TQM of Information Systems

 

The objective of the Total Quality Management (TQM) in the information system design is to assure the quality of information.  This is done by ensuring, verifying, and maintaining software integrity through an appropriate methodology choice amongst the technology, design and architecture.  It institutes appropriate procedures with checks and control in all the processes of information systems development. It ensures that the scope and the objective of the system, choice of the design architecture and development methodology and further quality ensuring the processes and planned implementation methodologies are correctly chosen.

 

The quality of information is governed by the quality of the information processing system design. The perception of good quality is that of a customer or a user of the information system and not that of the conceiver, the planner or the designer of the information system.

 

The quality of the information and the systems which generate that information will be rated high provided it assures:

 

• A precise and an accurate information
• A high level response in an interactive processing
• User friendly operations
• Reliability of information
• An ease of maintenance

 

A single most important measure of quality assurance is the level of user satisfaction it attains.  The user satisfaction is highest if it meets his information needs on a continuing basis in a dynamic business environment.

 

In the process of achieving user satisfaction, the information system must be conceived with business focus and orientation. It must address the total scope of the business with specific attention in the areas of core competence and mission critical applications. The choice of the Information Technology strategy should be such that it supports the business strategy implementation to achieve business goals and mission.

 

TQM addresses all these requirements of the information systems development. It ensures that the information system design is flexible, bug free and easy to maintain with the changing needs.

 

In the TQM application to information systems, the technologies play a vital role.  We can make two parts of these technologies.  First, as a current and the second one as the emerging technologies. The current technologies are database management, distributed data processing, object orientation, parallel processing, data warehousing and replication, networks and communication.

 

The emerging technologies are Internet/Intranet, EDI and E-mail, Groupware for team based application, client/server for application processing, multi-media for voice, video, image processing, imaging systems for image creation, storage mixing knowledge base (KBS) for expert, artificial intelligence system and Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) for a systematic application development.

 

James W Cortada measures the quality of information by seven parameters. They are flexibility, maintainability, reusability, integration, consistency, suability and reliability. Flexibility satisfies the changing and evolving needs of users offering quick response. Main inability facilities a quick repair and a replacement of the problem improving the user service. The reusability of the objects or the object codes reduces the development cycle and controls the cost of the development. Integration improves the processing time and offers a quick access to the users to the data and information. Consistency in the usage of standards, tools and technologies reduces the learning time of the users.  The usability of the software component in different manner for different applications reduces the user training time and finally the reliability of the system assures dependence and supports for all conceivable user and processes.