The Project Management Office (PMO) is a rapidly emerging concept in project management that has evolved in terms of its application, sophistication, and proven results. Most literature on the subject focuses on a specific facet or purpose of PMO. The Advanced Project Management Office: A Comprehensive Look at Function and Implementation provides an all-inclusive description of the PMO and allows project management professionals to select the features most appropriate and relevant to the issues at hand, while keeping the full PMO picture in perspective. The authors illustrate how the PMO can be used to reduce costs of projects, decrease time to market for new products, increase corporate profits, and ensure project success. This reference covers all aspects of PMO in a format that is easy to read and understand. It discusses the motivations for adopting a PMO, including project performance, project manager competency, the organizational desire to excel, and much more. Both short-term and long-term functions are identified and discussed. WBS-like structures are developed for use in the process of evaluating project performance during the life-cycle of the project. Ideal for senior project management professionals and as an advanced project management training program, the book presents two related models that deal with the evaluation of project performance from the vantage point of the client as well as the project team. With so many industries becoming project team driven, The Advanced Project Management Office will help project managers ensure project success and improve their company's bottom line. Check out a video of Ginger Levin discussing The Advanced Project Management Office: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=TRgVjR4v130&gl=GB

Project Managers leading massive IT projects--defined as projects rolling out deliverables across geographic boundaries with budgets ranging well into the millions--need a unique level of expertise and an arsenal of personal and professional skills to successfully accomplish their tasks. Large IT initiatives inherently contain business conditions, technology quirks, and participant and managerial agendas that make them exceedingly difficult to execute. Complex IT Project Management: Sixteen Steps to Success reveals a project management process that the author has proven to be successful in many complex real-world projects. Each step is presented in its logical sequence, with the connections between management methods and project goals clearly defined. The author often refers to the successful tactics he employed, providing you with a strategy to overcome the challenges found in even the most intricate IT projects. This book stands as the perfect tool for project managers at all levels of experience who plan to tackle a high-profile initiative. It also serves as a guide for project sponsors searching for the right manager, and for consultants recommending best practices for the workplace.

While information security is an ever-present challenge for all types of organizations today, most focus on providing security without addressing the necessities of staff, time, or budget in a practical manner. Information Security Cost Management offers a pragmatic approach to implementing information security, taking budgetary and real-world constraints into consideration. By providing frameworks, step-by-step processes, and project management breakdowns, this book demonstrates how to design the best security strategy with the resources you have available. Organized into five sections, the book- Focuses on setting the right road map so that you can be most effective in your information security implementations Discusses cost-effective staffing, the single biggest expense to the security organization Presents practical ways to build and manage the documentation that details strategy, provides resources for operating annual audits, and illustrates how to advertise accomplishments to senior management effectively Identifies high-risk areas, focusing limited resources on the most imminent and severe threats Describes how to manage the key access controls when faced with manual user management, how to automate user management tasks in a cost effective manner, and how to deal with security breaches Demonstrating strategies to maximize a limited security budget without compromising the quality of risk management initiatives, Information Security Cost Management helps you save your organization time and money. It provides the tools required to implement policies, processes, and training that are crucial to the success of a company's security.

For companies to be successful, the management of an organization needs to understand how competence evolves and how it can be utilized and linked to the organization's goals. When executive managers understand this, there is a higher probability that the people working in the organization will be more satisfied with their working situation. Satisfaction increases because competence will likely be central in the organization, with focus on motivating people to develop new competence, healthy internal mobility, and organizational learning. Positively managing competence in most cases leads to a win-win situation for the company and the individual. This book describes how we as individuals, as well as organizations, can be efficient in the development and utilization of competence. It takes two perspectives of competence and connects them in a project-intensive and knowledge-intensive context. The first perspective is the "Lemon," which focuses on individual competence and the role of organizational culture. The Lemon framework takes the concept of competence based on knowledge and experience and explains how a person can apply knowledge and experience to different contexts. It changes the concept of competence from being static to being agile and dynamic. The second perspective of competence is the "Loop," which models how organizations can manage not only to the benefit of organizational strategies and goals but also to an individual's future career. The Lemon and the Loop are the basic tools to make competence and performance management agile and effective. This book presents practical ways to acquire new knowledge and skills. One method is REPI (Reflection, Elaboration, Practicing/Participation, and Investigation), which can be used for training, coaching, competence development, agile performance management, and much more. Readers of the book are given new insight into the concept of competence and how both people and organizations ca

Few software projects are completed on time, on budget, and to their original specifications. Focusing on what practitioners need to know about risk in the pursuit of delivering software projects, Applied Software Risk Management: A Guide for Software Project Managers covers key components of the risk management process and the software development process, as well as best practices for software risk identification, risk planning, and risk analysis. Written in a clear and concise manner, this resource presents concepts and practical insight into managing risk. It first covers risk-driven project management, risk management processes, risk attributes, risk identification, and risk analysis. The book continues by examining responses to risk, the tracking and modeling of risks, intelligence gathering, and integrated risk management. It concludes with details on drafting and implementing procedures. A diary of a risk manager provides insight in implementing risk management processes. Bringing together concepts across software engineering with a project management perspective, Applied Software Risk Management: A Guide for Software Project Managers presents a rigorous, scientific method for identifying, analyzing, and resolving risk.

The deployment of software patches can be just as challenging as building entirely new workstations. Training and support issues can haunt even the most successful software launch for months. Preparing for the rigors of software deployment includes not just implementing change, but training employees, predicting and mitigating pitfalls, and managing expectations. Software Deployment, Updating, and Patching provides the skills you need to develop a comprehensive strategy for tracking and managing system configurations, as well as for updating and securing systems with the latest packs and patches. Written by two of Microsoft's top experts, this clear and concise manual demonstrates how to perform inventories of IT assets, test compatibility, target deployment, and evaluate management technologies. It also shows you how to create and implement your own deployment plans with recovery and remediation options, and how to recognize potential vulnerabilities.

Electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) is revolutionizing the billing process by offering online and real time presentment of bill content and payment choices. EBPP is the easy way of viewing billing status, remittance items, and presenting balances using a universal browser from any location. In contrast to paper-based bills, electronic billing enables service providers to combine billing with advanced customer care and improved customer relationship management. Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment presents the essentials about this new way of viewing and paying bills. The author defines basic business models, such as biller direct and various consolidator model options, allocates the right tools to each of the models, and differentiates between the needs of principal industries. The text describes how to build and implement value added capabilities such as personalization, up-selling, online dispute management, and better control of the accounts payable and receivable process can significantly improve customer care and customer relationship management on behalf of service providers. About the Author: Kornel Terplan is a telecommunication expert with more than 30 years of highly successful multi-national consulting experience. He has provided consulting, training, and product development services to over 75 national and international corporations on four continents. He has served on the editorial board for over 140 articles, 22 books, and 115 papers. Dr. Terplan has designed five network management related courses and conducted over 80 seminar presentations in 15 countries.

Existing ERP systems are being used to support an increasing amount of critical e-business initiatives, even though this is far from their original purpose. While ERP can form a foundation for successfully meeting e-business needs, future success will be derived not only from a firm, supportive foundation, but from a solid e-business superstructure that guides your company through a value chain that has grown longer and more complex. ERP Optimization provides a technology-centric approach to leading your company through an e-transformation. It shows you how to leverage current investments in information systems while minimizing disruptions to the core business of the enterprise. Written in a business vernacular, the book effectively bridges the gap between technology and business strategy. The author takes you through the process of defining e-business goals and accessing and maximizing current systems capabilities. She details the steps required to assume a leadership position within an integrated business community and demonstrates how to support secure information exchanges with customer, suppliers,and partners. ERP alone is not enough to secure and maintain a superior position in today's economy, but it can provide the backbone and infrastructure of enterprise applications that are the necessary, essential prerequisites to conducting e-business. Whether you are an executive today, or hope to be one in the future, ERP Optimization gives you the tools to lead your organization successfully into the e-business world.

Modeling complex systems is a difficult challenge and all too often one in which modelers are left to their own devices. Using a multidisciplinary approach, The Art of Software Modeling covers theory, practice, and presentation in detail. It focuses on the importance of model creation and demonstrates how to create meaningful models. Presenting three self-contained sections, the text examines the background of modeling and frameworks for organizing information. It identifies techniques for researching and capturing client and system information and addresses the challenges of presenting models to specific audiences. Using concepts from art theory and aesthetics, this broad-based approach encompasses software practices, cognitive science, and information presentation. The book also looks at perception and cognition of diagrams, view composition, color theory, and presentation techniques. Providing practical methods for investigating and organizing complex information, The Art of Software Modeling demonstrates the effective use of modeling techniques to improve the development process and establish a functional, useful, and maintainable software system.

Characterized by lightning quick innovation, abrupt shifts in technology, and shorter lifecycles, the marketing of IT products and services presents a unique set of challenges and often requires IT managers and developers to get involved in the marketing process. Marketing IT Products and Services is written to help busy IT managers and marketing managers get up to speed quickly and easily on what's needed to develop effective marketing strategies and campaigns. Focusing on the unique issues involved, this one-stop resource provides everything needed to understand the roles, responsibilities, and management techniques essential for the development of successful strategies. It covers strategic market planning, targeting markets, researching markets, understanding the competition, integrating market and sales strategies, nuances of global markets, developing marketing budgets, pricing, and implementing marketing campaigns. A plethora of appendices included on the book's downloadable resources allow you to get up and running right away. Aside from a complete marketing glossary, two complete marketing plans-one for a hardware product; the other for a software product-enable you to bypass the "scut" work of developing a marketing plan so you can focus on the creative aspects of marketing. Because a marketing plan is closely aligned with an organization's business and strategic plans, this book provides you with templates for both of these, as well as a template for that all-important business plan executive summary. The downloadable resources also feature loads of fill-in templates including customer and competitor analysis surveys, sample press releases, letters of agreement, demographic and target market worksheets, and cost benefit forms. If you have a marketing need, this book has an effective template to meet that need.

Based on an extensive research project done by the author in the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden, and Austria from December 1999 to June 2001, Enterprise Architecture and New Generation Information Systems focuses on four main themes: Next Generation Information Technology The Likely Technologies of this Decade Enterprise Computing The Internet as the 21st Century's Answer to Merchandising While the majority of books presently available on information systems are written from the viewpoint of system analysis, programming, or common applications, this text: Brings to the reader's attention the importance of organization and infrastructure Presents a wealth of case studies to explain the need for reengineering and restructuring Details the latest advances which influence the implementation of advanced technology Written in a simple, comprehensive manner without specific prerequisites and data processing jargon, with concepts and case studies properly explained, this book addresses itself to practitioners in computer technology, telecommunications and software development, who are interested in acquiring skills through knowledge of the most advanced applications, tools, and methods, both present and coming. Enterprise Architecture and New Generation Information Systems will prove appealing to every person charged with planning, developing, applying, and delivering advanced information systems, architectural solutions, and programming products.

UML for Developing Knowledge Management Systems provides knowledge engineers the framework in which to identify types of knowledge and where this knowledge exists in an organization. It also shows ways in which to use a standard recognized notation to capture, or model, knowledge to be used in a knowledge management system (KMS). This volume enables knowledge engineers, systems analysts, designers, developers, and researchers to understand the concept of knowledge modeling with Unified Modeling Language (UML). It offers a guide to quantifying, qualifying, understanding, and modeling knowledge by providing a reusable framework that can be adopted for KMS implementation. Following a brief history of knowledge management, the book discusses knowledge acquisition and the types of knowledge that can be discovered within a domain. It offers an overview of types of models and the concepts behind them. It then reviews UML and how to apply UML to model knowledge. The book concludes by defining and applying the Knowledge Acquisition framework via a real-world case study.

This book delves into the essential concepts and technologies of acquiring systems. It fills the gap left by manuals and standards and provides practical knowledge and insight that allow engineers to navigate systems as well as the massive tomes containing standards and manuals. Dedicated to card acquiring exclusively, the book covers: Payment cards and protocols EMV contact chip and contactless transactions Disputes, arbitration, and compliance Data security standards in the payment card industry Validation algorithms Code tables Basic cryptography Pin block formats and algorithms When necessary the book discusses issuer-side features or standards insomuch as they are required for the sake of completeness. For example, protocols such as EMV 3-D Secure are not covered to the last exhaustive detail. Instead, this book provides an overview, justification, and logic behind each message of the protocol and leaves the task of listing all fields and their formats to the standard document itself. The chapter on EMV contact transactions is comprehensive to fully explain this complex topic in order to provide a basis for understanding EMV contactless transaction. A guide to behind-the-scenes business processes, relevant industry standards, best practices, and cryptographic algorithms, Acquiring Card Payments covers the essentials so readers can master the standards and latest developments of card payment systems and technology

Driving innovation can reduce costs for companies, institutions, military programs, and successful businesses. Quality is key to successful innovation. Delivery of complex products must have high quality to reduce customer problems and defects. This book explains how to integrate Quality Assurance processes to produce compliant product management and gap analysis. It shows how Quality Assurance provides a common operating framework in which best practices, improvements, and cost avoidance activities can be shared. Effective Processes for Quality Assurance emphasizes improving process execution and reducing operational costs. It also focuses on how Quality Assurance personnel must support companies, institutions, military programs, and successful businesses by encouraging a cooperative, proactive approach and ensure compliance through management and team member participation. Lean and Agile can provide a competitive advantage, and this practical reference explains how to implement these two principles to deliver products that have fewer defects. It also explains: Quality Assurance methods Measuring benefits of Quality Assurance process improvement Quality Assurance performance and improvement Risk management Quality Assurance improvement with metrics Effective processes for Quality Assurance Quantitative process performance and commitments Quality Assurance plans Quality Assurance for customers and suppliers Supporting software configuration Effective Processes for Quality Assurance covers the critical issues for implementing Quality Assurance processes that can deliver high-quality products successfully.

This book captures a range of important developments that have occurred in Information Systems over the last forty years, with a particular focus on India and the developing world. Over this time, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Information Systems (IS) have come to play a critical role in supporting, complementing and automating managerial decisions, shaping and transforming industries, and contributing to deep societal and economic change. This volume examines a range of topics for those interested in the adoption and use of these technologies across varied situations. It combines empirical studies on the application and impact of IS with commentaries, debates and insights on the transformative role that IT and the IT industry have played, and continue to play, within India as well as globally. The book draws attention to issues and challenges that organizations grapple with in tech-enabled environments, and provides insights on the role of automation and computational techniques. It explores the global impact of the technology revolution on economic growth and development, electronic globalization, and the wider opportunities and challenges of a hi-tech world. The chapters cover various themes such as e-government in India, internet-based distribution systems, internet banking, and use of collaborative IT tools and functions to support virtual teams in the software industry and the business process outsourcing industry. Other chapters focus on methodological advances, such as systems thinking which finds applications in organizational decision-making, and the use of fuzzy logic. This volume will interest professionals and scholars of information technology and information systems, computer studies, IT systems, economics, and business and management studies.

Digital transformation is a business concern; it is no longer just IT that must get things done. The disruptive force of start-ups focusing on IT-based services that can be consumed through mobile devices cannot be underestimated -- These start-ups eat away at the high-margin services provided by incumbents, leaving lower margin products and services that are rapidly being commoditized. This is happening in all industry sectors and it is the ones who are best able to adjust, innovate, and improve their service offerings that will survive. The question is: What do you need to do to ensure that your organization is one of the survivors? The core of the solution to the problem is to radically improve the way the IT organization works together with the business. To be clear, the digital transformation of your business depends on that relatively small group of people in the basement, or other out-of-the-way location, who make sure that your IT services work. So, building a cooperative model is vital for the success of the business. Which model has proven its worth in many industries? It is the application of Lean principles that gives organizations an advantage in delivering their products and services to their customers. Transforming your organization to high performance is, above all, a people-based movement with the acquisition and, most importantly, application of knowledge and skills necessary for the high performance way of working at its core. In teams, from boardroom to work floor, building a new way of thinking and acting is essential. This book aims to give insight into the reasons why you and your organization must consciously act to apply Lean principles to your IT organization. It explains the phases organizations go through as they start out with their initial attempts to gain advantages from Lean tools to the phase in which they reap the strategic benefits of Lean applied to IT. The real work of the transformation is described from two different perspectives: Leadership and Team. This book describes a complete set of principles, practices and tools In order to make the right decisions along the winding route of your transformation. The people who will guide, support and drive your transformation are the leaders and tem members who understand and apply those principles, practice and tools: your Lean IT Experts.

Do you spend a lot of time during the design process wondering what users really need? Do you hate those endless meetings where you argue how the interface should work? Have you ever developed something that later had to be completely redesigned?
Paper Prototyping can help. Written by a usability engineer with a long and successful paper prototyping history, this book is a practical, how-to guide that will prepare you to create and test paper prototypes of all kinds of user interfaces. You'll see how to simulate various kinds of interface elements and interactions. You'll learn about the practical aspects of paper prototyping, such as deciding when the technique is appropriate, scheduling the activities, and handling the skepticism of others in your organization. Numerous case studies and images throughout the book show you real world examples of paper prototyping at work.
Learn how to use this powerful technique to develop products that are more useful, intuitive, efficient, and pleasing:
* Save time and money - solve key problems before implementation begins
* Get user feedback early - use it to focus the development process
* Communicate better - involve development team members from a variety of disciplines
* Be more creative - experiment with many ideas before committing to one
*Enables designers to solve design problems before implementation begins
*Five case studies provide real world examples of paper prototyping at work
*Delves into the specifics of what types of projects paper prototyping is and isn't good for.

Transformation and Your New EHR offers a robust communication and change leadership approach to support electronic health record (EHR) implementations and transformation journeys. This book highlights the approach and philosophy of communication, change leadership, and systems and process design, giving readers a practical view into the successes and failures that can be experienced throughout the evolution of an EHR implementation.

The U.S. healthcare system is in "complete chaos-disarray." Medical costs have increased significantly over the past 6 years with 70% increase for deductibles and 24% or more for health insurance premiums. All the while, workers earnings have either not increased or if they did, the pay raises were for less than the increase in the cost of medical care. The situation is unsustainable and the public wants the system fixed. This book offers ways of fixing the problems in healthcare. HEALTHCARE's OUT SICK - PREDICTING A CURE - Solutions that WORK !!!! first defines the "healthcare in crisis" problem. Through real patient experiences, the book describes the difficulties of getting through the maze of complexity among the plethora of "silo providers" which make up the industry. The heart of the book provides readers with a comprehensive solution that can work, a disruption that is necessary to provide Americans the medical care they need without the US public and healthcare providers and payors going into bankruptcy, insolvency or closure. This book delves into digitized medicine, payor and provider reimbursement models, and value-based healthcare delivery. It also includes a philosophy or mode of thinking and operation for the solutions that are needed for diagnosis-effective, cost-effective, and time-efficient healthcare delivery, of which digitized medicine, value-based care, and payor reimbursement modes are just some of the factors. The authors propose that the real solution involves having the patient at the center of the issues and changing from an archaic gold standard way of thinking to a "Predictive Analytic thinking" where one gets at the real truth by doing "real science" that in the end becomes effective not only for the population but for the individual person. This all leads to real person-centered and person-directed medicine and healthcare delivery.

Although enterprise mobility is in high demand across domains, an absence of experts who have worked on enterprise mobility has resulted in a lack of books on the subject. A Comprehensive Guide to Enterprise Mobility fills this void. It supplies authoritative guidance on all aspects of enterprise mobility-from technical aspects and applications to implementation. The book introduces basic concepts such as enterprise mobility adoption strategy and user requirements in mobility. Illustrating the technical aspects of enterprise mobility, it analyzes the key features and challenges in developing mobility solutions for various domains. The text is organized into four sections: Mobility Concepts: supplies a solid foundation in enterprise mobility, from strategy definition to deployment of enterprise mobility solutions Mobile Solutions and Case Studies: introduces readers to the applications of enterprise mobility across a wide range of industry sectors Mobile Application Development: supplies an overview of popular mobile platforms and mobile programming languages Technology Considerations in Mobility: details hybrid and supporting technologies in enterprise mobility The book's case studies illustrate the complete lifecycle in the development of mobility solutions, including the high level requirements, architecture, and design principles for each use case. Demonstrating how to put the concepts covered into practice, the text details the application of mobility solutions across various domains, including the healthcare, retail, airline, and pharmaceutical industries.

With 70 percent of organizations already adopting bring your own device (BYOD) and Gartner expecting this number to increase to 90 percent by the end of 2014, it is not a question of if, or when, it's a question of will you be ready. BYOD for Healthcare provides authoritative guidance to help you thrive during the healthcare BYOD (hBYOD) revolution. Jessica Keyes, president of New Art Technologies, Inc., professor at the University of Liverpool, and former managing director of R&D for the New York Stock Exchange, supplies an understanding of these new end users, their demands, and the strategic and tactical ramifications of these demands. Maintaining a focus on the healthcare industry, the book considers the broad range of technical considerations, including selection, connectivity, training, support, and security. It examines the integration of BYOD to current health IT, legal, regulatory, and ethical issues. It also covers risk assessment and mitigation strategies for an hBYOD environment that are in line with medical laws, regulations, ethics, and the HIPAA and HITECH Acts. The text discusses BYOD security and provides time-saving guidance on how to configure your hBYOD environment. It also considers how BYOD impacts resource management, certification of EMR/EHR software, health informatics, and health information exchange. The book covers content and data management, risk assessment, and performance measurement and management. It includes a set of Quick Start guides with tips for assessing costs, cloud integration, and legal issues. It also contains a robust appendix with information on everything from security settings for Apple iOS devices to a sample employee mobile device agreement.

Written for those starting a career in IT or whose career is well advanced, this career guide shows how to blaze a path to success through the jungle of modern IT. With a career spanning five decades, the author shares lessons he learned the hard way so readers do not have to learn them the hard way. By emphasizing the importance of business processes and applications to IT, this book explains how to understand the value and positioning of hardware and software technology in order to make appropriate decisions. It addresses the importance of IT architecture and the roles service and systems management play. It also explains service level agreements (SLAs) and provides sample SLAs. Readers learn how to conduct IT assessments using SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. It also shows how to use root-cause analysis (RCA) to detect the sources of failure and poor performance. An overview of risk management and the steps involved in developing a business continuity plan are also included. The book looks at all facets of an IT professional's career. It explains how to build an IT team and examines the roles and responsibilities within the team. It shows how to provide professional customer care to IT clients. Business executives recognize the importance of IT, and this book shows technology professionals how to thrive in the business world. It covers: Making effective presentations Report and proposal writing Negotiating and persuasion skills Running productive meetings Time and stress management The book also discusses such important career skills as listening, continual and incremental learning, and communicating at all levels. From its templates and checklists to its comprehensive and holistic view of a successful IT career, this book is an indispensable guide for every professional working in IT today and tomorrow.

Business managers have long known the power of the Balanced Scorecard in executing corporate strategy. Implementing the Project Management Balanced Scorecard shows project managers how they too can use this framework to meet strategic objectives. It supplies valuable insight into the project management process as a whole and provides detailed explanations on how to effectively implement the balanced scorecard to measure and manage performance and projects. The book details a tactical approach for implementing the scorecard approach at the project level and investigates numerous sample scorecards, metrics, and techniques. It examines recent research on critical issues such as performance measurement and management, continuous process improvement, benchmarking, metrics selection, and people management. It also explains how to integrate these issues with the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard: customer, business processes, learning and innovation, and financial. Filled with examples and case histories, the book directly relates the scorecard concept to the major project management steps of determining scope, scheduling, estimation, risk management, procurement, and project termination. It includes a plethora of resources on the accompanying downloadable resources-including detailed instructions for developing a measurement program, a full metrics guide, a sample project plan, and a set of project management fill-in forms.

Information security has a major gap when cryptography is implemented. Cryptographic algorithms are well defined, key management schemes are well known, but the actual deployment is typically overlooked, ignored, or unknown. Cryptography is everywhere. Application and network architectures are typically well-documented but the cryptographic architecture is missing. This book provides a guide to discovering, documenting, and validating cryptographic architectures. Each chapter builds on the next to present information in a sequential process. This approach not only presents the material in a structured manner, it also serves as an ongoing reference guide for future use.

Even though Six Sigma programs have successfully been implemented in practice, many IT departments remain skeptical of the process or are unaware of how the tools can be used to improve system development. Removing the mystique surrounding this technique, Six Sigma Software Development, Second Edition demonstrates how Six Sigma tools and concepts can be used to enhance the system development process. Revised and updated, this second edition clearly explains Six Sigma concepts and their application, maps Six Sigma concepts and tools to all aspects of system development, and proposes the use of Six Sigma tools to evaluate and improve the overall performance of the IT department. In addition to classic Six Sigma, the book introduces Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and illustrates when and how its tools and techniques can be used to increase the robustness and reliability of a new system. It also shows how the judicious application of lean tools can reduce the complexity of IT processes, thus shortening the time needed to translate customer requirements into completed systems and increasing customer satisfaction.