Quality Process

Amulya, the parent company of ACTSupport, is an ISO 9001:2008 certified organization. All our processes therefore follow the directions, rules and regulations of this quality system, an overview of which is given below.

These are the steps followed while implementing the ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management System.

Plan (Design or revise business process components to improve results)

One of the most important principles of the ISO 9001 Standard is: "say what you do, do what you say” which means that we must first plan and define what we are required to perform and then do it.

Definition of these requirements is done based on, industry, client and customer needs. The client requirement is studied and a feasibility study is done by the management to see if it can be done , how to build and to deliver what the client expects. Questionnaire is sent to the client to analyze their needs in detail and to plan the deployment of necessary resources. An execution framework is designed, with metrics defined and process built accordingly.

While designing the execution framework, responsibilities and authorities are laid down. An account manager is assigned, who will be the SPOC (Single Point Of Contact) for the process.

All these are planned in line with the quality objective and policy that is defined for the entire organization.

Do (Implement the plan and measure its performance)

These processes are then implemented as per the standards defined.
For example before the submission of each ticket or a response, the team reviews it against a checklist based on work procedures, process metrics and CTQs(Critical To Quality criteria). Most important metrics include

• Response time
• Resolution time and
• Escalation time limits

On submission of a ticket, the quality team which does daily checks on submitted tickets reviews it against the standards defined and submits a report.

Check (Assess the measurements and report the results to decision makers)

The Quality System has checkpoints at several stages to confirm the outcome against plan and also to identify deviations. Checkpoints include

• Compiling and analyzing reports of daily checks
• Internal and External Quality Audits
• Client feedback analysis
• Customer feedback analysis
• Assessment of overall improvement in performance of employees, organization and its clients

The results of such audits and analysis point to gaps, improvements and defaults. The root cause is identified and preventive, corrective and improvement measures are listed out.

Act (Decide on changes needed to improve the process)

Based on the analysis, training, coaching and feedback sessions are held and changes initiated on process or resources deployed, if needed.

Improvement here is not a just a one stop point but continual. This means there might be a demand for change in even what is defined as standards (including objectives or policies), to deliver what is best / optimal at that point of time. This also means that the team always believes that there is still room for perfection and is ready to identify, understand and adapt to both internal and external changes quickly.

The 'wheel within a wheel' describes the relationship between strategic management and business unit management. The PDCA approach is applied right from the level of framing strategies till the minute level of work.
For example, when we determine a process to check for response time in a ticket,

• we plan how many tickets to be checked per day, what is the ideal response time and define other quality parameters w.r.t ideal ticket management
• check the suggested number of tickets against the checklist of metrics and quality parameters
• analyze the result to see if it meets standards and delivers necessary results
• these then point to deviations and or gaps if any. A root cause analysis is done and measures taken to improve results. The no. of tickets reviewed might be modified, process changes made or coaching sessions held based on what is causing the deviation.

There are actually several such process units or functions, each with its own set of metrics, goals, targets and initiatives. However these business activities constitute the DO part of the overall strategic effort. The overall strategy always focuses on the customer satisfaction.