TL9000 Common Measurements - Design and Development for Telecommunication Products

[JHI2009]

Dear Friends,

I am now studying how to apply the common measurements to my company. My company provides design and development for telecommunication products. My questions are as follows:

1) Does the OTD measurement apply to my company?
There is a sentence in the OTD section of the measurement handbook - "This measurement is not intended to measure the organization's performance in meeting its commitments for release of new design" - which I think it is not applicable to my company.

2) Is it better to have form templates for our colleagues to report the data for NPR, FRT and OFR measurement?
Are there report tempaltes for NPR, FRT and OFR measurement?
Can you please help to give me some examples?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Stijloor]

Re: TL9000 Common Measurements

Dear Friends,

I am now studying how to apply the common measurements to my company. My company provides design and development for telecommunication products. My questions are as follows:

1) Does the OTD measurement apply to my company?
There is a sentence in the OTD section of the measurement handbook - "This measurement is not intended to measure the organization's performance in meeting its commitments for release of new design" - which I think it is not applicable to my company.

2) Is it better to have form templates for our colleagues to report the data for NPR, FRT and OFR measurement?
Are there report templates for NPR, FRT and OFR measurement?
Can you please help to give me some examples?

Thanks a lot!

For the benefit of our Members:

• OTD =
• NPR =
• FRT =
• OFR =

Thank you!

Stijloor, Forum Moderator.

 

[pldey42]

Re: TL9000 Common Measurements - Design and Development for Telecommunication Product

The acronyms are defined in the TL 9000 Measurements Handbook as

OTD - On-Time Delivery
NPR - Number of Problem Reports
FRT - Fix Response Time
OFR - Overdue Fix Response time

The rules for collecting and reporting the measurements are defined in detail in the handbook.

On-Time Delivery is a “common” measurement, meaning that everyone has to collect, analyze, report and use it, no exceptions. I cannot find the sentence "This measurement is not intended to measure the organization's performance in meeting its commitments for release of new design." Where is it?

The intent of OTD is to measure software design and development service against contract commitments. It's not concerned with maintenance releases, nor with upgrades unless they're the subject of specific purchase contracts. So if a customer orders a software product, OTD is measured for that product against the delivery date specified in the purchase order. If fresh releases are sent from time to time as part of the maintenance contract, they're not measured in OTD.

In my experience most organizations automate measurements collection to reduce possibilities for error. You could indeed use templates, coupled with training for those who will complete them to assure they use the counting rules correctly, which are designed to ensure accuracy and comparability across the industry.

For example, they must understand that on-time delivery of software means recording the contracted delivery date and the actual delivery date. The contracted delivery date cannot be changed after the purchase order has been accepted unless the client can specifically requests a change, and the actual delivery date means the date that the customer agrees they have it and it works: the date it was sent, or delivered into testing, is not acceptable. TL 9000 auditors will check that the measurement is correctly gathered and reported.

For reporting the measurements to QuEST Forum there are defined electronic templates and software, available from QuEST Forum. Amongst other things, the software encrypts the data to keep it confidential.

For examples please consult the QuEST Forum website.

 

[JHI2009]

Re: TL9000 Common Measurements - Design and Development for Telecommunication Product

Dear Patrick,

Thanks for your help to explain the acronyms.

The statement "This measurement is not intended to measure the organization's performance in meeting its commitments for release of new design" is on the last sentenane of the second paragraph, section 5.4.2 Purpose, 5.4 On-Time Delivery (OTD) of the TL 9000 Measurement Handbook Release 4.0.

How to interpret this statement correctly?

Best Regards,

 

[pldey42]

Re: TL9000 Common Measurements - Design and Development for Telecommunication Product

The purpose isn't auditable and serves to provide background to the rules that follow. Since there is a product category for software, and since the product category tables insist that OTD is mandatory for all, the sentence in question must mean something else.

(In several years of implementing and auditing TL 9000 with a range of suppliers including software companies I do not recall this question ever arising, hence my bemusement. Please do not waste your energy trying to wriggle out of OTD; they won't let you, especially since software companies are notorious for being late.)

I imagine that the sentence in question refers to situations where a company like Alcatel, Lucent or Cisco is designing a new switch or router, and wants to make sure it meets the future needs of telecom network operators. The design will be discussed with operators like Bell South, SBC and BT, maybe prototypes built for trials, and dates for release of the new design will be discussed - but not measured with OTD.

(You could try to argue that if that's what it means, it should say so. But it's a standard written by a committee and sometimes not as clear to newcomers as it might be. Auditors will not be swayed to allow you to avoid OTD because of such minor ambiguity, when in several places it simply says that OTD is mandatory, no exceptions.)

BTW you should use the latest versions of the handbooks which for the measurements is 4.5. Also, since the measurements are a perpetual work-in-progress with new issues and clarifications emerging all the time, changes since release 4.5 are notified on-line at http://questforum.org/.

If you're still in doubt, please raise the issue with your Certification Body because ultimately they will decide what you must measure.

Hope this helps,
Pat

Hope this helps,
Pat

 

[JHI2009]

Re: TL9000 Common Measurements - Design and Development for Telecommunication Product

Dear Patrick,

Thanks for your explanation and advice.

Regards