PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES

IN
SERVICES SECTOR
(OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT)

SUBMITTED TO:

Prof. SUNIL BHARADWAJ

DATE: Jan 20, 2009

SUBMITTED BY:

Baalesh Mathur

Chandranath Banerjee

Pradipta Saha

Sibashish Banerjee

Subhadip Nath

GROUP: 11 SECTION: J (Sem 2)

2008-2010
Introduction :

Service sector organizations constantly encounter the challenge of productivity improvement in

terms of the services delivered by them. Before discussing the various productivity improvement
techniques in the service industry, let’s first define productivity and the general criterion of its
measurement.

Productivity defined

In general productivity could be defined as a measure of efficiency of an organization in terms of

the ratio of the outputs to inputs. The higher the numerical value of this ratio, the greater the
efficiency. Productivity measures the efficiency of the employees in using the organization`s
scarce resources to produce goods and services. It is an important attribute as it helps managers
to identify inefficient activities in the service design and delivery process in terms of man-hours
spent, materials consumed, etc. Thus productivity could be used as a controlling tool to ensure
that all the resources are utilized judiciously and efficiently.

Measurement of productivity in service organizations

Measuring productivity in a service organization is difficult due to the intangible nature of the
product. Service companies base productivity on the number of tasks performed, or the number
of customers served in any given time period. Other measures include a comparison of the
service provided with established company, industry, or customer quality standards. Since, it is
often difficult to establish a standard time for a task in the service industry, usually, only a
probable time for a task can be established.

In order to measure productivity, service professionals maintain time-sheets to indicate the

amount of time spent on a given task. In cases where the task is routine and involves minimal
customization, the quantity of work as for example, the number of service calls made per day,
the number of queries handled, or the number of customers served, is used as a measure.

Quality of service is directly related to productivity. A focus on quality of service delivered

can contribute to improved productivity by reducing wastages incurred and optimizing the
process and procedures. The quality of the service ensures that the organization retains its
customers and is simultaneously able to attract new customers.

We will be focusing on the productivity improvement techniques in the following service

industries:

➢ Banking
➢ health care(hospitals)
➢ hospitality industry(focusing on hotel industry)
➢ aviation industry
 ➢ IT
Banking sector
Past decade has seen a tremendous rise in the Indian banking industry. With time consumers
have seen a great change in the quantum and quality of services offered by the banks. Banking
industry which was once totally controlled and operated under government control now has
many private players, both national and international. Due to the emergence of private players,
the industry has seen immense competition which has lead to new innovations and development
in the sector. It became quite obvious to the various banks that mere service quality will not be
sufficient. To excel, they must work over various productivity improvement measures. This leads
to the adoption of many productivity enhancement changes in the processes.

Various parameters are evaluated to measure the productivity of service in the banking sector:

Service is more productive when the input resources are minimized and the desired output is
more. Such a situation is attained in the banking industry by working over their service
mechanism, minimizing operating costs without compromising on services.

Customer satisfaction is a direct reflection of the quality service provided by a bank. Various
parameters will decide the level of customer satisfaction:

• Economy of time: decreasing the waiting time for the customer is very important to
increase productivity as well as to enhance customer satisfaction. The service should be
provided without any hassles and as soon as demanded.

• Punctuality: services should be produced as per promised schedule. For eg. When a
customer opens an account , it should become operative on or before the promised date
and time.
• Quality of the service offered: quality of the service should be delighting for the
customer. Quality service delivered on time ensures customer loyalty and also leads to
increase of customer base.

Moreover, various processes in the banks are redesigned and re engineered to suit to the
customers, removing bottlenecks and increasing efficiency.

Various techniques of productivity improvement and service quality enhancement, adopted in

different processes taking place in banks are as follows:
✔ Decreasing waiting time: customers have to wait in large queues for their turn while
interacting with the bank staff. This could be avoided by providing self operating kiosks
in banks, from where customers could find information about their accounts. Moreover,
these could also provide an instructional guideline for the function which the customer
wants to perform.
✔ Increasing punctuality: providing service to the customer as per the time promised is
very important to retain customer confidence. To provide correct time required to the
customer, IT enabled channels could be used. “Service delivery period” calculation
software is used. The customer service executive needs to enter the client service
requirement and the software will tell the time required depending upon the previous
commitments.
✔ Communication amongst different departments: all the departments are
interconnected with the help of intranet services. Status of any process could be checked
from any terminal in any department. Various departments, finance, marketing, back
office could communicate directly whenever the need arises.
✔ Increasing visibility of the process: all the steps in a process should be properly entered
in a data processing software which integrates information regarding various steps of the
process. This will lead to greater visibility, thus, if a problem arises in the process, it
could be easily detected by monitoring it on the computer terminal.
✔ Providing IT enabled hassle free alternatives to clients. Providing online banking
solutions to clients would not only greatly reduce the costs for the banks but also provide
greater comfort to clients. Moreover the speed of the business processes will also be
enhanced.
✔ Business process re engineering could be done by following various strategies:

• Changes in organizational structure: various organizational wings which require

greater coordination, same infrastructure and perform similar functions could be
consolidated into a single unit.( for eg. The sales department, customer service
department and customer relations unit could be clubbed together. Calls from
different regional offices could be routed into a single teleservice centre.)
This will result in great cost cutting and efficiency enhancement.

• Change in process to enhance efficiency of time

Case of credit approval for personal loans at ICICI bank

ICICI personal loans department provides loans to customers for personal

expenditures. The process of credit approval used to take 7-10 days. Because of
long processing time, salespeople felt that they were losing many potential
clients;therefore, reducing processing time became critical.
 Old process

Step1: ICICI executive calls in, requesting credit approval for a client.
Step2: Clerk logs the call on paper, messenger takes it to credit department.
Step3: A specialist enters data into computer, checks creditworthiness and
prepares a report.
Step4: The report is physically moved to the business practices department.
Step5: The business practices department modifies a standard loan to fit
customer`s needs.
Step6: Using a spread sheet, a pricer determines the appropriate interest rate and
payment schedule.
Step7: An administrator uses the information to develop a quote letter.
Step8: The quote letter is delivered to the salesperson, who submits it to the
customer.

The re-engineered process:

One person, called a deal structure, conducts all the above steps. To enable one
person to execute the above steps, a simple DSS provides the deal structure with
the guidelines needed. The program guides the deal structure in finding
information in the databases, plugging numbers into an evaluation model, and
pulling standardized clauses from a file. For a difficult situation he can get help
from a specialist from the financial department.

RESULT: the turnaround time slashed down to 24 hours instead of 7 days.

Number of employees reduced and greater cost effectiveness achieved. Thus
greater volume of business could be handled by the organization with greater
customer satisfaction. Thus manifold increase in productivity was observed.

✔ Increased use of IT in the business process within the organizations ,has resulted in great
enhancement of productivity in the banking sector. IT tools like shared databases,
client/server architecture, electronic mail, high performance computing systems,
DSS(decision support system), enterprise support systems and expert systems, have lead
to increased coordination and better communication within the organization.
.
Use of IT for productivity enhancement in overall banking operations at ICICI bank
ICICI bank has been one of the pioneers in the banking sector in India to provide high quality
online banking services. A wide gamut of online services offered has not only resulted in great
cost cutting(infrastructure cost) but also made the services more reliable and effective. Clients
could perform transactions with the bank with the help of their log in id`s. various other services
like e-ticketing, mobile banking, e-shopping, e-billing etc., offered by the bank have also lead to
customer base enhancement.
Latest initiative of the bank to increase the quantum and quality of its services is to start India`s
first branch free banking service. This will totally remove the need of physical transactions
between the clients and the bank. The client will not need to associate himself with any branch
of the bank and is free to perform all the banking transactions from his own place.
Advantages: increase in customer comfort, huge cost cutting for the bank, increased customer
base , enhanced reliability of services.
All these factors are resulting in great productivity enhancement for the bank.
Health Care Industry
The health care industry in India, is a rapidly increasing service industry. With the increase in the
number of patients and good doctors, the need for efficient health care services is also increasing.
Today, India is not only catering to millions of patients from across the country but also
thousands of people come daily, from across the border to get good treatment. This provides the
very reason for the constant improvement in the services offered and greater efficiency in the
productivity of hospitals.

Objective of a hospital:-

To cater to large number of patients with full responsibility and efficiency which make the
patients ultimately satisfied with the services being provided.

Services provided includes the facilities of general treatment, inbound treatment, operations and
surgery, clinical test facilities, emergency rooms and trauma center , ambulance faculties, and
many more.

Productivity in a hospital:-

Productivity in a hospital is generally defined in many senses, like productivity equal to output
(number of operations and ambulance trips) divided by the input ( people and capital).
Productivity can also be measured in terms of the number of patients being provided the services
to the length of their stay in the hospital. Quality of care though not very much measured as
productivity but is as a result of it.

Thus to increase the productivity of a hospital, several adaptations and improvement measures
are required both at the managerial level as well as the operational level.

Methods for improvement of productivity in hospital:-

1. Designing the hospital so as to decrease the waiting time and difficulties suffered by
the patients:
• Hospitals are generally multistoried which creates a lot of time wastage and
difficulties for patient. The ground floor is very much crucial as all the activities
starts from this level. The ground floor could be made more productive by:-
Registration desk made close to the entrance to avoid any confusion among the
incoming patients. The doctor’s consultancy rooms at this level, as the 1st
requirement of the patients before going for any further procedures. Emergency
rooms must be made at this level which can be connected to the ambulances
arriving with serious patients. This will not only decrease the reaction time but
will reduce further pain for the patients due to lesser movements. Billing counters,
 pharmacy department and waiting hall could also facilitate faster procedures and
will cut down the chaos in upper levels.
• The clinical testing laboratories, facilities like X-Ray, CT-Scan etc can be well
distributed on the upper floors so that the patients prescribed to the above tests by
the doctors only could queue for it and this will also make the hospital staff
comfortable.
• The general wards and the special personal ones could be made on upper floors so
that they are not disturbed by the incoming patients presence and the noises at the
ground level. These wards should be made closer to the testing labs and the
operational theatres so that little movement for the patients admitted can be
provided. The movement time between processes and also the sufferings of the
patients can be reduced.
• The children wards which require a special attention must be made at a level
which could provide a good environment like good amount of sunlight, pleasant
outside view and least amount of noise.
• Each floor must be equipped with storage rooms for drugs, oxygen cylinders and
other necessary items.
• There must be a good ventilation and efficient source of light in every floor.

1. Use of Information Technology to enhance productivity:

• Most of the hospitals in India suffer from lack of good communication process
between various departments and among the staff members whish ultimately
results in slowdown of activities, delay in procedures, information wastage and
finally a dissatisfied patient. This affects the productivity as well as the image of
the hospital. The hospital integrated management system which makes all the
departments well connected facilitates better communication between them. It is
an efficient tool which makes the flow of intact information from one department
and among the staffs without any delay and decreases the waiting time for the
patients as well as the staff members.
It helps in keeping the doctors updated about the condition of the patients.
• The integrated management systems provides quick transfer of patients reports
from the various laboratories and departments and also stores the records for
further treatment. This makes the treatment time quick.

The systems can be efficiently use for improving patients flow; Scheduling; Bed
management; Patient, staff and asset tracking, and Interactive patient care.
• Improve Scheduling: Scheduling softwares provides comprehensive
appointments, event and task management like testing and surgeries. Over-
booking and satisfaction-zapping wait times can be eased or eliminated.
 Reminders and alerts can be generated to minimize no-shows-patients who fail to
arrive for treatment.
• Helps in simplifying bed management: The goal of bed management is to
accurately place the patient in the right unit with the right level of staff required
and the right level of care. A bed management system helps to assign or transfer
patients from emergency department and other clinical units reducing the phone
calls and paper processes.
• Tracking of patients, staffs and assets can be greatly improved by the use of
many iIT tools. Ambulances carrying patients can be tracked with the help of
systems like GPS and also can be made to reach hospitals in quick time free from
traffics with the help of navigator systems.
• A major concern for the hospital administration lies with its inventory
management. The application of IT like inventory management system helps in
solving the problem of inventory level to a great extent. Since a hospital cannot
go a shortage of inventories like drugs, surgical equipments, oxygen cylinders,
blood requirements, or any other important items, the inventory management
system takes care of the shortages as well as reducing the excess. Most of the
inventories bear an expiry deadline so this system also provides timely utilization
of the items as well as reducing the chances of use of expired things.
• Improving patient care and operational efficiency:-
Real time and convenient electronic access to patient medication records and
prescription history.
Reduce incidents of medication and dispensing errors through the use of
automation engines (e.g. drug interaction and medical alert systems).
Enhance workflow through automated and integrated back end processe such as
pharmacy and billing management.
1. Cost saving techniques helps in improving the productivity as well as makes better
investments in future possible.
• Waste management is a major concern for this industry as tons of wastes are
produced daily from the various activities. Recycling of these waste products can
be used to decrease harm of the environment as well as acts as a source for
increasing the revenue for the hospital.
• Renewable energy development cuts down the expenses of hospitals to a great
extent. Waste water treatment facilities, rain water harvesting technique, use of
solar energy for purpose like heating, cleaning and lightening.
• Use of glass windows and proper ventilation, enabling proper sunlight and air
flow helps in saving a lot of energy. This also makes the environment more lively.
• Use of CFL technology for lightening which needs an initial investment but is
very useful in cutting the energy expenditures.
1. Improved service facilities:-
• Use of new and modern improved equipments for treatment and monitoring of
patients health like, info-imaging technique adopted by various hospitals which
 provides the facilities of X-Ray, CT-Scan and other radiotherapy procedures in a
single machine. It provides the detailed computerized report which can be thus
stored and communicated directly. This technology not only saves room space but
also reduces the patient’s movement time which in other cases was too much.
• Advanced services like inter-connecting hospitals though web which can be used
by the doctors to get assistance in handling severe cases as well as passing the
knowledge for the benefit of its patients, includes getting an international and pre-
booked appointment.
• Providing the ambulances with emergency facilities like on board treatment
and operation service which reduces the suffering time for patients and also
reduces the difficulties of the hospital staffs.
• Human resource management like recruitment of skilled staffs and giving them
proper care and value for their work also enhances the productivity of hospitals.
Job specialization is indeed a major requirement for this type of service.
• Hygiene adds a lot to the image of the hospital. Many hospitals nationwide boasts
of the clean environment it provides and thus investing in the hygiene
maintenance will only add to the number of patients for the hospital. It also
provides a good working atmosphere for its staffs.

The hospitality industry (hotel industry)

As per the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Report released in
2007, travel and tourism is currently one of the World’s largest economic
activities. Not only it is the leading industry in many countries, it is the
fastest growing economic sector in terms of job creation worldwide. The
tourist arrivals in India touched 4.44 million during the calendar year 2006.
This reflected continued buoyancy in foreign tourist arrivals and the number
is expected to go up to 10 million by 2010. Overall the Travel and Tourism
Industry globally is poised for a sustainable growth which augurs well for the
Hotel and Hospitality Industry. The rapid growth in the tourism and airline
industry has had a very positive impact on the hospitality industry

Productivity improvement process in hotel industry will work on the following lines:

➢ Increasing coordination and control within the system

➢ Enhancing better monitoring and visibility
➢ Maximizing Customers’ satisfaction.
➢ Minimizing Cost incurred.
➢ Extracting maximum Business.
➢ Maximizing net Profitability.
➢ Introducing Cost-effective Techniques.
➢ Optimum utilization of available resources.

Various techniques adopted to incorporate the above attributes:

➢ Integrated Management: This is another cost effective tool in the armor of management
to confirm smooth functioning of the Business where all Departments are interlinked. For
example, in hotels with integrated management customer can easily check in and check
out from any counter because of the inter-link.

➢ Inventory Management: integrated inventory management information system helps to

keep track of the inventory so that a minimum level can always be maintained and
possibility of running out of stock becomes negligible.

➢ Online Booking:- It is estimated that by 2010 around 18 percent of revenues for hotels
will come from hotel bookings made on the internet, compared to the current 8–10
percent of revenues. Online bookings are more cost effective, tend to attract more
affluent customers and reduce reliance on more expensive booking channels.
The focus of all activities lies on providing quality services at affordable prices. For this the hotel
groups need to minimize unfruitful expenses and try to figure out ways to provide greater
customer delight.

➢ E-marketing:- It has been seen that every year Travelers using the internet for
information on destinations or to check prices or schedules have been growing at 395
percent over the past three years. Thus Hotels must make full use of internet to develop
trust and increase their market share.

For minimizing costs following strategies are adopted:

➢ Yield Management:- This is a technique of Hotels that ensures Productivity

improvement. Just like in airlines once the full booking is not confirmed, they start
offering Discounts, similarly in Hotels in order to check cost bookings at discounted rates
are done.

➢ Managing Employee Strength: Appropriate number of employees are be kept in the

organization.For e.g. a single person can be appointed on the reception and use of two
people can be avoided. Hotel industry can also save a lot with regard to man power.
During special requirement they hire seasonal employees (industrial trainees) on contract
basis and thereby save lot of cost.

➢ Electricity cost cutting:-To be cost effective and highly productive, Hotels set up a solar
power mechanism wherein most of the electricity is generated with the help of solar
energy, also the heat generated by the Air condition can be used through coiled heater to
warm water and thus saving lot of Electricity.

➢ Multitasking: An employee should be trained in such a way that he manages more than
one task at a given point of time. This will reduce the need of any extra employee which
can help in reducing the cost.

➢ Renting places for banquets: this is one of the ways by which hotels provide for a cover
for the maintenance of high quality banquets.
To curtail the marketing budget, various alternative strategies are adopted, which are cost
effective:

➢ Tie up with Tourism industry hours and travel:- The hotel collaborate with the tour
and travel operators on commission basic for designing travelling packages for domestic
as well as international package.

➢ Associating with Event Management Companies: - Regular events, social as well as

corporate are organized in hotels by event management companies. Hotels offer them a
subsidies package for their services.

➢ Local Taxi Drivers:- Local Taxi auto drivers are commissioned to bring customer to the
hotel picked up from railway stations and airports.

AVIATION INDUSTRY
The Indian aviation industry is one of the fastest growing aviation industries in the world. India
has 454 airports and airstrips; of these, 16 are designated international airports. With the
liberalization of the Indian aviation sector, aviation industry in India has undergone a rapid
transformation. From being primarily a government-owned industry, the Indian aviation industry
is now dominated by privately owned full-service airlines and low-cost carriers. Private airlines
account for around 75 per cent share of the domestic aviation market. Earlier, air travel was a
privilege only a few could afford, but today air travel has become much cheaper and can be
afforded by a large number of people.
There has been phenomenal growth in the Indian aviation sector in 2007-08. India has
jumped to 9th position in world's aviation market from 12th in 2006. As per the Ministry of
Civil Aviation, the airline business is growing at 27 per cent per annum in India. During
2007, the domestic airline passenger traffic has shown a growth of 32.51 per cent. Further,
the scheduled domestic air services are now available from 82 airports as against 75 in
2006.

Productivity in aviation industry

Productivity in the aviation sector can be measured in terms of both tangible and intangible
output as is generally done for service sectors. The tangible terms tend to measure the
number of passengers served per day compared to the man and money effort put in a day.
The intangible aspect of the productivity is generated by the goodwill and the customer
satisfaction. It could also be measured in terms of the revenue earned to the revenue
generated in a particular time period.

Methods for improvement of productivity in aviation sector-

Provision for bulk buying of tickets

In case a passenger wants to book tickets for a long period of time travelling on a constant
basis there should be provision to offer him a large volume of tickets to him at a lower cost.
This insures both the customer value addition as well as the profit for the airline because it
is guaranteed of steady flow of passengers.

Flight Sharing
There are examples of different airline companies which fly in the same route at same time
with half the flight filled for both the companies. In such scenarios it could be done that two
companies come together and share the same flight with mutual understanding and share the
profit as per contract. This in turn reduces the operating cost of both the flights and reduces
wastage of fuel by going half empty.
Reduction of Frills
The airlines could reduce the amount of frills generally provided by them so as to reduce the
operating cost and also maintain good service i.e. timing and regularity which adds more
value to the customers.

Various processes are re-engineered to provide maximum productivity from a process.

Two re-engineered processes are presented:

First process is to depict the enhancement of productivity and efficacy at the airport,
adopted by airport authorities

• Original passenger boarding process-

The disadvantages of the following system:

1. The process of getting the baggage checked before boarding is time consuming
2. The passenger has to wait in queue twice and both passengers and authorities
time is wasted
The ways to rectify the process is as follows:
The baggage and security check should be done together so that the extra time in the
baggage checking is not done and the extra money and infrastructure required for that could
be removed. The reengineered process is shown below and the actual implementation of the
process can be found at new Hyderabad Airport. This has facilitated in serving the
customers more efficiently and also helped the aviation sector too.

The re-engineered process

The second process is of online ticketing which is adopted by various airlines

 • Online Ticket booking system:

The disadvantage of the system is as follows:

1. The passengers are forced to take to seat they are forced to take
2. The passenger who are placed in the emergency exits gates might not be ready to
seat over there and they have to be changed
The ways to rectify the process is as follows:

In the existing system if the passenger gets a bit late he/she will not get the seat of his
convenience. So the customer satisfaction is hampered to a great extent. So it can be done
that the customer while booking the ticket online only can select his preferred seat. As a
result the time taken to get the boarding pass will be saved and also the customer gets happy
with his own selection of the seat. This kind of modification of process has already been
done in Kingfisher Airlines.
 The Reengineered Process

Software Services/ IT Industry:

Introduction:

Computer Software / Services production accounts for a share of 4.56 percent in India’s GDP at
current prices during the year 2007-08. Production of Computer Software / Services has been
growing at an annual average growth rate of 31.14 percent (33.74 percent in US$ terms) during
the past five years. 75 out of total 116 SEI CMM level 5 certified companies worldwide are
Indian.
India’s information technology and IT-enabled services industry is expected to be more than
double in size by 2012, led by a fast-expanding domestic market. The industry's revenues,
including those from export markets, will reach Rs 5.3 trillion (132 billion dollars) in 2012, from
Rs 2.46 trillion last year, as per report by market-research firm IDC India. Last year, India's
overall IT and IT-enabled services industry logged 22.4 per cent growth in revenue to Rs 2.46
trillion, of which the domestic market contributed Rs 900 billion.
In 2008, the overall industry is expected to grow 20 per cent, with the Indian market expanding
22.4 per cent, maintaining its growth rate last year. However, Indian IT companies, including
software makers, are grappling with a slowdown in demand from the United States, their biggest
market.
Productivity of Service in IT/Software Industry can be measured in the following ways:

Productivity in Software industry is function of Revenues generated through the Software

Services/applications w.r.t the total cost incurred for the same.

Productivity = Total Revenues / Total Cost

Where, Total Revenues is the revenue generated by Software Service or application

Total Cost - This comprises development costs (measured in Man hour) and support costs.

Total Cost , C = K*Im = K * M

Where, Im - man-hours spent in time period i

M - the total man-hours expended during development and integration
K - Constant that depends on overhead and general and administrative expenses.

Techniques for Productivity Improvement:

1. Software Process Re-engineering/Improvement :

This includes focus on SPI (Software Process Improvement) to obtain raw productivity
gains and re-use /learn from the experiences from previous projects. Software Process
Re-engineering helps to identify and then improve the bottlenecks in the software project
process flow.

2. Reusability:
Code reusability where the code of one project or module/functionality can be used in the
another module/functionality of the same or different project of similar nature is one of
the major ways of improving software productivity as it reduces the cost by reducing the
extra effort ,resources and man-hours to write that piece of code from scratch.
 3. Reducing Defects :
Reducing the overall defects induced during the software development improves the
productivity of the software project. Use of standard processes, clear understanding of the
requirement, effective use of technology etc are some of the ways to reduce the defects.

4. Using Defect Analysis Feedback :

Use of defect data from one iteration for defect prevention in future iterations. The defect
data is collected during the development. At the end of an iteration, the defect data is
analyzed using a structured analysis process leading to identification of root causes of
defects and suggestions for attacking the root causes to prevent the occurrence of such
defects in future. These suggestions are the process improvement possibilities actions for
future iterations.
E.g Using Defect Analysis Feedback for Improving Quality And Productivity In Iterative
Software Development at Infosys.

5. Visibility and Flexibility of Design/Software Architecture :

Visualization of the architecture is the key to productivity, for software services also. A
one-to-one mapping from the architecture diagram/design to the code must be achieved
in order to gain the benefits derived from that equivalent in hardware. The clarity in
design of the project helps in reducing the defects during coding; thus improving
productivity.
Also the flexibility and visualization of the architecture on a modular basis and provides
a one-to-one mapping into the detailed code, can ensure design independence of modules
while allowing visibility of the desired details; providing real reusability.

6. Effective Project size, effort and cost estimation :

Proper project planning, appropriate resource and task allocation (using tools like MS
project etc), estimating project size, effort and cost; improves the productivity of project.

7. Effective Utilization of Resources :

Effective utilization of resources like proper matching of person with task based on the
skills and interests, appropriate utilization of technical and physical resources like
softwares, computers etc.

Productivity Improvement in Software Project development through Business Process Re-

Engineering:

• Company : KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd

 • Domain/Vertical : Manufacturing
• Client : Cummins Inc,USA

• Software Development Projects (especially web based application softwares)

development in KPIT Cummins Infosystems follows the SDLC model.

It includes the following steps: (Refer process flow diagram)

1. Requirement Gathering and Analysis
(Preparing Software Requirement Specification document)
2. Design (High level System and Low level module design)
3. Test Case Preparation(Writing detailed test cases about each requirement module
wise)
4. Coding (Writing the Software code as per the Requirement ,Design and Test
cases)
5. Implementation (Deploying and implementing the developed application)
6. Testing (Testing the developed application)
7. Maintenance (Maintaining and making any changes in the application if required)

Bottlenecks in the existing process affecting productivity:

➢ If the developer is not clear about the Test cases for the particular module; it will require
clarification (from the person who has written Test Cases) which will increase the time
and cost and thus affect the productivity.
➢ Developer codes the application (or particular module) based on the Requirements,
Design and Test Cases (generally each prepared by different persons). If the developer is
not clear or has ambiguity in any of the above he will need to go back and understand the
things and accordingly again make changes in the code written ; increasing the time ,no
of lines of code .This affects productivity( as productivity is dependent on the No of
lines of code written per man-hour.)

Improved Process using Software Development Process Re-Engineering :

1. Requirement Gathering and Analysis

(Preparing Software Requirement Specification document)
2. Design (High level System and Low level module design)
– Let each developer develop the detailed Low Level Design of the module
assigned to him/her and get it reviewed from the lead
1. Preparing the Understanding Document
 – Each developer to prepare the detailed ‘Understanding Document ‘ of the
module assigned based on that Low Level Design (and SRS doc if required)
1. Test Case Preparation(Writing detailed test cases about each requirement module
wise)
– Each developer to prepare the Test Case for the corresponding module
assigned ; based on the ‘Understanding Document’
1. Coding (Writing the Software code as per the Requirement ,Design and Test
cases)
2. Implementation (Deploying and implementing the developed application)
3. Testing (Testing the developed application)
4. Maintenance (Maintaining and making any changes in the application if required)

Benefits and Productivity Improvement through New Process:

• Since the developer(S) write the code for a particular module preparing the Low
Level Design of the corresponding module will make the developer clear about the
exact requirement, design and idea of what he/she is going to code.
• Similarly, while preparing the ‘Understanding Document’ the developer will exactly
understand the requirements, how to code based the Low Level Design on the design
prepared for the corresponding module.
• The Test Cases for each module will be detailed and clear covering all the possible
scenarios as it is written by the developer (s) of that particular module.

In all the above steps the developer will do the work and get it reviewed from the particular lead
and almost all the doubts and ambiguity will be cleared at the particular stage itself. This will
improve the efficiency of the Coding process as there will be little chances of change in the code
due to lack of or ambiguity in understanding the task/module.
These steps will directly impact the productivity of the project as the man-hour per module will
be reduced thus reducing the cost of the module and in-turn of the project.

Example :

• Table 1 shows the type of defect and its root cause

• Table 2 shows the Total Revenue ,Total Cost and in turn Productivity before and
after Process Re-engineering
(Note: 1.5 is he reduced cost and 0.1 is the additional cost incurred due to change
in process)
Table 1 Table 2
 Total Productivit
Revenue y
Defect Total Total
Root Cause (in (Total
Type Defects Cost
million Revenue /
US $) Total Cost)
Logic Lack of /ambiguity Before
al in understanding of Process
20 2 1.8 1.11
(Design requirements or Re-
Related) improper design engineering
Lack of /ambiguity
in understanding of After
Redundant
requirements or Process 1.6
12 2 1.25
improper design or Re- (1.5+0.1)
Code
Incomplete Test engineering
cases
Lack of /ambiguity
in understanding of
User
requirements(by the
Interface
developer) or
improper coding

Thus, from the above example we can say that Process Re-engineering of Software project
process will reduce the type of defects mentioned in Table 1 and will decrease the Total Cost
and in turn the Productivity of the project.

SHIFT TAKING PLACE IN THE WORLD IN THE AREA OF SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Service industry is the most important industry for a developing nation. The share of service
sector is the greatest in any developed nation. With the economic development, demand for
quality service increases which in turn propels the service industry.

In the past decade the world has observed a great shift in the service industry. The industry has
now turned extremely customer oriented. Moreover, with the advancement of technology new
and improved techniques of servicing are evolving. This again has made the service industry an
extremely dynamic front. Big organizations throughout the globe continuously innovate
processes and techniques to provide better services to clients.
We are witnessing the rise of global players in the service sector, who are mapping the whole
world with the services. The customers are reaping the benefits of this revolution as quality
services are available at suitable prices.

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