Dovel Technologies Publishes the 2012 Update of World Class Quality Initiative

How did we do? Dovel Tech publishes the 2012 Update of World Class Quality Initiative: An assessment of 2011 quality metrics to evaluate improvement and progress.

I. Introduction

Dovel Technologies (Dovel) has been at the forefront of implementing information technology systems for the United States Government for over 6 years. At the conclusion of each calendar year, we take stock of our performance as part of our Dovel World Class Quality initiative and we compare results to the previous year. This report summarizes Dovel’s 2011 achievements. The 2011 achievements will serve as the new benchmark for future goals.

Dovel has been a CMMI® Maturity Level 3 appraised company since April 2008. The achievement is a testimony to our corporate attention to quality, which provides significant benefits to our clients and our employees. In 2011 Dovel conducted a second CMMI® Maturity Level 3 appriasal and the results confirmed Dovel’s strong performance. This most recent appraisal included Dovel’s agile software development life cycle methodology. This report includes metrics captured for the agile methodology and are being published for the first time. These metrics will be used as the basis from which improvements will be initiated.

In order to ensure an objective view of Dovel performance, we requested information for this report from Mr. Capers Jones (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/capers-jones/0/344/409), a well-known software engineering industry expert. We would like to thank him for the wealth of advice he provided us.

II. What are we measuring and why?

Strong companies collect metrics to help operational performance decision making and Dovel is no exception. We operate a robust Measurement & Analysis (M&A) program aimed at continual improvement. The Dovel metrics program measures specific aspects of quality. Defect potentials and defect removal efficiency are two high-level metrics. Capers Jones describe these metrics:

The term ‘defect potentials’ refers to the total quantity of bugs or defects that will be found in five software artifacts: requirements, design, code, documents, and ‘bad fixes’ or secondary defects.

The term ‘defect removal efficiency’ refers to the percentage of total defects found and removed before software applications are delivered to customers. As of 2008, the U.S. average for defect potentials is about five (5) defects per function point. The U.S. average for defect removal efficiency is only about 85%. The U.S. average for delivered defects is about 0.75 defects per function point.

Software project costs and schedules decline for projects whose cumulative defect removal efficiency level is approximately 95%. Achieving 95% removal efficiency requires a combination of formal inspections and formal testing. [1]

Defect potential and defect removal efficiency are clear indicators software of quality—a major goal of Dovel Technologies. In addition to defect potentials and defect removal efficiency, we compare each release to the previous year average in order to measure and report improvement. Measuring these metrics and vowing to ensures that Dovel’s performance improves year after year.

We measure defect potential in terms of function points, which measures the functional size of a software system. Function points are an industry standard for measuring the size of a software system.

III. Dovel 2011 performance

The table below shows Dovel’s defect potentials and defect removal efficiency from 2008 through 2011 and compares the data to industry average. Dovel’s performance improved in both categories.

 

After reviewing Dovel 2011 data, Mr. Capers Jones wrote:

Your chart showed very low defect potentials combined with better than average defect removal efficiency.

… you are doing better than most Agile shops.

IV. What is the benefit to our clients?

Low defect potentials and high defect removal efficiency rates are substantially beneficial to a client. Defects are a major contributor to schedule slippage and therefore, a major contributor to the total cost of ownership of IT systems. Defects are the main source of user dissatisfaction with IT solutions and their decisions to cancel systems. Thus a high defect removal rate—which measures the number of defects reported by users in the first 90 days of system implementation—directly correlates to high client satisfaction. After all, who wants to use a system with large number of defects?

It is no coincidence that 100% of the systems Dovel worked on were delivered to production. Also, Dovel received an overall rating of 93% (on a 100-point scale) in the Dun & Bradstreet Open Ratings survey in which our clients rated the quality of Dovel’s services and products.

The Agile methodology is best for accomplishing minimum staffing levels, but not high quality levels. That is why Dovel is using the Agile lifecycle methodology as part of our CMMI®-appraised proceses and comparing the Dovel data to industry average in order to exemplify that significant quality can be delivered using the Agile Methodology.

This is why we believe that Dovel can reduce the amount of time needed to deliver a high-quality solution to clients, reduce delivery cost, and increase user satisfaction.
About Dovel Technologies

Dovel Technologies provides high-end software and application development to government clients. Dovel is recognized as an industry leader in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), using the approach to create low-impact approaches to process, communicate, and store mission critical information. Clients include Food and Drug Administration, Department of Defense, U.S Census Bureau, Department of Education, and the Federal Aviation Administration. Dovel has been appraised at CMMI level 3 and its annual quality report receives accolades from industry leaders such as Capers Jones, who has listed Dovel in the category of ”Companies That Utilize Best Practices” along with IBM, Amazon, Google, and Apple. To learn more visit www.doveltech.com.

Press Contact:
Piper Conrad
piper.conrad@doveltech.com
571-499-3718
[1] Overview of United States Software Industry Results Circa 2008 Copyright © Capers Jones & Associates LLC.