Six Sigma

Six Sigma is the process of improving the quality of the output by identifying and eliminating
the cause of defects and reduce variability in manufacturing and business processes. The
maturity of a manufacturing process can be defined by a sigma rating indicating its
percentage of defect-free products it creates.

Characteristics of Six Sigma

The Characteristics of Six Sigma are as follows:
 Statistical Quality Control: Six Sigma is derived from the Greek Letter σ
(Sigma) from the Greek alphabet, which is used to denote Standard Deviation in
statistics. Standard Deviation is used to measure variance, which is an essential
tool for measuring non-conformance as far as the quality of output is concerned.
 Methodical Approach: The Six Sigma is not a merely quality improvement
strategy in theory, as it features a well defined systematic approach of application
in DMAIC and DMADV which can be used to improve the quality of production.
 Fact and Data-Based Approach: The statistical and methodical aspect of Six
Sigma shows the scientific basis of the technique. This accentuates essential
elements of the Six Sigma that is a fact and data-based.
 Project and Objective-Based Focus: The Six Sigma process is implemented for
an organization's project tailored to its specification and requirements.
 Customer Focus: The customer focus is fundamental to the Six Sigma approach.
The quality improvement and control standards are based on specific customer
requirements.
 Teamwork Approach to Quality Management : The Six Sigma process requires
organizations to get organized when it comes to controlling and improving
quality.
Six Sigma Methodologies
Six Sigma projects follow two project methodologies:
1. DMAIC
2. DMADV
DMAIC
It specifies a data-driven quality strategy for improving processes. This methodology is used
to enhance an existing business process.
The DMAIC project methodology has five phases:
1. Define: It covers the process mapping and flow-charting, project charter
development, problem-solving tools, and so-called 7-M tools.
2. Measure: It includes the principles of measurement, continuous and discrete data,
and scales of measurement, an overview of the principle of variations and
repeatability and reproducibility (RR) studies for continuous and discrete data.
3. Analyze: It covers establishing a process baseline, how to determine process
improvement goals, knowledge discovery, including descriptive and exploratory data
analysis and data mining tools, the basic principle of Statistical Process Control
(SPC), specialized control charts, process capability analysis, correlation and
regression analysis, analysis of categorical data, and non-parametric statistical
methods.
4. Improve: It covers project management, risk assessment, process simulation, and
design of experiments (DOE), robust design concepts, and process optimization.
5. Control: It covers process control planning, using SPC for operational control and
PRE-Control.
DMADV
It specifies a data-driven quality strategy for designing products and processes. This method
is used to create new product designs or process designs in such a way that it results in a
more predictable, mature, and detect free performance.
1. Define: It defines the problem or project goal that needs to be addressed.
2. Measure: It measures and determines the customer's needs and specifications.
3. Analyze: It analyzes the process to meet customer needs.
4. Design: It can design a process that will meet customer needs.
5. Verify: It can verify the design performance and ability to meet customer needs.

Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE)

 Computer-aided software engineering (CASE) is the implementation of computer-
facilitated tools and methods in software development. CASE is used to ensure high-
quality and defect-free software.
 CASE ensures a check-pointed and disciplined approach and helps designers,
developers, testers, managers, and others to see the project milestones during
development.
  CASE can also help as a warehouse for documents related to projects, like business
plans, requirements, and design specifications. One of the major advantages of using
CASE is the delivery of the final product.
 CASE illustrates a wide set of labour-saving tools that are used in software
development.
Types of CASE Tools:
1. Diagramming Tools: It helps in diagrammatic and graphical representations of the data
and system processes. It represents system elements, control flow and data flow among
different software components and system structures in a pictorial form. For example,
Flow Chart Maker tool for making state-of-the-art flowcharts.
2. Computer Display and Report Generators: These help in understanding the data
requirements and the relationships involved.
3. Analysis Tools: It focuses on inconsistent, incorrect specifications involved in the
diagram and data flow. It helps in collecting requirements, automatically check for any
irregularity, imprecision in the diagrams, data redundancies, or erroneous omissions.
For example:
 (i) Accept 360, Accompa, CaseComplete for requirement analysis.
 (ii) Visible Analyst for total analysis.

4. Central Repository: It provides a single point of storage for data diagrams, reports, and
documents related to project management.
5. Documentation Generators: It helps in generating user and technical documentation as
per standards. It creates documents for technical users and end users.

Advantages of the CASE approach:

 Improved Documentation: Comprehensive documentation creation and maintenance is

made easier by CASE tools. Since automatically generated documentation is usually more
accurate and up to date, there are fewer opportunities for errors and misunderstandings
brought on by out-of-current material.
 Reusing Components: Reusable component creation and maintenance are frequently
facilitated by CASE tools. This encourages a development approach that is modular and
component-based, enabling teams to shorten development times and reuse tested
solutions.
 Quicker Cycles of Development: Development cycles take less time when certain jobs,
such testing and code generation, are automated. This may result in software solutions
being delivered more quickly, meeting deadlines and keeping up with changing business
requirements.
 Improved Results: Code generation, documentation, and testing are just a few of the
time-consuming, repetitive operations that CASE tools perform. Due to this automation,
engineers are able to concentrate on more intricate and imaginative facets of software
development, which boosts output.
 Achieving uniformity and standardization: Coding conventions, documentation
formats and design patterns are just a few of the areas of software development where
CASE tools enforce uniformity and standards. This guarantees consistent and
maintainable software development.
Disadvantages of the CASE approach:
 Cost: Using a case tool is very costly. Most firms engaged in software development on a
small scale do not invest in CASE tools because they think that the benefit of CASE is
justifiable only in the development of large systems.
 Learning Curve: In most cases, programmers’ productivity may fall in the initial phase
of implementation, because users need time to learn the technology.
 Tool Mix: It is important to build an appropriate selection tool mix to urge cost
advantage CASE integration and data integration across all platforms is extremely
important.
Architecture of a CASE Environment
The design of a typical trendy CASE (Computer power-assisted software package
Engineering) atmosphere is shown graphically below. The vital elements of a
contemporary CASE atmosphere are a computer program, tool set, object
management system (OMS), and a repository.
Architecture of a CASE Environment

Architecture of a CASE environment

1. User Interface
The user interface provides a regular framework for accessing the various tools so
creating it easier for the users to act with the different tools and reducing the
overhead of learning however the different tools are used.
2. Object Management System (OMS) and Repository
Different case tools represent the product as a group of entities like specification,
design, text data, project arrange, etc. the thing management system maps these
logical entities such into the underlying storage management system (repository).

The architecture of a CASE environment consists of several components that

work together to provide a comprehensive solution for software development.
User Interface
The user interface is the front-end of the CASE environment. It provides an
interface for developers to interact with the various tools and features of the
environment.
Data Management
Data management is a critical component of a CASE environment. It involves the
storage, retrieval, and manipulation of data related to the software development
process.
Modeling and Analysis Tools
Modeling and analysis tools are used to create models of software systems and
analyze their behavior.
Code Generation
Code generation is the process of automatically generating code from models or
specifications. This component of the CASE environment helps to reduce the
amount of time and effort required to write code manually.
Testing and Debugging
Testing and debugging are essential components of software engineering. The
CASE environment should provide tools to enable developers to test and debug
software systems efficiently.
Version Control
Version control is a critical component of software engineering. It enables
developers to track changes to software systems and manage multiple versions of
the same software system.
Collaboration
Collaboration is a crucial component of software development. The CASE
environment should provide tools to enable developers to collaborate effectively
on software development projects.