Akademia Techniczno-Rolnicza w Bydgoszczy
Centrum Badawczo-Produkcyjno-Usługowe CECOMM S.A. Bydgoszcz, Polska. Summary
Changes that occurred in Polish economy so far caused an increased interest in knowledge and the possibility of its usage in order to improve the quality of the product. The objective of this work was to show the formalized procedures of the Quality Management System in the Research, Manufacturing and Service Center CECOMM PLC in Bydgoszcz Particular attention was put on their usefulness in the decision taking process and the utilization of the gained knowledge in the form of the structured documentation for the elimination of the wrong decisions during the project evaluation after its realization.
Keywords: Knowledge, Knowledge Management Systems, Quality Management, Risk Management
1. Introduction
The concept of the management of organization knowledge is not sufficiently popular in Po-land yet. However, it has gained the greater interest since last few years. As J. Kisielnicki1 says, knowledge means assets of the organization related to the human activity. The utilization of these assets can help the competitive organization to gain an advantage in comparison to the other ones. This knowledge is related to data and information possessed by the organization and to the level of education and experience of its staff [3]. It must be taken into consideration that edge depends on people, whereas the IT systems support the process of the management of knowl-edge.
Changes that occurred in Polish economy so far resulted in an increased interest in knowledge and in the possibility of its usage in order to improve the quality of the products. Aspiration for the improvement of the quality became a principle that is generally applied by the companies world-wide. Companies acting in the conditions of the saturated market and of more and more demand-ing consumer must adjust their products in such a way that they will become competitive. The source the advantage should be looked for in the efficient way of gaining and usage of the pos-sessed knowledge. Responsibility for the quality of the product relies to a decisive degree on the suppliers of the commodities and service. According to the recognized international practice, in order to get the required efficiency, the supplier must introduce the quality management system
1 J. Kisielnicki, 2003. Systems of the gaining and management of knowledge in the modern organizations [In:]
Manage-ment of knowledge in the modern organizations. J. Kisielnicki. Monographs and reviews 4, Wysza Szkoła Handlu i Prawa w Warszawie.
which includes the elements of planning, steering, monitoring and other operations that assure the quality.
Realization of this assumption requires from most of the suppliers the obligation of meeting the requirements included in the international ISO 9001:2000 norm and in the AQAP 2110 docu-ment „The NATO quality assurance requiredocu-ments for design, developdocu-ment and production”. As J. Bradluk2 says, the most important tools supporting the managemnt of knowledge are:
• Document management systems, which allow collecting and classifying the documents, facilitate searching and access to the documents, enable recording of the operations performed on the documents, i.e. controlling of their versions, following of the introduced changes, etc.
• Workflow systems enable the automation of the whole or of the part of the business process. This system enables the improvement of the management of the work processes in the company.
• Decision supporting systems (expert systems) help the managers to obtain the selected, condensed and analyzed information and facilitate taking unusual decisions. • Web portals, which enable assembling of data in one place and a convenient access
to this information with internet browser.
• Intranet, confidential network that supplies the information designed for the needs of the employees in the particular company.
• Team working management systems, enable the free flow and sharing of knowledge in order to ensure a good cooperation among the staff members, which results in the process of creation and transfer of knowledge.
• e-learning systems, serve for knowledge transfer, enable the remote teaching with utilization of the computer techniques.
• Data bases; their contents originates from many sources. The data is assembled in the form of one system which provides information for taking strategic decisions [1]. 2. Objective of the work
Objective of this work was to show the formalized procedures of the Quality Management System, their usefulness in the decision taking process and the utilization of the gained knowledge in the form of the structured documentation for the elimination of the wrong decision risk during the phase of evaluation of the project after its realization.
3. Material of investigation and the method of research
The investigation was carried out in the Research, Manufacturing and Service Center CE-COMM in Bydgoszcz, which is a company specializing in design and implementation of the engi-neering objects and IT systems for the army and the police.
In this contribution the procedure of the fulfilling of the postacceptal evaluation form, so called postacceptal report will be presented.
The object was chosen in purpose. The main criterion of selection was the possibility to obtain the information for the description of the case of utilization of the data bases, which contains data
from various sources. Bata bases allow creating of the questionnaires, reports, and analysis of the utilization of the assets but first of all substantiation of the taken decision, in order to eliminate the errors. The data was assembled in November 2005. The investigation was limited mainly to the description of the report making procedure. In the part dealing with the analysis of the empirical data, the key study method was used.
4. Results
One of the biggest difficulties that can be met by the companies which apply for the certificate confirming that they the met of the quality requirements is the proper realization of the process of the risk management [Dbrowski]. Such problems are known in banking sector, insurance business and stock exchange. Estimation of the risk is mainly related to the estimation of the potential profit and loss resulted from the current activity of the company and is indissolubly connected with the structured data possessed by the company.
The basic tasks within the risk management for the AQAP agreements are as follows: 1. Estimation (identification and analysis) of the risk related to the contract. 2. Preparation of the risk management plans.
3. Preventive operations in order to reduce the risk.
4. Establishing and maintenance of the risk management database. 5. The risk management during the realization phase.
6. Continuous monitoring of the risk in order to estimate the efficiency of the undertaken ac-tions and to identify the new sources of risk.
7. Supplying the information concerning the product related risk for the Quality Assurance Representative (QAR).
Fulfilling of the above requirements proceeds via different ways, depending on the size of the company, its organizational structure, capital, human resources, etc. This fulfilling is accompanied by the more or less formalized structures of the Quality Management System.
As far as the requirements defined in CECOMM are concerned, the above process include the whole activity of the company being the supplier for the army, it refers particularly to the realiza-tion of the certain contracts within so called governmental quality assurance process. In such cases the risk is most often defined as a combination of the probability of the appearance of the unde-sired phenomenon and its results.
The knowledge capital is one of the basic input data in the quality management process, whereas the documents used for the proper preparation of the audit teams in the quality manage-ment process are considered as so called historical information. Such information can be obtained in each company from the project documentation and databases. It is also included in the knowl-edge of the project team. However, an access to such information is most problematic due to its confidential character and the mobility of the stuff.
A kind of solution in this situation, particularly useful in case of such a company as CE-COMM with a project/cluster structure and with around 30 permanent employees and approxi-mately 100 permanent collaborators, is assurance of the proper archiving of the knowledge result-ing from the previously and currently conducted projects. CECOMM presently meets the require-ments of the ISO 9001:2000 norm and AQAP 2110 document. In the area of the improvement of the project management as well as the management of the risk and the configuration, the
CE-COMM’s Project Management Office operates according to the guidelines included in the PMBOK guidebook.
For the regularization and archiving of “knowledge”, the managers of the currently conducted projects as well as the managers of the projects that had been conducted in the past are obliged to fulfill the postacceptal evaluation from. The fulfilling of this document makes the condition of the inert settlement of the project group and its leader. This form indicates to which extent and how successfully the objectives of the project have been fulfilled accomplished, records the gained experience, identifies the problems connected with the methods and tools applied as well as with assets used. This form also includes the suggestions of the possible improvements. The records of this report are confidential in each company.
The following data is included in the postacceptals reports: Part 1.Project summary
This part includes: • A brief description.
• A list of the customer goals. • Project scope summary.
• General description of the project results.
• Information received from the customer after the project closure. Part 2. The contract execution
This part evokes the agreed partial products of the contract and its milestones. It also refers to the timing and financing of the realization of the particular parts and the contract requirements as a whole.
Particularly detailed development is required in case of delay or in case of the financial schedule overdraft as well as in case of the unexpected difficulties that have been successfully overcome.
Part 3. Project administration
In this part the management plans of communication, changes, risk and project configuration are described. In this description the degree of the customer activity in the project should be esti-mated.
These records must indicate the used form of the project card (depending on project complex-ity, the estimated time of its realization and the value of the contract). The project management office suggests to the project manager the proper form and possible nonconformity.
Part 4. Execution of the range, goals, schedule, budget and the quality
The records must define the degree of the realization of the goals defined in the management plans of the range, finance, schedule and the quality.
Referring to each plan mentioned before, the person performing the report is obliged to define the nonconformities, that refer to the standard plans obliging in CECOMM and then to give the answer, whether the realization was performed according to the assumptions.
The reasons of the changes of the work which were not dependent on the customer must be de-scribed particularly in details. In case of the incompatibility of the plan referring to the time of the
work realization and its costs, the reasons and their results must be indicated. Concerning the long lasting projects or the long life products, it is necessary to take into consideration the influence when the technological processes are getting out of date.
Part 5. Organizational cases.
This part of the report concerns all the difficulties related to the organization of the project, goods and assets as well as the communication with the customer.
Part 6. Additional remarks
The person fulfilling the form has an opportunity in this place to make the additional remarks. They can most often refer to the problems related to the project financing, to the fulfilling of the requirements that were not mentioned in the documentation or to some expectations of the cus-tomer that had not been clearly established before.
Part 7. Audit applications
This part refers to the results of audits, mentions archived documentation and should also in-clude some proper observations and recommendations.
In such a case, when there was not any audit conducted in relation to the certain project, the project manager is obliged to make a proper estimation of the project after he/she gets the standard list of the audit questions from the Quality Manager.
Part 8. Experience gained
This part points at the experience gained due to the realization of the project. This experience can include the suggestions for updating of the method in the Best Practice Results Library, the description of the procedures assuring the successful realization of similar projects in future, the useful information received from the castomer and the suggestions concerning the future contracts with the same castomer or with the castomer of the similar profile.
The increase of the importance of the knowledge management determines the necessity of the changes performed in the organizational structure of the company, creation of the separate work-ing places for the realization of the new tasks or for the changes in the range of responsibilities of certain employees. In CECOMM the responsibility for the project realization lays on the project manager who takes the decision about the most efficient solutions of the project, taking into con-sideration all the archived data. At the same time, the project manager considers all the reasons and eliminates the problems that occurred in other projects. The person responsible for the project realization (for the management of knowledge) should be familiar with the strategy of the com-pany. Knowledge and experience are crucial for the person at this position. Also the authority among the employees, the ability of the strategic thinking and the team working at the all organiza-tional stages are very important.
5. Conclusions
Based on the information gathered, the following conclusions can be formulated:
1. In order to manage efficiently, the company should have clearly defined operation strat-egy.
2. Responsibility for the proper realization of the project relays on the project manager, who should posses the sufficient knowledge and experience in the area of the knowledge man-agement.
3. Knowledge management systems, including quality management systems are planned and developed in a way enabling creation, storage, processing and usage of the knowledge gathered in the formalized project forms.
4. In order to eliminate the risk of the errors committed at the various stages of project plan-ning it is crucial to use the gained experience which provides knowledge essential for tak-ing of the strategic decisions. This experience means, among others, actualization of the methods employed, description of the techniques assuring the success of the realization, similar projects in future, suggestions and information from the customers which are as-sembled in the Best Practice Results Library.
Bibliography
1. Bradluk J.; 2005. Informatics Systems in the Knowledge Management. www.centrumwiedzy.edu.pl.
2. Dbrowski P., 2005. Advanced Project Management.Wydawnictwo Helion.
3. Kisielnicki J., 2003. Systems of the gaining and management of knowledge in the mod-ern organizations [In:] Management of knowledge in the modmod-ern organizations. J. Kisielnicki. Monographs and reviews 4, WSiP Warsaw.
JOANNA PAWŁOWSKA-TYSZKO,
Akademia Techniczno-Rolnicza w Bydgoszczy 85-796 Bydgoszcz, ul. Kaliskiego 7
e-mail: tyszko@mail.atr.bydgoszcz.pl WOJCIECH KDZIA
Centrum Badawczo-Produkcyjno-Usługowe CECOMM S.A. Bydgoszcz, Polska. ul. Grunwaldzka 229
85 – 438 Bydgoszcz
