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DMAIC Case Study: Improving System Availability

DMAIC Project

One of the top companies in the United States wanted to reduce the software downtime, and the defect resolution time for its internal software system.

This company majorly deals with hazardous and non-hazardous material management for industrial and automotive customers. Based on the customer’s preferences, the territorial branches decide the order of execution of the services. This is done with the help of the Transport Management System (TMS), that is updated once the ‘planned services are converted to ‘completed services’. The decision also depends on factors like resource availability, and pre-determined time windows.

A DMAIC project was installed to cope up with the issue that the TMS system was not responsive enough. The customers wanted a quicker resolution of the reported defects such that the management of real time data would become more efficient.

Once the problem areas were defined, the goal was set to achieve a 99% system availability, and reduce the resolution time by 50%.

Application of Lean Six Sigma in the software system involved using a metric that brought out the major defect areas and the causes for the unnecessary resolution time. It was found that almost 75% of the system downtime occurred during the peak hours.

Apart from the TMS, it was also essential to cut the resolution time by half. The DMAIC project involved the IPO tool to figure out the critical factors. Analysis of each of these two problem areas separately brought out the gaps in the existing operational method. The Lean Six Sigma application in the software system implemented a better load balancing capability for the TMS servers that helped reduce the downtime from 20 minutes to less than 1 minute.

The subject matter experts were given increased privileged and the IT was allotted the task of resolving technical issues, and executing improvements.

Although the DMAIC project took comparatively easier steps, but the effects realized were proficient. It resulted in a 98% decrease in reports of system downtime, and authoritative distributions brought about a better system management.

See full story on isixsigma.com

January 20, 2014   Benchmark Six Sigma
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