2012). Data Virtualization for Business Intelligence Systems: Revolutionizing Data Integration for Data Warehouses. Elsevier. Michalewicz Z., Schmidt M., Michalewicz M. , Chiriac C. (2006). Adaptive Business Intelligence. Springer Science & Business Media. Wise, L. (2012). Using Open Source Platforms for Business Intelligence: Avoid Pitfalls and Maximize ROI. Newnes. Read More

 

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