Thoughtful Execution

We have described principles that any company, in any market, would probably do well to heed. But emerging markets pose some special challenges worth noting. First, beware of exporting your domestic talent strategy to emerging markets. Even if that strategy is highly successful at home, it will probably need extensive tailoring to succeed in the developing world. Second, it's critical to establish a core of local talent (or of outsiders with a long history in emerging markets) that can guide you in understanding the region. Sending in a talent officer from the corporate center is unlikely to do the trick; despite the pressure to bring people on board quickly, investments in talent take root only with patience. Third, keep in mind that an overreliance on English as the "official language" of the business may prove an impediment to spotting talent. Some of your most promising people may not speak English fluently.

Finally, it's not easy to embrace and leverage diversity; companies struggle with this in the developed world, too, and very few demonstrate much diversity at the top. In emerging economies, companies have no choice but to nurture local talent, because that's the pool available and because those bright young recruits want to see others like them in positions of power. A truly merit-based company will stand out to them-particularly in hierarchical societies where getting ahead has often relied on family connections and other relationships, social status, age, or length of tenure.

People in different cultures want and expect different things from their work. Gabriel Rozman, of TCS Iberoamerica, reminded us that leading a team in India is not the same as leading a team in Brazil or Uruguay. He recognizes that his company must develop people who can lead diverse teams in various settings. Of course, this makes a commitment to keeping promises made all the more daunting, because companies can't implement onesize- fits-all processes. First figuring out which aspects of the strategy can be standardized and executed at scale and which must be sharply tuned to local needs and then coordinating implementation takes some effort- but it delivers payback. Over time, global companies may even be able to bring home some lessons about meritocracy and diversity.

As global companies are well aware, winning the race for talent in emerging markets is hard work. It requires both the explosiveness of the sprinter and the determination of the marathon runner. The framework we have outlined here should help companies assemble the workforce they need to compete on a world-class level.

The Talent Compact at Standard Chartered Bank

As China's economy continues to grow at a breakneck pace, thousands of new businesses are starting up, discretionary income is growing rapidly with the emergence of a new middle class, and wealth is being created as never before. Trying to recruit and retain highcaliber talent in the financial services field, the engine of much of the economy's growth, can be daunting-especially since April 2007, when the Chinese government loosened restrictions on foreign ownership of local banks. Multinational financial services firms have since flooded China.

The gap between employee supply and demand is especially wide when it comes to candidates capable of moving into senior leadership roles. Many recruits fresh out of universities lack the language and other skills to take on even entry-level positions in global companies. Nevertheless, salaries in China have risen out of proportion to the expertise of the talent pool, creating unrealistic expectations among potential employees. Moreover, China's one-child policy has created a unique problem. As one manager put it, "Consider that millions of young Chinese have no siblings and no cousins. It's not too difficult to see how the child can become the center of attention for the entire family. It's not easy giving critical feedback to someone who is not used to it and who has lots of employment options elsewhere."

Recall SCB's former difficulty in recruiting leaders for its banking operations in China. The company's strategy illustrates our framework in particularly illuminating ways.

Katherine Tsang, the CEO of SCB China since 2005, says, "These challenges forced us to tell the SCB story with passion, but to make sure that our culture and management practices matched that story in an honest way. We tell lots of stories here about our mission, our sense of purpose, and our brand, and the many opportunities that young people will get when they come to work for us. But we need to keep those promises." Together with Geraldine Haley, SCB's group head of talent management, Tsang created what the company calls the "raw talent superhighway" for SCB China, which is designed to attract and retain good people. The bank emphasizes acquiring specialized skills, followed by broad managerial training and development, followed by global networks and leadership development. Several components went into the highway's construction.

Selection. Tsang's and Haley's teams conducted extensive analyses of the skills and talents required by both retail and commercial bankers in China. Then they investigated nonbanking industries, such as travel and tourism, that had developed similar expertise, especially in customer relations. SCB China set out to aggressively recruit promising employees from these other industries; it was able to offer higher pay and significantly greater opportunities for career advancement.

Induction and orientation. SCB runs a standard induction program, but it offers an intensive version for its raw-talent hires- employees who demonstrate the desired behaviors and values but have no skills in financial services. This program introduces recruits to the company's culture and values and teaches them the ethical management of financial services, including money-laundering prevention and codes of conduct.

Technical training. SCB's retail division offers extensive training, and relationship managers in its wholesale business must complete a rigorous five-day "boot camp." All trainees must pass a strict examination before they are exposed to the bank's customers and clients. Skilled and seasoned managers conduct most of these sessions.

Professional and management development. SCB's raw recruits also get intensive training in the English language, communication and listening skills, and business etiquette, and they have a variety of ongoing educational opportunities. They receive career guidance and access to networking sessions, enabling them to explore different paths at the bank. In addition, SCB offers the Great Manager Program, which has won best-practice awards in China and elsewhere in Asia for its creativity and effectiveness in management development. The company has regional learning centers throughout China and e-learning platforms, so development is accessible to all. SCB is forming strategic partnerships with Chinese universities, both to strengthen relationships for recruitment and to offer those who join the company ongoing professional development at those schools.

Stretch assignments and deployment. One SCB message to recruits is captured in "Go places...," which has a double meaning: It tells people that if they join the bank and do well they will move ahead in their careers, and it reminds them that SCB is a global company with opportunities around the world. Chinese talent is often moved elsewhere, including to the group head office in London.

Personal development and performance management. SCB employees explore their passions and strengths, with coaching and guidance, to find a starting point for their careers. Although the SCB environment is nurturing, Tsang and other leaders don't hesitate to give regular and often tough feedback. "We deal with problems openly and honestly, and that has led to the creation of an authentic and trust-based culture. People know we are a straight meritocracy, and that motivates them."

CEO Peter Sands says, "We have an exciting growth story, but more important, people can translate that story into growth opportunities for themselves. We have 25-year-olds looking at 32-year-olds doing big jobs. These young people see who they can become, and that they don't have to wait 30 years to do it." Through these efforts the bank was able to decrease attrition by 3% from 2007 to 2008. That may not sound like much, but consider that SCB is bringing thousands of people on board every year. What's more, most companies in these markets are experiencing a dramatic increase in attrition.

Retaining Talent: Promises Kept

Brand, opportunity, and purpose can create compelling promises, but in such a competitive market the temptation is to overpromise just to get people in the door. Failure to deliver will sour current employees on the company and ultimately hurt its appeal for potential employees. That is why keeping promises- important in any market-takes on particular urgency in emerging markets, where employees can quickly and easily move to global competitors or local companies that appear to offer greater overall rewards. Many companies we've studied have experienced extraordinarily high attrition rates.

Culture, however, can play a central role in employee retention. Hemant Mishr's team at SCB sells into several of the most economically depressed areas in the world; Mishr joined SCB largely because of its brand and its purpose, which includes a commitment to supporting local communities. He stays, he says, because of the culture: SCB is a meritocracy that carefully nurtures his career, and it lives up to the values that attracted him in the first place. "It's not about pay," he says. "I could go elsewhere and earn more-lots more."

Like Mishr, many of the people we interviewed were seeking a culture that would support the promise of an accelerated career path with growth opportunities for everyone, a commitment to meritocracy, and custom career planning. HCL Technologies has such a culture. A global IT company headquartered in India, HCL employs about 55,000 people in 18 countries. When Vineet Nayar became its president, in 2005, he knew he had to do something drastic to turn around the company, formerly one of India's most innovative, which in 1999 had been first in the country in terms of revenues but by 2005 was fifth.

Nayar started with culture. He told us, "I wanted to create an environment where employee development and empowerment was the most important thing, because ultimately I wanted value-focused employees who were willing and able to drive an innovative, sophisticated experience for customers." Nayar quickly assembled a 20-person team of "young sparks," an energetic group from among HCL's top employees; they coined the slogan that became HCL's strategy for the next two years: "Employee first, customer second." The notion is simple-the best way to bring value to customers is to empower employees.

Throughout 2005 Nayar and the young sparks unveiled initiatives designed to remove barriers to employees' doing their best work. They started by revamping the company's intranet. Using a software application, employees can "raise tickets" to report problems with HCL services and processes. In real time they can watch the actions taken to correct a problem, and a ticket can be closed only by the employee who raised it. By 2006, employees were raising 30,000 tickets a month. The site also created transparency: An employee can pose any question at all to Nayar, who personally answers up to 100 inquiries a week. Shortly after its revitalization the intranet was being visited by close to 25,000 employees every week.

In addition, after a few months in office Nayar posted his own 360-degree feedback on the intranet and encouraged his senior managers to do the same; today more than 2,000 managers publicly post their feedback. Indian companies traditionally control information at the top, so the move to public 360s truly distinguished HCL. In interview after interview employees told us of the tremendous impact such transparency has on their career choices.

In another differentiating move, HCL instituted "trust pay." Many IT companies in India offer employees a combination of 70% fixed pay and 30% variable pay. In practice, high internal targets make it difficult to earn that 30%. HCL decided to offer 85% of its employees (mostly junior engineers) a fixed compensation rate, to be set at the beginning of each annual cycle. Some new hires actually thought a mistake had been made in their offer letters, because they'd never known another company to offer trust pay. This is very appealing to recruits from the developing world, because often their whole families are invested in their success. Parents, siblings, and other relatives have worked hard to send them to school, and once they know they can support their loved ones, they can focus on their work.

Because HCL has stayed true to its promises, its employees are dedicated and its customers are taking note. The company's reputation for customer service has consistently improved over the past four years, resulting in major new contracts. Nayar, who is now the CEO, says, "Putting employees first isn't about launching a few initiatives that make them feel good. It's about offering a workplace where employees, no matter their level, can have an impact, can be a part of something exciting, and can grow professionally and personally."

Leadership development is another cultural element that strongly influences retention. Careers must be carefully nurtured, and finding the time to do that may seem like a luxury when the pressure to grow is so great. But companies can't set such concerns aside, lest they lose high-potential talent as fast as they bring it in.

Lenovo very methodically provides accelerated development opportunities for its employees. Mary Eckenrod, the head of talent management, has conducted extensive research into how leaders learn and the potential career stages at technology-based organizations in emerging markets. She has worked with Lenovo's top team to construct career maps and pipelines for every member of the company's pool of high potentials, including the CEO. All employees are asked to reflect on their career aspirations, the experiences and education that have led to their current roles in the organization, and the development they need to reach their goals.

What makes Lenovo's talent-tracking process work, however, is that the career maps are linked to key slots across the globe and accountability for the entire process rests squarely with line leadership, not with HR. Its employees are ambitious, and Lenovo needs to demonstrate that it is serious about developing their careers.

Do SCB, HCL, and Lenovo have a choice about how they approach development? Absolutely. They could focus on attracting the small handful of people with proven experience, as many companies do, but instead they hire largely on the basis of potential. They could enroll in the "cream rises to the top" school of leadership development, believing that the best talent will emerge even if the company fails to provide development opportunities. But the companies that are winning the talent race in emerging markets are not only using brand, opportunity, and purpose to attract the best people; they are investing heavily in career planning and professional development even at the lowest levels, because the workforce is so young. These companies' cultures send a powerful message to employees: Your potential is limited only by your dedication, effort, and ability to produce results.

Attracting Talent: Promises Made

Lenovo is a good illustration of the strong lure of brand, opportunity, and purpose. Its acquisition of IBM's personal computer operations, in 2005, made it the third-largest personal computer company in the world. In 1994 the founder of Legend (as Lenovo was then known), Liu Chuanzhi, forecast that it would be a great company-an astonishing leap of faith in the early 1990s. "At the time, there were very few great Chinese companies, so Chuanzhi's vision stood out," Chen Shaopeng, president of Lenovo Greater China and senior vice president of Lenovo Group, told us. "In China, the biggest draw is Lenovo's ambition and vision." The IBM acquisition produced something of a halo effect for Lenovo, and Chinese workers felt pride that China had been able to buy part of an American business icon. Lenovo's brand was and is attractive to ambitious young workers with dreams of their own-people who are building careers and not simply looking for jobs. Lenovo was an early standout for these rising stars.

Lenovo also built a global perspective into its brand promise; to become a great company it would have to expand beyond its home market. That meant opportunity. President and CEO Bill Amelio describes his company as a "stage without a ceiling for every employee"- worldwide. In a truly global spirit, Lenovo's top-team meetings rotate among Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and Raleigh, North Carolina. "Instead of having everyone travel to me, I travel to them," Amelio says. Lenovo's brand promise credibly communicates that nationality doesn't matter; if an employee demonstrates capability and vision, there are no limits. The playing field is level.

TCS Iberoamerica, a $160 million unit of Tata Consultancy Services (itself a division of the $28.5 billion Tata Group), provides software and technology services to clients in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, while also contributing to other TCS endeavors worldwide. It's easy to understand why an Indian would want to work for Tata Group in India. But what motivates a Uruguayan software engineer to work for an Indian company in Brazil? The combination of a strong brand and opportunity. TCS Iberoamerica's president, Gabriel Rozman, told us, "When people in our region read about Tata buying Jaguar or making a $2,000 car that will change the industry...they get excited."

The Tata brand stands for technical excellence, so when expanding into Brazil and Uruguay, Rozman started by hiring engineers- not salespeople-and sent them to India to observe firsthand the company's core strengths and standards. They returned energized and eager to recruit their compatriots. One Uruguayan engineer saw working at Tata as an opportunity to help his country make its mark; he said, "I wanted to work at TCS because I wanted to show the world what Uruguay was all about. Even though we're a tiny country, we have value to add." Rozman also emphasized the appeal of having local Brazilian and Uruguayan leaders who are well connected and admired in the community heading up operations, rather than expatriates.

Many other managers spoke of the pride they felt in working for companies with strong brands that were also contributing to their countries' economic development. Novartis's sense of purpose, for instance, is a major draw for talent. Its Project Arogya, one of Novartis's socially conscious business operations, provides services to some 10 million villagers in 24 territories of India. Arogya's leader, Olivier Jarry, joined because of the brand promise to make lives better around the world. "We improve the health and health education of the villagers," he says. "We provide a source of revenue for local talent working with us on the ground. We are helping local doctors and pharmacists. This is a tremendously exciting mission."

How do brand, opportunity, and purpose come together as a promise made at Standard Chartered Bank? The company's CEO, Peter Sands, explains, "We are serious about being a force for good in the world. It's not an add-on for us. We are leaders in microfinance, supporting fledgling entrepreneurs in some of the world's poorest regions. We seek out, as a part of our strategic intent, opportunities to support renewable-energy businesses. By design we are among the world's most diverse organizations, so top talents from all walks of life are attracted to us because they know they will be embraced as central to our mission, not peripheral."

Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets

What motivates a Uruguayan software engineer to work for an Indian company in Brazil? If you don't know, you risk losing the race for talent in emerging markets. These new markets are growing so fast, even established global players aren't recruiting and retaining enough employees.

How to win this contest? Ready, Hill, and Conger suggest two strategies:

* Attract talent by making compelling promises. Center these promises on your company's brand (does it have a reputation for excellence that may lead to personal advancement?), opportunity (will you provide challenging work, training, and competitive pay?), and purpose (does your company have a mission and values meaningful to potential new hires?).
* Retain talent by keeping your promises. Craft a culture characterized by authenticity, a merit-centered reward system, and accelerated professional development for even the lowest-level employees.

By applying these strategies, Standard Chartered Bank reduced attrition rates in its China operations by 3% over 2007-2008- while rivals suffered a dramatic increase in attrition.

The Idea in Practice

ATTRACT TALENT BY MAKING COMPELLING PROMISES

Make promises about your company's brand, opportunity, and purpose that appeal to employees in developing nations.

Example:

TCS Iberoamerica (a unit of Tata Consultancy Services) provides software and technology services to clients in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, while also contributing to other TCS endeavors worldwide.

The Tata brand stands for technical excellence.

So, when expanding into Brazil and Uruguay, TCS Iberoamerica hired local engineers (not salespeople) and sent them to India to observe its core strengths and standards. They returned home energized and eager to recruit their compatriots. The company also promised opportunity.

For instance, it hired local Brazilian and Uruguayan leaders who were admired in the community to head up operations- not Indian expatriates.

Finally, Tata offered an exciting purpose- including making a $2,000 car that would open up the industry to low-income consumers.

RETAIN TALENT BY KEEPING YOUR PROMISES

It's tempting to overpromise just to get new hires in the door. But failure to deliver on those promises will sour current employees on the company and ultimately hurt its appeal for potential new hires. Keeping your promises is especially crucial in emerging markets where employees can easily move to global or local companies that seem to offer greater overall rewards.

Your company's culture plays a central role in keeping promises and retaining talent.

Example:

At Standard Chartered Bank's China operation, many new employees are "raw talent"-they have great potential, but lack experience. To back up its promises, the bank pays careful attention to its culture:

* Induction. SCB offers an intensive induction program that teaches raw-talent hires about the ethical management of financial services, including money-laundering prevention.
* Technical training. Relationship managers in SCB's wholesale business must complete a five-day "boot camp" and pass a strict exam before they're exposed to customers.
* Professional and management development. Raw recruits get intensive training in the English language, communication and listening skills, and business etiquette. They also receive career guidance and access to networking sessions.
* Stretch assignments and deployment. SCB's recruiting slogan "Go places" tells people that if they do well, they'll move ahead in their careers. And talented Chinese employees are often moved elsewhere, including to the group head office in London.

With economic activity in emerging markets growing at compounded rates of around 40%-as compared with 2% to 5% in the West and Japan-it's little wonder that many companies are pegging their prospects for growth to Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) and, increasingly, other developing nations. Businesses based all over the globe are feverishly competing for people who, often for the first time in their lives, have numerous options and high expectations. Not even companies with established global experience can coast on past success in meeting their staffing needs.

One might assume, for instance, that Standard Chartered Bank, whose heritage dates back to the 1850s in India, Hong Kong, and Singapore, could easily maintain a lead in the race for Asian talent. But just a couple of years ago SCB's China division was unable to find seasoned managers to lead the bank's retail and commercial banking operations. In the words of Hemant Mishr, the head of corporate global sales, "These people and the generations that preceded them have known nothing but poverty and the lack of opportunity. Yet we expect them to be patient, loyal soldiers, and to advance at an orderly pace. It is time to get real. It is their time now."

All three of us have spent decades studying talent management and leadership development, but this war for talent is like nothing we've ever seen before. We recently completed an eight-month research project that involved interviewing dozens of executives and collecting data from more than 20 global companies. Our goal was to identify the factors that differentiate the successful from the less so in emerging markets, and our first analysis revealed four: brand, opportunity, purpose, and culture. These may sound somewhat generic-and logical in any talent market-but they play out in developing nations in particular ways.

Employees in the developing world aren't used to thinking about the future in expansive terms. Now they can look beyond simply making a living. They are particularly attuned to brand, for instance, because a desirable affiliation may lead to personal advancement- especially when the brand is associated with inspirational leadership, the kind that challenges employees to develop themselves as leaders and to help build a great company that plays on a global stage.

Not surprisingly, opportunity means much the same in the developed and developing worlds: challenging work, stretch assignments, continual training and development, and competitive pay. In emerging markets, however, opportunity must imply an accelerated career track to senior positions. Highpotential employees don't focus exclusively on climbing the ladder, however; they are willing to make lateral moves as long as their skills and experience accrue at a pace that matches the growth in their markets.

As for purpose, emerging-market job candidates prize a company with a game-changing business model, where they can be part of redefining their nation and the world economy. They are also attracted by a mission that focuses on helping the unfortunate-many have experienced poverty firsthand-and expresses the value of global citizenship.

A company's culture matters in several distinct ways in emerging markets. First, its "story," or brand promise, has to feel authentic. Second, employees must be rewarded for reasons of merit; a high potential from Brazil or Dubai must believe that the executive suite in China or the United Kingdom is within reach. Third, although employees want to be recognized for individual achievements, they also want to feel a connection with their teams. Finally, the culture has to be truly "talent-centric," so that people know they're critical to the company's success.

A closer look at our interviews gave us new insights into how these four factors work in concert. We found that they could be united under two guiding principles: promises made (the combination of brand, opportunity, and purpose) and promises kept (most significantly, employees' day-to-day experiences within an organization's culture). All four factors play a role in all aspects of the talent management process, but each influences recruitment and retention in different ways. (See the exhibit "A Framework for Attracting and Retaining Talent.") Promises made and kept affect any quest for talent, but the intensity of competition in the fast-growing BRIC and other economies makes strong differentiation urgent. Most companies continue to believe that a big salary and a name brand will suffice to meet their needs, but a local company that creates genuine opportunities and exhibits desirable cultural conditions will often win out over a Western multinational that offers higher pay.

We're not proposing a simple solution to a complex problem. Company needs vary by market (see the exhibit "The Talent Market in BRIC"). Prospective employees don't necessarily value the same things: Among certain demographic groups opportunity may matter more than purpose, for instance, and individual preferences vary widely as well. But regardless of any company's strategy for a given market, the same overarching principles apply.

Where Does PLM Fit in the Extending LMS Formula

There are two reasons which led me to write this blog. Firstly, I recently had briefings with vendors such as Learn.com and Xyleme that made me realize that the learning management system (LMS) industry is building up more and more connections with other technologies and enterprise applications. Secondly, a recent article (see Trends in LMS by Don McIntosh) explains how LMS is evolving with Web 2.0, talent management, mobile learning, software as a service (SaaS), and open-source software. Having worked mainly in the product development area in manufacturing, one question popped into my mind—does LMS have anything to do with product lifecycle management (PLM)?

Using three-dimensional (3D) models in the learning arena seems like a no-brainer to me. Whether it’s a technician who needs to replace a part hidden deep within a complicated piece of equipment, or a soldier who needs to detonate a land mine (see Canadian Armed Forces Use 3D for Training Under Fire), intuitive 3D instructions can be highly valuable in saving time—or even lives. In manufacturing, 3D computer-aided design (CAD) has long been used. The existing 3D CAD assets have the potential to be used for learning purposes, but sophisticated CAD systems are usually expensive thus not available for a wide range of audiences. Actually, for most learning purposes, a learner only needs a very small fraction of what today’s 3D CAD systems offer. Based on 3D models, 3D learning content needs to be generated and communicated conveniently and inexpensively, and I see 3DVIA as a good candidate for this task.

Certainly, this is not the only thing that PLM has to do with learning. Even though PLM and LMS as information systems don’t interact with each other often, PLM as a management methodology may bring many benefits to learning management.

Similar to the way that a product has a life cycle, learning content also has a life cycle. Although many organizations are now managing the evolution of content (e.g., learning content version control), there are other elements that organizations need to consider from a life cycle perspective. For example, ideation and conception may happen prior to creating new learning content; content creation may require collaboration amongst different parties; and content performance may be measured and monitored. The bottom line: the life cycle of learning content needs to be managed.

Now, let’s move a little further. If we treat training as a service (either as internal—you provide it to your employees, or external—you sell it to your customers), this intangible “product” has a life cycle as well. Learning content is a critical part of training services, but the latter also includes when, where, and how the content should be delivered.

The achievement of the bulk is that not aggregate is acquiescent to measurement. To be able to measure, the abounding belief should be satisfied:

1. The affair getting abstinent accept to be homogenous.

2. It needs to be concrete and tangible.

3. It should be caked and not an accumulation of assorted locations (physical or metaphysical).

4. It should not accept any qualitative features.

5. The admeasurement accept to be concrete and tangible.

6. If there are assorted units of measure, it accept to be accessible to use a about-face agency to catechumen one altitude into the added units of measure.

The examples we looked at, however, are sized up application lists of features, qualitatively described.

Productivity is almost authentic as "X units of achievement per assemblage of time." The analogue of accustomed time (productivity) goes thus: "Standard time is the assemblage of time taken to achieve a assemblage of authentic plan agitated out by a able artisan afterwards acclimation application a accustomed adjustment in authentic alive altitude at a clip that can be maintained day afterwards day afterwards any concrete adverse effects." This analogue is authentic by the American Institute of Automated Engineers (AIIE).

Thus, in the accomplishment industry, abundance cannot be declared in a stand-alone mode: it has to be accompanied by blueprint of the authentic assemblage of work, the plan environment, the alive methods, the accoutrement and technologies used, and the able workers. Needless to say, abundance varies from alignment to organization, even for absolute measures of productivity.

We accept universally accustomed measures of time, such as person-hours, person-days (PDs), person-months, and person-years. However, we are yet to see a universally accustomed assemblage of admeasurement for software output.

We could see software abundance as curve of cipher per PD, action credibility per PD, use case credibility per PD, article credibility per PD, and so on. In the accomplishment or acceptable annual industries, abundance is abstinent for one action at a time (for example, for axis activities, milling, brick-laying, cat-and-mouse tables, soldering, and so forth).

Productivity abstracts of assay activities and anatomic testing are abstinent alone in accumulation or accumulation assembly industries, but are not attempted in the job-order (tailor-made to chump specifications) industry. Abundance abstracts of architecture action and adjustment (bug-fixing) activities are additionally not attempted, as they are advised to accommodate a artistic basic in the work.

We accept not replicated this accomplishment industry archetypal in software development industry, and we accept not authentic what software abundance is. These are the questions that crop up normally: Does abundance beggarly coding only, or does it aswell cover coding, cipher walk-throughs, absolute assemblage testing, and debugging? Does abundance cover systems assay and architecture plan too? What about the admittance of action administration overhead?

In a lot of cases I accept witnessed, software abundance is authentic for the absolute development action cycle, with no tacit acceding as to what constitutes a "development lifecycle."

In the accomplishment industry, abundance is authentic for an activity, and all-embracing throughput is alleged capacity. The accommodation of a bulb or an alignment takes into annual all operations, all departments, and all activities, and specifies one figuresay, 300 cars per day, or 1 actor bags per year, and so on.

Does this complete familiar? It care to, as we frequently apprehend phrases like "fifty curve of Visual Basic cipher per getting per day," or "two canicule per screen"! We assume to be ambagious accommodation with productivity.

The software industry has not so far affianced an automated architect to abstraction and appear up with accessible measures of software productivity. Incidentally, the industry is beggared of unions and the consistent negotiations thereof. Conceivably that is the acumen why no attempts accept been fabricated to backpack out accurate studies in the acreage of software productivity.

Thus, while there are apropos and issues, there are aswell solutions, so continued as we do not attending for one individual admeasurement or abundance for the absolute workflow of software development. What needs to be able is a analogue of a anatomy of software productivity, and the advertisement of an industry standard. This will facilitate added work.

Many casework action anchored bidsthere's annihilation appropriate about that. Architects action a anchored bid afterwards accepting complete architecture specs. The made-to-order industry offers a anchored bid alone afterwards accepting complete specs, and the adduce would cover a high-level architecture cartoon too. A caterer would not action a anchored bid until accepting the card and the bulk of guests.

A architect offers a anchored bid, with an accretion clause, afterwards accepting the architecture plans. In the architecture industry, assemblage ante are mostly offered adjoin a abundant breakable certificate that gives abundant detail about anniversary of the items. The absolute bulk of the architecture depends on the absolute abundance of the altered apparatus of the building. Software is added like the architecture industry! Here's why:

1. It is difficult for the users to anticipate the final deliverable from the architecture abstracts (drawings).

2. Users continuously ask for changes.

3. There are a lot of qualitative features.

4. It is absolute difficult to ascertain the superior of the end artefact artlessly through inspection, as annihilative testing amercement the artefact and renders it unusable.

5. The array of accessible apparatus is huge, with huge aberration in their quality.

6. Acceptance testing is about conducted in hours or canicule for what is congenital in months or years.

7. Added about than not, the user feels that a bigger deliverable should accept been accessible for the bulk paid, or that a bigger bell-ringer should accept been chosen.

Paradoxes of Software Estimation

Software development has spawned an absolute industry, with organizations alms software development casework exclusively. As it is conceivably in the beginning stages, the processes of allurement for service, alms a service, and appraisement are all somewhat haphazard. Software development avalanche into the class of the casework industry as adjoin to the artefact industrythat is, a annual is offered, and not a product. Abounding parallels can be fatigued with agnate annual industries. The above aberration amid the software annual industry and added annual industries, however, is that software is abundant added awful priced and complex. Where there is complication and money, academics footfall in; assay is conducted; abracadabra is developed; concepts are proposed; and a new annex of science or engineering comes to life.

There are abounding paradoxes inherent to the software development industry. This cardboard discusses alone some of them. Why not all? The acumen is simple: as of yet there is no absolute certificate on the sum absolute of paradoxes, and plan is still ongoing.

Paradox of Estimation

Why do we backpack out software estimations? Typically, for three reasons: to bulk software development and aliment contracts; to appraisal resources; and to administer supply commitments.

When we appraisal for ability admiration or supply commitments, we can consistently appraisal for anniversary of the activitiessay, for coding, for cipher walk-through, for testing, and so onto access at the ability requirements for anniversary of these activities. And by accretion up the alone requirements, we can access at the absolute ability requirements for the project.

Software admiration becomes contentious, however, if we appraisal for software pricing. We charge to access at an appraisal that is accustomed by the client's purchaser, who is to be affected not to be a software developer, and who is accustomed to be alien with software estimation. Typically, the book is as follows:

1. There are assorted bidders.

2. The adequacy levels of the bidders vary, and in some cases they alter vastly.

3. There will be techno-commercial negotiationswhich are mostly bartering in nature.

4. The abstruse catechism is something like "how did you access at this price?"

5. The acknowledgment is accustomed to be in non-technical terms, and to facilitate allegory with added bids.

This is the scenario: the negotiators wish a accustomed barometer that can be activated beyond platforms, beyond organizations, beyond technologies, and beyond the board. This is the body of the software admiration concern.

There is abounding abstract on allocation software. Attempts accept been fabricated to admeasurement software the way ambit or weight is measured, or to acquisition a assemblage of admeasurement that is adequate to all. The aftereffect is that we accept abounding measures of software size: examples cover curve of code, action points, use case points, article points, affection points, internet points, assay points, and there may even be more. True, there are assorted measures for ambit (miles and kilometers) and for weight (pounds and kilograms). But you can catechumen pounds into kilograms and afar into kilometers! There is no blueprint that says 1 use case point is according to 1.2 action points, or annihilation like that!

Everyone agrees that some things are not acquiescent to measurement, such as adorableness and love. Anniversary getting is admirable in a altered way, and anybody loves in one's own way. We don't attack to admeasurement these things in adorableness credibility or adulation pointsdo we?

There are abounding examples in industry too. We do not admeasurement a cardo we accept car credibility to say that a BMW has twenty-five car credibility and a Toyota has fifteen car points, and that accordingly BMW is above by ten car points? How does one analyze altered cars? We don't accept a admeasurement for cars that permits that allegory to be made.

We don't attack to admeasurement software articles either. What is the admeasurement of SQL Server or Oracle? Both are multi-user relational database administration systems (RDBMS), but if buying, do we ask their sizes to get a fair comparison? We aswell do not aswell accept a fair admeasurement for computer hardware. How do we analyze a AS/400 with an RS/6000? Are there computer credibility to admeasurement their sizes?

Is there any admeasurement for buildings? A gym, a theatre, a home may all be ten thousand anxiety aboveboard dimensionallybut do they all accept the aforementioned measure? Do we accept a admeasurement admeasurement to analyze them? And lastly, let us yield accouterment service. The aforementioned card served at the aforementioned abode gets awfully altered pricingit depends on the caterer and added specifications. Can we ask them the admeasurement of their mealssay, in meal points.

Performance and Compensation Management at the Core of Human Capital Management

While decades accept been spent advance in automation technologies for bigger use of actual assets, alone afresh accept enterprises amorphous to advance in optimizing animal capital. Tactical and authoritative animal assets (HR) administering is morphing into cardinal animal basic administering (HCM).

Part Three of the alternation Thou Shalt Administer Animal Basic Better.

Some adeptness altercate that HCM revolves about bigger achievement administering and agent compensation. As the abridgement continues to backlash and aptitude wars intensify, companies accept been added leveraging commonly ambiguous "pay-for-performance" technologies that auspiciously automate and hotlink advantage planning with business and agent performance. Practically every alignment consistently reviews the achievement of its employees, which a lot of managers acknowledge to be a assignment that is ironically the centerpiece of their existence. In added words, a lot of managers abhorrence cadre reviews, and abounding adjourn until the HR administering or the advisers "scream." Back no advisers can get a pay accession until they get a review, HR departments apparatus systems to automate and force the analysis action as a agency to abode this.

The aim of achievement administering systems is to both automate the agent analysis action and hotlink reviews to authoritative performance. The aim is to ascertain whether advisers are demography absolute achieve to achieve their bent achievement goals; whether there are assumption affairs in abode for top managers; what kinds of abilities the alignment will charge in the next few years; and so on. Those are the kinds of questions (and hopefully adapted answers) that achievement administering systems should put on the desktops of both managers and employees.

Performance administering systems generally cover or augment into advantage (sometimes aswell alleged agent allurement administering [EIM]) systems in adjustment to added accurately deliver merit-based pay increases. Afore deploying such a system, managers would commonly analysis advisers annually about their date of hiring, generally with the aftereffect that well-deserving advisers would not get the admission they adapted artlessly because the basin of accessible money had already been spent by the time they accustomed their reviews. Surprising or not, advantage represents added than 60 percent of absolute accumulated expenditures, yet a lot of All-around 2000 firms are still not appropriately advantageous their highest-performing workers. The aim is now to complete agent reviews at the end of the budgetary year, and aswell administer the arete amount account by reviewing all achievement array afore distributing the pay increases. Additionally, such systems are advantageous for accepting a twelve-month appearance of agent performance, against absorption too carefully on the aeon that anon precedes the review. The accepted "defeat the purpose of achievement review" acquaintance of abounding managers has been that the aggregation would set the ambit for pay raises and bacon ranges at "budget time," and again apprehend managers to adumbrate the allotment raises individuals would receive, so that the money would be in the account if time came to analysis the employee.

More absolute achievement administering systems nowadays cover a stronger hotlink to upstream business goals and objectives, as able-bodied as a tighter affiliation to rewards, including arete pay, concise capricious incentives such as account or agency awards, and longer-term incentives such as banal grants. Some vendors action succession-planning software that builds on achievement and training systems to assay acceptable candidates for jobs added up the aliment chain. Again, the aim is to about-face humans into a aggressive advantage and to ensure that there are programs that pay for achievement and accolade humans for accomplishing goals that move the action forward. These categorical capabilities should admonition users not alone appoint a higher-quality employee, but aswell bigger clue that employee's performance, and authorize a stronger hotlink amid the employee's achievement and compensation. Enterprises wish to be able to accession the bar for top performers while agreement low performers on a achievement advance plan.

One analogy could be at an accoutrement banker that generally fell abbreviate of expectations with the barrage of a new band of jeans, which prompted it to adjudge to analysis bazaar jeans fitters who had been accomplished through e-learning about the products, how to fit jeans on women, and how to accord the best advice. The activity purportedly alternate a 75 percent admission in revenue, back the fitters began accepting an allurement every time a brace of jeans was sold. There was a achievement administering band-aid in the accomplishments cogent them how they were accomplishing according to their goals, whereby learning, performance, and incentives were all angry calm in an chip way to drive accumulated acquirement and performance.

Performance and Compensation Management at the Core of Human Capital Management

While decades accept been spent advance in automation technologies for bigger use of actual assets, alone afresh accept enterprises amorphous to advance in optimizing animal capital. Tactical and authoritative animal assets (HR) administering is morphing into cardinal animal basic administering (HCM).

Part Three of the alternation Thou Shalt Administer Animal Basic Better.

Some adeptness altercate that HCM revolves about bigger achievement administering and agent compensation. As the abridgement continues to backlash and aptitude wars intensify, companies accept been added leveraging commonly ambiguous "pay-for-performance" technologies that auspiciously automate and hotlink advantage planning with business and agent performance. Practically every alignment consistently reviews the achievement of its employees, which a lot of managers acknowledge to be a assignment that is ironically the centerpiece of their existence. In added words, a lot of managers abhorrence cadre reviews, and abounding adjourn until the HR administering or the advisers "scream." Back no advisers can get a pay accession until they get a review, HR departments apparatus systems to automate and force the analysis action as a agency to abode this.

The aim of achievement administering systems is to both automate the agent analysis action and hotlink reviews to authoritative performance. The aim is to ascertain whether advisers are demography absolute achieve to achieve their bent achievement goals; whether there are assumption affairs in abode for top managers; what kinds of abilities the alignment will charge in the next few years; and so on. Those are the kinds of questions (and hopefully adapted answers) that achievement administering systems should put on the desktops of both managers and employees.

Performance administering systems generally cover or augment into advantage (sometimes aswell alleged agent allurement administering [EIM]) systems in adjustment to added accurately deliver merit-based pay increases. Afore deploying such a system, managers would commonly analysis advisers annually about their date of hiring, generally with the aftereffect that well-deserving advisers would not get the admission they adapted artlessly because the basin of accessible money had already been spent by the time they accustomed their reviews. Surprising or not, advantage represents added than 60 percent of absolute accumulated expenditures, yet a lot of All-around 2000 firms are still not appropriately advantageous their highest-performing workers. The aim is now to complete agent reviews at the end of the budgetary year, and aswell administer the arete amount account by reviewing all achievement array afore distributing the pay increases. Additionally, such systems are advantageous for accepting a twelve-month appearance of agent performance, against absorption too carefully on the aeon that anon precedes the review. The accepted "defeat the purpose of achievement review" acquaintance of abounding managers has been that the aggregation would set the ambit for pay raises and bacon ranges at "budget time," and again apprehend managers to adumbrate the allotment raises individuals would receive, so that the money would be in the account if time came to analysis the employee.

More absolute achievement administering systems nowadays cover a stronger hotlink to upstream business goals and objectives, as able-bodied as a tighter affiliation to rewards, including arete pay, concise capricious incentives such as account or agency awards, and longer-term incentives such as banal grants. Some vendors action succession-planning software that builds on achievement and training systems to assay acceptable candidates for jobs added up the aliment chain. Again, the aim is to about-face humans into a aggressive advantage and to ensure that there are programs that pay for achievement and accolade humans for accomplishing goals that move the action forward. These categorical capabilities should admonition users not alone appoint a higher-quality employee, but aswell bigger clue that employee's performance, and authorize a stronger hotlink amid the employee's achievement and compensation. Enterprises wish to be able to accession the bar for top performers while agreement low performers on a achievement advance plan.

One analogy could be at an accoutrement banker that generally fell abbreviate of expectations with the barrage of a new band of jeans, which prompted it to adjudge to analysis bazaar jeans fitters who had been accomplished through e-learning about the products, how to fit jeans on women, and how to accord the best advice. The activity purportedly alternate a 75 percent admission in revenue, back the fitters began accepting an allurement every time a brace of jeans was sold. There was a achievement administering band-aid in the accomplishments cogent them how they were accomplishing according to their goals, whereby learning, performance, and incentives were all angry calm in an chip way to drive accumulated acquirement and performance.

Leading vendors in this amplitude cover Authoria (which afresh acquired Advanced Advice Administering [AIM], a provider of advantage management), SuccessFactors, Halogen Software, Workscape (including afresh acquired Performaworks), FirstDoor.com, Callidus Software, Centive, Ceridian, HRsmart, Kadiri, ProAlt Technologies (now both allotment of Workstream Software), Softscape, Kenexa, and action adeptness planning (ERP) giants SAP, Oracle, and Lawson Software.

In July, Lawson appear the accretion of Adequacy Assessment Solutions (CAS), a provider of achievement administering solutions for the bloom affliction industry to accede with advertisement standards set by the Joint Agency on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Advantage administering accumbent with alone achievement administering creates a accurate pay-for-performance environment, and leaders in this branch are attached the workforce to authoritative goals and productivity, such as acquirement per full-time agnate agent (FTE). Developing adequacy models for anniversary plan position can be time-consuming and costly, but already conducted, these models can be leveraged above the absolute HCM branch to advance the superior of new hires, bulldoze adapted agent performance, facilitate agent development, and abetment in the development of assumption plans. In added words, the absolute agent activity aeon (acquiring, developing, managing, and barometer performance) can be facilitated.

Once a eyes certificate is made, it is bright that it has won over the arch management. But the success of any accomplishing lies absolutely with the

i) Cerebral aversion

to change Any change in the absolute arrangement provokes a cerebral acknowledgment in the apperception of abounding people: the arrangement they accept is good, so why change it? They scream, adage that they accept been alive with it back so abounding years; why do they charge to change and apprentice something new? This attrition to change is unavoidable. But as technology grows, it is basic to change accepted processes, machines, and software to save time and money.

The animal addiction by and ample is to argue change. This because of the fears and apropos of humans apropos the new system's abeyant account and appulse on their circadian life.

ii) Overcoming aversionmanaging humans It is acute to advertise the change, contrarily abettor assurance will be affected. The afterward account point to a few things that can be done to accomplish this. The best way to do this is to adapt aggregation affairs on the charge for change, and ask the advisers to appear up with solutions. This ability absorb acclimation brainstorming sessions and discussions to analyze the achievability of accomplishing allowances after advance in change. If it is not possible, advisers themselves may feel the charge for a new system. Any band-aid that evolves will absolutely account the organization. Again they will abet in evaluating accepted and new systems: they will be accessible to change, and will be agog to apprentice how to advance their way of accomplishing things.

Those who do accept antecedent ability in accomplishing of PLM systems can conduct sessions on how their circadian accepted plan can be done efficiently, and can altercate how it can advice them alone (as able-bodied as the accomplished organization). It should be antiseptic that there will not be any blackmail to job security; rather, bigger achievement of systems will accommodate a addition to administration to acquaint new productsand appropriately assuredly accession application levels by streamlining accepted processes.

This is a aggressive world, and there are hundreds of PLM software vendors. One needs to appraise them in adjustment to accept the appropriate one for the organization. We took allotment in PLM implementations in the automotive, hi-tech, and aliment industries. We accept aggregate the inputs of these experiences, and aloft belief the assorted agency of software alternative pertaining to PLM, we abridge the afterward action for bell-ringer selection.

i) PLM arrangement certificate preparation

An action has to adapt a certificate on how they anticipate their PLM system: this is their company's "PLM arrangement document."

First of all, let all the stakeholders of the proposed PLM arrangement brainstorm (with the account that acquired in change administration sessions, as declared above) how they anticipate a arrangement that would advice them plan efficiently. All inputs aggregate actuality charge to be documented.

Let us accord a brace of examples. Some engineers ability appear up with the abstraction of accessing designs from home, an internet cafпїЅ, or even for that amount from addition country. From this concept, we ability get the abstraction of a PLM arrangement getting web-based. Some humans ability appear up with the abstraction that PLM systems should accommodate an advantage to see what will be the amount if new apparatus are added by removing old components, and carnality versa. What this agency is that the PLM arrangement may charge to accommodate a "what-if" affectionate of amount analysis. Thus, aloft brainstorming, the a lot of important appearance (agreed by majority) charge to be gathered, and accurate in the name of the PLM arrangement document. This completes the document, and is an able committee's baseline for evaluating assorted software vendors.

ii) Software evaluation

The software artefact appraisal methods appropriate by Ireland's Centre for Software Engineering (http://www.cse.dcu.ie) can be calmly used. They are based on all-embracing standards such as ISO/IEC 9126 and the proposed ISO/IEC 14598 (see http://www.cse.dcu.ie/essiscope/sm4/14598-5.html) for evaluating a software system. Our appraisal admission is based on this baseline, and is discussed below.

The industry convenance is to anatomy a board or accumulation of humans who accept acceptable acquaintance on application PLM software, anatomic experts in the breadth of implementation, abstruse experts, and experts from the corresponding design, manufacturing, production, and accretion departments.

Once a board is formed, it needs to acquaintance software vendors by all accessible means, such as agreeable tenders, contacting vendors' business departments, and so on. This will ensure the absorption of assorted vendors. Once this board starts accepting responses, again it should allotment its eyes and PLM arrangement certificate with those vendors, and specify bread-and-butter limits. This reduces abundant of the affliction in aggravating to accomplish a abbreviate account a part of the abounding vendors who do not accept what an action is searching for: alone those vendors with offerings analogous the expectations (at atomic nearly) will approach. Finally, there will be bound set of vendors which can action a band-aid as per needs.

Once there is a account of short-listed vendors, affairs with the bell-ringer business departments should yield place. However, an alignment should not annoyed with the archetypal demos. Instead, they charge to assert on getting apparent the appearance in applied contexts, with at atomic baby quantities of bequest data. At this stage, advice apropos the integrations that bell-ringer software supports needs to be obtained. This is to ensure that systems currently in use (like action ability planning [ERP] or computer-assisted architecture [CAD] systems) can be chip with the new PLM System

At the point area an action has completed the account of PLM appearance it's searching for (in the anatomy of a PLM arrangement document), a agenda can be able for -to-be vendors. This can be managed by defining a weight for anniversary of the features. Based on this (and the appearance accurate by anniversary bell-ringer software), accomplish a scorecard. This will accord a score-based appearance of anniversary vendor's capability. This abstracts can again be analyzed application bar graphs, pie charts, 2-D graphs, and so forth. Even a simple allegory of absolute array in the anatomy a agenda table will aswell advice to adjudge who is better. Table 1 shows a archetypal scorecard.

An Overview of Product Lifecycle Management Implementation Challenges

According to CIMdata (www.cimdata.com/PLM/plm.html), artefact lifecycle administration (PLM) can be authentic as "a cardinal business admission that applies a constant set of business solutions in abutment of the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of artefact analogue advice beyond the continued action from abstraction to end of lifeintegrating people, processes, business systems, and information."

Part One of the alternation An Overview of Artefact Lifecycle Administration Accomplishing Challenges.

Wikipedia defines PLM as follows:

"Product Lifecycle Administration describes the action of managing the absolute lifecycle of a artefact from the abstraction and architecture phase, artefact assay (finite aspect analysis) through assembly planning, decision and business to the end of activity of a product." (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Lifecycle_Management [accessed March 2006])

Thus, we accomplish that PLM systems abutment the administration of a portfolio of products, processes, and services, from antecedent concept, through design, launch, production, and use, to final disposal.

The Charge for PLM

As CIMdata's admiral Ed Miller accurately emphasizes, "PLM supports innovation-oriented initiatives such as chip artefact development, architecture collaboration, bookish accumulation alternation management, and all-around ability utilization." PLM applications authority the affiance of seamlessly abounding all of the advice produced throughout all phases of a product's activity aeon to anybody in an organization, alternating with key suppliers and customers.

For example, an automotive aggregation can abate the time it takes to acquaint new models in a amount of ways. Artefact engineers can badly abbreviate the aeon of implementing and acknowledging engineering changes beyond an continued and globally broadcast architecture alternation (covering suppliers, customers, and arch accomplishment and arch architecture engineers) which can admission all abstracts through a web-based PLM system. Accretion capacity can plan added finer with suppliers to reclaim parts. Thus, the artefact can be bogus faster, paving the way for capturing the bazaar beforehand than the competition.

Implementation Challenges

When we move from one arrangement to addition system, it is to advance the process, and save money and time. However, it is acute that we afflicted assertive challenges whenever we do this. We can broadly assort the PLM accomplishing challenges as follows:

1. Preparation of the eyes document

2. Gathering abettor abutment for change

3. Software appraisal and selection

4. Accomplishing management

5. Mapping of accepted action to the appearance of the called software system

6. Identifying customizations and prioritization

7. Bequest abstracts loading into the anew congenital PLM system

8. Abstruse training on PLM software for maintenance

9. Hands-on user training on acceptance of new system.

10. Kickoff of new PLM system

Any aloft change in the way an alignment plan needs to be guided with a vision. The arch advice admiral (CIOs) who drive the accomplishing of systems such as PLM should accept a bright eyes and roadmap of what is to be done, and what they wish to accomplish with it.

The CIO's antecedent role with PLM is that of change agent, through alive with engineering to advertise the business case to arch management. From there, they charge to baby-sit a cross-functional PLM activity aggregation answerable with mapping and defining accepted business processes. With the engineering and operations groups as co-sponsors, they charge to barrage a attack to advertise the allowances of PLM to the company's altered constituencies. Once an acceding is reached, this needs to be documented, and it will drive the absolute implementation.

Thus, the achievement at this date is a PLM accomplishing eyes certificate acutely anecdotic the key milestones, accomplishing methodology, assorted phases, and checkpoints. Finally, it explains the allowances that are accepted in the abbreviate and the continued run. Apart from this, it should announce if to apprehend acknowledgment on investment (ROI).

Product Lifecycle Management Challenges: From Solution Evaluation to Kickoff

In the aboriginal allotment of this series, we explored some of the difficulties inherent in selecting a artefact lifecycle administration (PLM) system, including the accepted cerebral attrition to change, as able-bodied as means of managing and advancing for this change. One of the arch weapons in the armory of change administration angry out to be the PLM arrangement document, which outlines the company's eyes for the PLM system. We about-face now to the specifics of the absolute implementation, including accomplishing management, prioritization of customization needs, and alpha of the new system.

Part Two of the alternation An Overview of Artefact Lifecycle Administration Accomplishing Challenges.

Implementation Management

Once a bell-ringer is selected, the aggregation should accede how to administer the absolute implementation. The afterward gives some abstraction of how to administer this important issue.

i) Ambit of plan and establishing a council committee

Sign a ambit of plan (SOW) certificate with the bell-ringer which describes all the items that are to be covered during accomplishing of the PLM System. Accommodate the PLM arrangement document, and all added advice to the accomplished vendor. Involve arch associates of the alignment in advancing the SOW document. Define the ambit with alternate understanding.

Establish a council lath with consultants from the bell-ringer aggregation and arch associates of the alignment (as able-bodied as with stakeholders of the new PLM system). Formulate the action for implementation, and book out a milestone-driven plan. The SOW certificate needs to acutely announce milestones which announce some arresting achievement, and which will aswell angle as transaction gates (meaning that payments to the bell-ringer should be affiliated with these milestones). The council lath should accommodated at approved intervals to boldness any issues, and its decisions should be final.

ii) Basement and installations

Once the SOW is prepared, the accomplishing will be kicked off. The council lath contains a assertive set of humans who will beforehand assorted teams which will accomplish assertive responsibilities. The assorted functionalities are the basement group, the accomplishing group, and the superior group.

The basement accumulation will aggregation up with assorted sections of the action to annex the appropriate basement (such as the server machine, applicant machine, and book servers), and to analyze and annex assets which can plan on the accomplishing internally. If charge be, they admit the appliance with the amenable animal assets (HR) department, and anatomy assorted teams.

The accomplishing accumulation will be led by arch anatomic and abstruse managers who will drive the accomplishing by alignment the training appropriate for the assets articular by the basement group. It will aswell anatomy a activity plan for implementation.

The superior accumulation will accommodate a awful accomplished superior head, with a aggregation which is accomplished in ensuring the software superior of new systems. They will abetment the development through appropriate testing and by implementing the industry-accepted procedures to bear superior systems.

Once the new arrangement is installed, the next footfall is to accomplish a gap assay and adapt a mapping document.

i) Gap assay and mapping certificate preparation

Any software will accept acceptable features. Afterwards all, that's what afflicted in the aboriginal abode and led to the accommodation to buy it. But accumulate in apperception that it is absurd to get aggregate out of the box. There should be accurate abstraction to accept the new system, its benefits, and the accomplishing procedure.

Since a PLM arrangement certificate is already available, there is bright description of what is accepted of the new arrangement and what the accepted action is. Map the solutions accessible in the new arrangement to the requirements. There should be mapping adjoin anniversary feature, and absolutely declared if a affection is non-available. If a affection is accessible through a altered process, this aswell charge to explained. This will accession questions of whether this altered action is best convenance in the industry, and aswell of the authoritative allowances should this new action be followed.

However, if a claim is so important to the alignment that it cannot be ignored, it should be explained why accommodation is viable, and the accomplishment appropriate to apparatus the accommodation needs to be assessed, if possible.

Identifying Customizations and Assigning Priority

Once the mapping certificate is prepared, it will pave the way for anecdotic what appearance are not accessible in the system, and it will aswell allegorize the akin of complication complex in affair these requirements. This mapping certificate will be presented to the council committee. This lath will altercate and access at the account of customizations, ranked by priority.

i) Anecdotic customizations

The council lath will accept the mapping certificate accurate through the ascribe of the corresponding teams. These teams should explain the call of requirements if they are not available, and the achievability of alteration any action as per the architecture provided in the new PLM system, to abstain customization. It is consistently bigger to abstain customizing new systems too abundant because it leads to loopholes, and the cohesiveness of the arrangement will be reduced. There can aswell be accompanying problems if there is an upgrade, or if the bell-ringer releases new versions with added features. Thus, alone the a lot of appropriate appearance defective in the new PLM arrangement will be articular for customization.

ii) Assigning priority

Careful appraisal will absolute customization. However, afore a accommodation is taken about customizing for some feature, its accent and criticality charge to be evaluated. Some features, admitting important, may not be appropriate immediately. An action should analyze the actual requirements that ability be show-stoppers for a new PLM arrangement implementation. Those requirements which are beneath important can be implemented at a afterwards stage. It is consistently bigger to accord baronial to these customizations, and to accredit an end date for accomplishing for anniversary of these items.

Once the action of implementing the new software arrangement is in place, it is consistently bigger to access abstruse training for the assets aural the organization, to abstain over-reliance on the vendor. Usually, this will be allotment of the acquirement agreement. This will beforehand the organization's adequacy to break abounding baby issues that ability appear afterwards implementation.

A Simplified Approach to Powerful, Flexible Data Visualization

Data visualization tools allow organizations to integrate various best-of-breed offerings to create customized business intelligence (BI), performance management, and analytics-based solutions. For organizations that cannot afford enterprise BI solutions, or that require a subset of functionality, data visualization allows them to use specific analytics on the back-end, and to couple it with customized scorecards, dashboards, heat graphs, etc. to present statistical and performance-based data visually. This visual data representation, if used properly, ties back to an organization's strategic initiatives through the use of metrics and other performance-based indicators to drive corporate performance.

Corda Technologies Inc., a Lindon, Utah (US)-based company, provides organizations with a simplified approach to dashboard design, and an easy way to develop front-end dashboards that link to source data. Corda's specialty in data visualization and performance dashboards evolved from the vendor's strength in providing software and developer tools used to build information portals. Capitalizing on its niche expertise, Corda developed CenterView, the company's enterprise dashboard product. Corda's additional offerings include data integration capabilities to link back-end, third-party offerings and Corda's front-end solutions.

Software Components

CenterView 2.0 executive dashboard leverages data from BI, enterprise resource planning (ERP), spreadsheets, and operational applications, and present that data in the form of executive dashboards and balanced scorecards to help organizations manage overall organizational performance initiatives. Key features of CenterView 2.0 include the ability to customize the design and layout of dashboards, the ability to define how key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards are presented in print, and a gallery tool that allows users to save and share their designs.

Corda's combination of dashboarding, data integration, and developer tools allows organizations to link back-end, analytic data to its dashboards without the need for third-party support. CenterView 2.0 is the executive dashboard and data visualization tool that works as the data presentation layer. Additionally, data integration capabilities leverage organizational data from multiple sources to feed data into CenterView so that organizations can use one product to develop their dashboards, instead of leveraging various vendors for data integration, management, etc. Finally, using development tools to design and build dashboards, scorecards, and other business-specific, custom visualizations within a server-based environment empowers users to grow their dashboard environments internally, to manage that process in the long term, and to control the data integration process.

Corda's data integration tool eliminates an organization's need for a third-party tool when implementing Corda's product offerings. Many data visualization vendors focus on front-end visualization tools to build dashboards and scorecards for its customers, whereas Corda takes its offerings one step further and coordinates the data capturing and consolidation as well. Included in CenterView 2.0 are data cleansing, mapping, and consolidation features to pool data from across the organization to feed information to CenterView.

Developer tools include the following:

* CORDA PopChart—a server-based graphing product that can generate charts and graphs for any high-demand, Web-based application.

* CORDA OptiMap—a server-based mapping solution that presents data in a dynamic, geographical format for display on any Web browser.

* CORDA Highwire—a tool that delivers high-speed, server-based hypertext markup language (HTML)-to-PDF conversion for high-quality document creation and print output.

* CORDA CenterView Builder—a graphical design tool used to build complete interfaces for Corda's CenterView 2.0.

* CORDA Tools Builder—a graphical design tool used by developers to customize the look and feel of charts, graphs, and maps.

Product Strengths

Corda's core strengths are its products' ease of use and quick build and deployment times, and the service and support customers receive from the company, which all help to set this vendor apart from its competition. Additionally, the company's partner strategy offers software vendors the ability to integrate data visualization tools into their own products so that users have a single, integrated solution.

Corda's dashboards are easy to use. Unlike other BI-related products that require detailed user training, Corda's dashboards can be deployed throughout the organization without a concern for in-depth training due to the way users see the data. For example, data values become viewable as a user moves a mouse over the item he or she is interested in viewing. This allows users to drill through in order to complete additional analyses, or gives users an overview of multiple data sets without the need to view several screens.

Corda's partner strategy directly affects its solutions' implementation times. Because Corda's solutions can be integrated as front-end tools with those of their partner analytics vendors, organizations that implement dashboards as extensions of analytics vendors' products can implement dashboards in weeks, as opposed to months. Furthermore, organizations do not have to be concerned with integration at their end, since platform issues have already been dealt with at the vendor level. This is advantageous to organizations, because often implementations take longer than anticipated due to problems with integration. Additionally, organizations can take advantage of best-of-breed vendors and their key benefits and differentiators while still presenting a strong user interface. This can be readily seen by Corda's partnerships with data mining and predictive analytics vendors, giving users the ability to capitalize on both vendors' strengths within a single platform.

Product Challenges

Corda's key challenge stems from being a new entry in the data visualization market. Being a young company suggests it has areas that require growth in order to successfully compete in the market and to ensure long-term viability. In addition, future product and company viability, and user customization are areas of growth Corda needs to focus on.

Based on Corda's newness in the market, corporate viability is an issue. In an industry such as BI, certain vendors have emerged as market leaders, creating a difficult market for any new vendor to penetrate successfully. Corda's partnerships with analytics and data mining vendors give the company an advantage by merging its product with various vendor offerings. However, most of these partners integrate Corda's solutions into their own product offerings, creating a seamless integration without any name recognition for Corda. This means that although Corda's partner strategy works, it has a negative side in that the company's recognition has not extended as far as it could. What this comes down to is that many organizations could be using Corda products without knowing it. Instead of expanding its installed base, Corda may have to rely on the expansion of back-end products to fuel its sales strategy.

As long as Corda's partner strategy stays strong, its current users will not have to worry about this issue. Future customers should evaluate the company's current product offerings and compare them to other, more mature data visualization vendors to make sure Corda provides the appropriate features required. Otherwise, users may have to wait for the organization to grow in order to take advantage of new features and functionality needed to stay competitive within the market.

Corda's current development tools allow customers to develop dashboards. However, enhanced features should be transferred to the user community to allow for independent dashboard development within different business units. This includes the current software functionality for users not using the development tool when building their own dashboards, as well as the documentation available to the users themselves. Users should be able to enhance and change the features used and data analyzed based on changing needs within the organization. As an organization's environment matures, users' requirements grow and change. The ability to customize dashboards at the user level allows users to integrate dashboard use into their business processes, and to tailor their dashboard designs to changing departmental needs.

Therefore, the sixth to the eleventh criteria for selecting a software estimation tool are

* the tool must provide for scheduling the project
* the schedule must be derived from the estimated effort
* the tool must automate schedule generation to the extent feasible
* the tool must allow for human intervention when creating the schedule
* the generated schedule must have adequate detail and must be exportable to a familiar intermediate program such as MS-Excel
* the tool must be based on estimated PD, but allow for scheduled PD to be different from the estimated PD

This eleventh criterion is so because when we honestly estimate the effort in PD and then schedule it, the scheduled PD overshoots the estimated PD due to loss of time in personnel allocation, fragmentation of work, idle time, and start-to-finish relationships.

Estimation for Part Life Cycle Projects

Significant projects, such as software maintenance, enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation, and testing projects, are not full software development life cycle (SDLC) projects. The software estimation tool has to cater to these projects too, using such techniques as task-based estimation. Task-based estimation is parameterized so that different project types can be defined and used by the organization.

Therefore, the twelfth criterion for selecting a software estimation tool is

All software should be built with users in mind. An expert can work with any tool, but the main distinguishing characteristic of a good software estimation tool is that it can produce an expert-quality output even from a person of average expertise. This distinction can be achieved by building a tool with an intuitive interface that keeps the need for training on how to use the tool to a minimum. This is possible with the availability of GUI tools. It is also possible to use the wrong controls, which places a strain on the user instead of making usage of the tool easier. Oftentimes, software tools are developed with a focus on making the user interfaces more appealing rather than on being functional, making the tool more complex to use. The tool must be geared more toward functionality and usability than to jazziness. A simple user interface (UI) is always the better UI.

Therefore, the thirteenth criterion for selecting a software estimation tool is

* the tool must be built with usability in mind, and with an intuitive interface that makes it easier for a person with average skills to quickly master the tool

Usage of Popular Software Sizing Techniques

Software estimation is perhaps as old as software development itself. Some estimation techniques have become popular and are used by many organizations. Especially common are the LOC, function point analysis (FPA), and UCP techniques. Two other widely used techniques are object points and feature points.

Therefore, the fourteenth criterion for selecting a software estimation tool is

* the tool must provide for as many commonly used software estimation techniques possible

Auditability

"Two heads are better than one" is a well-known dictum, and it forms the basis of software inspections, reviews, and walkthroughs. Therefore, it is unnecessary to say that the estimate made by one person, however diligent and expert that person may be, needs to be reviewed by one more peer. The software estimation tool must provide for making a detailed estimate so that this estimate can be reviewed and improved upon. This detailed estimate also assists in reconciling with actual effort spent on the project in order to draw lessons from the experience, and improve the process of estimation in subsequent projects.

Therefore, the fifteenth criterion for selecting a software estimation tool is

* The tool must provide for making estimates that are auditable

Reporting Capability

The result obtained by estimating is to be submitted to the client, management, or user. These reports should not include the unnecessary details, but present only the details that are required.

Therefore, the sixteenth criterion for selecting a software estimation tool is

* the tool should generate a summary report and a detailed report for every estimate made, as well as a summary report of all estimation's made on the tool

Estimator Productivity

It is extremely important to keep in mind the pressure that the estimators, who are usually either project leaders or project managers, are under. The software estimation tool must facilitate picking data from a predefined list as much as possible so that estimators are not required to type the data inputs into the tool. It is also likely that projects in an organization are similar in nature, though certainly not identical. Therefore, the tool must also enable the ability to copy an existing estimate and to modify it to generate a new estimate. This saves a great deal of the estimator's time and therefore money for the organization.

Therefore, the final two criteria (seventeenth and eighteenth) for selecting a software estimation tool are

* the tool must provide for selection from a list of choices as much as possible
* the tool must allow the "copy, modify, and generate" process for a new estimate

Software development outsourcing has now become commonplace. So, it has become necessary for the outsourcer and the provider to reach an agreement about the size, development effort, cost, and development schedule of the software product being outsourced. This has caused software estimation to move from hunch-based estimation to the use of mature, research-backed estimation techniques. The process of estimation has also moved from manual estimation using spreadsheets to tools.

The stakes in software estimation are high. Underestimation may cause the project to be unprofitable for the vendor; overestimation may cause the project to be lost to the competition. Similarly, the outsourcer may end up paying more if software is overestimated; if underestimated, the outsourcer's budget may be overshot. While software estimation is still a creative endeavor, tools help relieve the mundane aspects of it and allow the estimator to concentrate on the creative aspects of estimation.

Software estimation includes the following four aspects: software size, software cost, software effort, and software delivery schedule.

A plethora of software estimation tools are available to choose from in the market, and it is often difficult to arrive at an educated decision on which tool to purchase. As usual, vendors always claim that their tools are better than the competition's in that they are the most scientific and suited to any type of software project or organization.

This article outlines eighteen criteria for selecting the right software estimation tool, and attempts to educate professionals so that they can make informed choices when buying a software estimation tool.

Units of Measure for Software Size

It is a known fact that there are multiple measures of software size, namely, lines of code (LOC), function points, use case points (UCP), feature points, and so on. And each of these sizing measures has a sizable following. As a result, there is no agreement among information technology (IT) professionals on what the best unit of measure for software size is. There are many reasons for this.

The programming platforms of these measures differ widely—mainframes, midrange, personal computers (PCs), networked applications, and finally, Internet-based software applications. The development platforms range from common business-oriented language (COBOL) to graphical user interface (GUI) tools to Internet programming languages. The application architectures have moved from one tier to multi-tiered applications.

There is a difference of opinion on what constitutes an LOC. Variable declaration, comments, and length of an LOC bear different connotations to different perspectives. A vendor would like to count all, but a buyer would not.

GUI programming, in which a significant code is predeveloped, adds one more dimension to the debate on LOC. This type of programming has moved away from procedure-oriented programming toward event-oriented programming. Now GUI controls are added to LOC, and there is confusion on how to measure the size of GUI.

Several projects, such as those involving software maintenance and testing, are not full development life cycle projects, and there is confusion on how to measure the size of these.

Therefore, criterion number one for selecting a software estimation tool is

* the tool must allow multiple units of measure for software size

In other words, the tool must allow the user to carry out software estimation using multiple, commonly used software size measures.

Common Unit of Measure for Software Size

Now the question becomes—if the size measurement is carried out using different software size measures, how does the organization measure its productivity and capacity? Measurement of an organization's software development productivity is possible only when the software size is measured using one unit of measure.

Therefore, the second criterion for selecting a software estimation tool is

* the tool must enable conversion of multiple units of measure into one unit of measure for the software size to become a standard in the organization


There are no differences in opinion among IT professionals when talking about software costing. Everyone agrees that software costing must be measured in the currency of the country, be it dollars, euros, rupees, etc. While software development effort in person days (PD) is the major cost source, other cost items come into play while estimating the cost of software to be developed. It is likely that the additional cost items vary from organization to organization in terms of variety and unit cost. So, the tool must allow for parameterization and maintenance of cost items (that is, adding, modifying, and deleting of data for cost items). It is also likely that PD costs vary from project to project as well.

Therefore, the third, fourth, and fifth criteria for selecting a software estimation tool are

* the tool must allow software cost estimation
* the tool must provide for parameterization of PD cost
* the tool must provide for maintenance of cost items

Scheduling the Software Project

Effort is estimated for three reasons: (1) to commit to a delivery schedule with the client, management, or users; (2) to estimate the resources required to execute the project; and (3) to estimate the cost of the project to allow for accurate funds allocation or pricing, with the objective of cost and profit optimization.

We have already enumerated that the software estimation tool caters to reasons number 2 and 3 above. While so, developing a schedule for delivery commitment to stakeholders (the first reason) is by no means an insignificant one. Scheduling is a creative task and an activity that calls for human ingenuity; it cannot be fully automated. Equally important is the fact that there is no accepted or standard way of apportioning a percentage of project effort to a given phase or activity.

The advantages of deriving a schedule from estimate ought to be (1) that the schedule is efficient; (2) that the schedule caters to allocation of resources and can be adjusted accordingly; (3) that the schedule allows for allocating effort in PD to different phases; and (4) that the schedule is sufficiently detailed and exportable to an intermediate file from which it can be taken into a full-fledged program evaluation and review technique/critical path method (PERT/CPM) package like MS-Project and Primavera.