Infosys Technologies Management
Infosys Technologies Ltd. was founded in 1981 in Bangalore, India. Infosys are world leader in providing IT [information technology] consulting and software services. It offers offshore-software services, such as application development, software maintenance, Internet consulting, and establishing software development centers in different parts of the world to provide high quality rapid time-to-market solutions at affordable prices. Infosys solutions cover a wide range of business areas including e-commerce and e-business enabling, warehouse and inventory management, and customer management for industries including financial services, insurance, retail, telecommunications, utilities, and manufacturing. (Business Week, 1999)
Worldwide, some half a million project managers execute about a million software projects each year, producing software worth $600 billion. Many of these projects fail to fulfill customers' quality expectations or fail to deliver the software within budget and on schedule. One analysis suggests that about one-third of projects have cost and schedule overruns of more than 125%. (Jonathan 2005)
Although there are many reasons for the failure of projects, one of the most important is improper management of the project. For example, the major reasons for runaways (projects that are out of control) are unclear objectives, bad planning, new technology, a lack of a project management methodology, and insufficient staff. At least three of these five reasons clearly relate to project management. The other two—insufficient staff and new technology—can be considered as risks whose management is also a part of project management. Clearly, by using effective project management techniques a project manager can improve the chances of success. (Murphy and Fisher, 1983)
Various aspects of effective project management include effort estimation, risk management, project monitoring, configuration management, and so on. Although each proposed technique solves the problem it is designed to solve, it is not clear how to combine these techniques into a practical and workable process. For effective project management, the need of the hour is a practical, manageable "exercise routine" that will deliver the result. In other words, what is needed is a balanced process that covers the management of the entire project from inception to completion. (Duncan, 1995)
It is a statement of fact that project management has gone through a major culture change, as fundamental as the introduction of the first software management methodologies in 1970's. So what does software project management mean to professionals and where project management is seen as mission critical? According to Association of Project Managers (APM) more and more organizations are employing project management, either as they adopt a management-by-project's approach or because they are already performing mainstream project management activities . They are looking for project management standards and seeking confirmation that individuals working in project management are competent in this field. This research is all about what project management is and how it relates to world of software information systems. It also tries to balance both the theory of project management and how this theory actually relates to those working in the professional field delivering software projects (Jalote, 2002)
Although a large number of texts deal with project management as a whole, few- if any-focus on the management of software projects. The management of software projects brings with it a range of problems and challenges. In other fields, a sound knowledge of project management techniques and the ability to deal with people is often sufficient to bring most projects to a successful conclusion. In the world of software projects, a project manager needs a far broader range of skills.
This research focus on many of the practical issues associated with the management of software projects. In addition to providing the theoretical knowledge needed, it also provides wealth of practical advice and guidance.
Much of the research in the area of software project management has been carried out in Infosys, India. Whilst the text acknowledges the contribution of academics and practitioners in this field, the content of this research is presented in the form suitable of upcoming project managers.
This research fills this gap by describing the set of processes used in a world-class organization to effectively and efficiently manage software projects. The company is Infosys, a software development company that has an enviable track record of project execution; in 2000 alone, Infosys project managers used the processes described here to successfully execute about 500 projects for customers. This research discusses all aspects of Infosys project management—planning, execution, and closure. This is a study of how Infosys project managers' estimate, plan for managing risks, collect metrics data, set quality goals, and use measurements for monitoring a project, and so on. An interesting aspect of these processes, one that will appeal to busy project managers, is that they are neither complex nor cumbersome, and they use simple metrics.
1.1 Purpose of the study
Infosys Technologies, founded in 1981 in India, is one of the pioneers in strategic offshore outsourcing of software services. Currently, Infosys has over 58,000 employees worldwide and over $2 billion in annual revenues, making it one of the largest software service organizations in the world. Infosys Vision: "To be a globally respected corporation that provides best-of-breed business solutions, leveraging technology, delivered by best-in-class people. Infosys was recently applauded by Wired Magazine for its unique offshore outsourcing strategy — Wired singled out Infosys for turning the outsourcing myth around and bringing jobs back to the US.
Infosys has been formally appraised as a CMMI Level 5 company since 1999. CMMI is the Capability Maturity Model Integration, developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University; CMMI ranks software development organizations according to a hierarchy of six process maturity levels, with Level 5, the highest, designated “Optimizing.” At Level 5, a company focuses on continuous process improvement.
Infosys currently has over 15,000 software developers working on projects with Microsoft technologies. According to Prashanth Govindaiah, a Senior Technical Architect in Infosys' Bangalore Microsoft Technology Center,' Infosys project management system will be increasing exponentially over the next few years. We expect to grow this area to over 25,000 developers.”
There is certainly a need to study how Infosys saw the opportunity to build an enhanced software management platform. As a CMMI Level 5 company, Infosys has a complex quality process and uses a number of different tools to support the process. Infosys saw an opportunity to enable more integrated usage of these existing tools, providing its own tools and capabilities. There is also a need study the various other ways of improving project management system in infosys.
1.2 Aims and Objectives of the dissertation
Aim of the research
To study the set of processes used in a world-class organization (Infosys) to effectively and efficiently manage software projects
Objectives of the dissertation
- To analyze the project management process adapted by Infosys in delivering effective software systems
- To analyze the CMM (Capability Maturity Model) framework applied by Infosys in delivering effective software projects
- To study the KPA's (Key process areas) for Infosys project management performance
- To analyze the SEPG (Software Engineering Process group) support Infosys applies to its projects
The primary objective intends to study and analyze the set of project management processes adapted by a world-class organization - Infosys. It also studies the effectiveness of Infosys project management methods and techniques. It focus on the primary objective of efficient project management processes adapted and how it differs from its rivals in executing it successfully
The 1st secondary objective intends to answer the following aspects is about the various project management stages known as software life cycle design , planning , development, managing and execution of successful project management processes in infosys technologies . It also answers how Infosys was effective in adapting these processes
The 2nd secondary objective intends to discuss the following issues: what makes CMM (Capability Maturity Model) framework and how is it been adapted by Infosys and how does CMM relates to software and project management aspects with its implementation in infosys software projects.
The 3rd secondary objective intends to answer the following aspects, to study the KPA's (Key process areas) in which the organization should focus to evaluate its project management process and how successful is Infosys in satisfying its KPA's with its goals and outcomes?
The 4th secondary objective intends to discuss the following areas: responsibilities of SEPG's (Software Engineering Process groups) and how does it facilitates the project team? And how does SEPG helps in successful project implementation in Infosys?
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