QualityCosts Survey Revised

8/8/2019 QualityCosts Survey Revised

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Kompetenzzentrum

fr wissensbasierteAnwendungen und

Systeme Forschungs-

und EntwicklungsGmbH

Inffeldgasse 21a

8010 Graz / Austriawww.know-center.at

The Gap between

Information Technology andQuality Management

A Trend-Survey of Quality Managersin Austria and Germany

Know-Center Graz, January, 2005


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Trend Survey - The Gap between Information Technology and Quality Management

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction ...........................................................................................62 IT Often Handicaps Organizational Performance...................................73 The Quality Manager Survey ..................................................................8

Quality management drives organizational performance ....................................8Quality management is an information-intensive activity....................................8Quality of information matters ........................................................................ 9Information technology eases access to information........................................ 10Quality managers already address information quality problems ....................... 10Bad information quality causes significant threads........................................... 11Information technology supports quality management..................................... 11Employees are sufficiently trained ................................................................. 12A gap between QM theory and practice exists................................................. 13This gap can be explained ............................................................................ 13Document management is key to successful quality management..................... 14Integrated IT systems are important for quality management .......................... 14The number of IT-enabled quality management solutions will rise..................... 15

4 Conclusions ..........................................................................................16 Imprint .........................................................................................................17


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1 Introduct ionYou know that successfulquality management strongly dependson an effective application of information technology. Organiza-tions that appropriately leverage information technology for qualitymanagement smoothly integrate the quality of information with thequality of their products.

Information technology in these organizations automatically ensuresthe accordance of businesses with quality management stan-dards and reduces administrative work for their work force.Thereby information technology frees employees from painful and

costly tasks enabling them to focus on the most value-generating ac-tivities.

Yet, the situation in many organizations is different. On your com-panys file server, employees are facing multiple documents, out-of-date information and even inconsistent data. Remember your lastquality management audit? - When your employees lacked knowledgeabout quality management requirements and consequently, could notconform to the guidelines developed? And they can not even be heldaccountable for that because they needed to put their energy and

time in their value-generating activities while they are in desperateneed for appropriate information technology support.

Sound familiar? You are not alone.

Despite the promises of the e-business age and available qualitymanagement software, an amazing number of organizationsstruggle with aligning their information technology to theirquality- and business needs because of:

Complex and information-intensive business processes Incompatible IT systems Networked supply chains Non-transparent software market


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2 I T Often Handicaps Organizat ional P er-formance

Because appropriate information technology significantly influences anorganizations performance, the consequences of inefficiencies are se-vere: Information technology often causes non-conformance withquality management, evoking quality as well as strategic risks forbusinesses and thereby leading to redundant work and remarkableinternal and external costs.

Therefore, this trend survey recognizes current technological chal-lenges identified and addressed by quality managers and draws con-clusions for supportive IT systems.

Quality managers in organizationsare faced with these challengesand strive for solutions.

Before we aligned our

IT infrastructure to QMrequirements, we wereloosing millions of dol-lars because of costlyproduct call-backs anddamaged reputation.

Quality ManagerAutomobile Industry

(~100.000 employees)


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3 The Qual i ty Manager SurveyQuality management drives organizational performance

Unsurprisingly, quality management strongly affects the degree ofachieving organizational objectives. Therefore, successful organiza-tions rely on effective and efficient quality management operations. Infact, no modern organization can afford to ignore the challengesemerging from quality management efforts.

Question: How do you assess the influence of quality management on

the achievement of organizational objectives?

major influence

57%

significant

influence

32%

no significant

influence

0%

no influence

0%

don't know /

not sure

11%

Quality management is an information-intensive activity

Because quality management activities are information-intensive , theenormous potential of information technologies in the context of qual-ity management becomes obvious. Information technology thereforeacts as an enabler and is essential for successful quality management.

Question: Are quality management activities in your organization in-formation-intensive?

We could never satisfyour customers withouteffective quality man-

agement.

Quality ManagerElectronic Industry

(~30.000 employees)


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very information

intensive

58%

partly information

intensive

32%

not information

intensive5%

don't know / not

sure

5%

Quality of information matters

Quality management strongly relies on the quality of information inorder to achieve its goals. Yet, information quality needs to be de-signed, engineered and supported and cannot be assumed to be read-ily available. The answers given by the respondents emphasize theneed for technological systems that aid in increasing information qual-

ity in organizations while at the same time reducing costs for main-taining it.

Question: Which aspects of documents or information are critical forsuccessful quality management?

50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

Up-to-dateness

completeness

corr ectness

consistency

availability

Successful qualitymanagement is 95%information work.

Quality ManagerMetal Industry

(~20.000 employees)


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Information technology eases access to information

Organizations already leverage information technology to ease infor-mation access within corporate boundaries. Modern search instru-

ments, knowledge portals or structured approaches to documentmanagement already implemented in organizations decrease searchtimes while at the same time increase productivity of employees.

Question: Is it challenging to access nec-essary information in your organization?

challenging

21%

not challenging

69%

optimal / easy

5%

don't know / not

sure

5%

very challenging

0%

Quality managers already address information quality problems

Quality managers in organizations haveto deal with significant problems withrespect to information quality. Informa-tion technology is regarded to be an en-abler for improving the quality of infor-mation which in turn represents the ba-sis for an improvement of the quality ofproducts. Therefore, the interplay ofinformation and quality management is

further emphasized.

Our IT-enabled QMsolution represents theonly way for our em-

ployees to keep up withlatest information on

quality management.

Quality ManagerPaper Industry

(~5000 employees)

Availability of accurateand up-to-date docu-ments represents the

fundament for our suc-cessful business opera-

tions.

Quality Manager

Plastics Industry(~8000 employees)


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Question: What problems do you face in your organization with re-spect to documents or information?

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

inconsistent

incomplete

out-of-date

incorrect

unavailable

Bad information quality causes significant threads

The consequences of bad information quality pose a dangerous threatto organizational success. Needless to say, quality managers are con-cerned with reducing these effects on organizations. Notably, around80% of interviewees agreed that bad information quality causes theexecution of redundant work in organizations. Around 70% believedthat this is the root of significant additional costs. More than 60% ofinterviewees agreed that bad information quality directly poses risksfor quality management efforts. Given these results, increasing infor-mation quality represents a key challenge for quality managers today.

Question: What are the consequences of bad information quality onan organizations performance?

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

internal & external costs

redundant work

quality risks

strategic risks

cognitiv e workload

bad reputat ion

Information technology supports quality management

As many quality managers know, appropriately applied informationtechnology has the potential to promote successful quality manage-ment. About 75% of the respondents perceive information technologyto be supportive of quality management. Notably, more than 20% al-ready report that information technology even ensures the confor-mance of quality management requirements in their organizations.


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Question: Does IT support quality management in your organization?

ensures QM

conformance

21%

suppor ts QM

74%

does not support QM

5%

causes QM non-

conf ormance

0%

Employees are sufficiently trained

For quality management to be successful, employees must receiveeffective training. The majority of quality managers consider the com-petences of their employees with respect to quality management suf-

ficient. However, more than a third of the respondents complainedabout a lack of knowledge with regard to quality management proc-esses, requirements and structures and requested instruments thatassisted in the transfer of knowledge about QM.

Question: Are you satisfied with the qualification of employees con-cerning quality management?

ver y satisf ied

5%

satisf ied

58%

unsatisf ied

37%

very unsatisf ied

0%

I wish for an efficientinstrument that easesQM training efforts for

our employees.

Quality ManagerElectronic Industry(~1500 employees)


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A gap betw een QM theory and practice exists

More than two thirds of the respondents agreed that a significant gapbetween QM theory and practice, e.g. theoretical business processes

and current procedures in organizations, exists. At the same time, themajority of quality managers do not consider this to be a problem forbusiness operations. However, reasons for this gap could be identified.

Question: Do you perceive a gap between QM theory and QM practicein your organization?

yes, this is a problem

16%

yes, but thi s is no

problem

53%

no

26%

don't know / not sure

5%

This gap can be explained

Its no wonder that so many quality managersconsider information technology to be suppor-tive of quality management. Informationoverload was the top-rated cause for the iden-tified gap. A lack of knowledge around qualitymanagement was considered to play anothermajor role in this issue. Since both aspectscan be remedied with advanced informationtechnology, help is under way.

Question: What is the reason for the gap be-tween QM theory and practice?

The dynamics in ourindustry cause a con-stant lag between ourtheoretical QM consid-

erations and our day-to-day practice. We

depend on IT to resolvethese issues.



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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

lack of knowledge

information overload

hterog eneous IT

inconsistent

documentation

out-o f-d ate documents

Document management is key to successful quality management

Document and content management solutions represent the mostcritical type of software that enables quality management in organiza-tions, followed by portal and workflow technologies. Quality managersagree about the tremendous need for technological instruments thataid in dealing with the issues of information overload and QM-conforming documentation.

Question: What type of information technology pro-vides significant support for successful quality man-agement?

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Document & Content Management

Workf low Management

Knowledge Portals

Collaborat ion Tools

e-Learning

Business Intell igence

Integrated IT systems are important for quality management

As most quality managers know, the integration of various IT systemscreates extra work. According to the quality managers that were in-

terviewed, the majority view was that, the availability of integratedinformation technology 1) pays off and 2) significantly contributes tothe achievement of quality management goals.

Without our document

management solution,we would already havedrowned in a sea of

information.

Quality ManagerSemiconductor Indus-

try(~10.000 employees)


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Question: What is the impact of integrated information technologysystems on the achievement of quality management goals?

integr ation is cr it ical

26%

integration is

signif icant

58%

integration is

insignif icant

16%

no inf luence

0%

The number of IT-enabled quality management solutions w illrise

Quality managers widely recognize the importance of integrating qual-

ity management and information technology aspects. While approxi-mately a third of the respondents have already implemented an IT-enabled QM solution, another 27% think about it in the short to longterm.

Question: Do you plan to invest in an IT-enabled QM solution in thefuture?

yes, in t he

short/ medium term16%

yes, in t he long t erm

11%

we currentl y think

about it

0%

no

31%

don't know / not

sure

11%

we already have a

solution

31%

Our IT-supported

quality managementsolution paid itself off in

less than 7 months.

Quality ManagerPharma Industry

(~5000 employees)


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4 ConclusionsThe results of this trend-survey strongly indicate that quality man-agement is perceived to be an information-intensive activity. Theachievement of organizational improvements relies on precise, consis-tent and up-to-date information. Therefore, information quality playsa key role in quality management efforts.

Quality managers know how much it costs to deal with the conse-quences of poor information quality and quality management defects.Product call-backs, angry customers or slow supply chains that ruinvaluable profits. Quality managers recognize that fact and addressthese problems. Information technology, and especially IT-enabled

quality management solutions, offer relief to tormented quality man-agers.

IT-enabled QM solutions provide:

Faster access to QM documentation QM training for employees Document and workflow manage-

ment capabilities

Functionality to increase informationquality

Relief from administrative QM tasks Instruments to keep up with the gap

between QM theory and practice.

Todays business dynamics and customer demands force organiza-tions to continuously question and improve their operations. With58% of quality managers already having an IT-enabled quality man-agement solution available or planning to acquire one, a strong trend

towards IT support for challenges in quality management could beidentified in this survey.

Nevertheless, information technology itself does not substitute cus-tomer-orientation, motivated employees or sophisticated innovations.However, it enables employees to focus on the relevant aspects ofvalue-generating activities, leaving tiring administrative tasks to theIT infrastructure and at the same time ensuring conformance to yourorganizations quality management requirements.

In our company, ITensures the

conformance of every-day business with ourquality management

requirements.



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Impr int

The Know-Center is Austrias Competence Center for knowledge-based Applications and Systems. The Know-Center has its core com-petences in the fields of information technology as enabling technolo-gies for knowledge management and in human-oriented knowledgemanagement.

Know-Center Graz

Competence center for knowledge-based applications and systemsresearch and development GmbH

Inffeldgasse 21a

Austria, 8010 Graz

www.know-center.at

Documents

QualityCosts Survey Revised