CHAPTER 4

SURVEY RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Computerization status

Apart from the infrastructure in term of computer hardware , network of the companies, the computerized areas in all respondents are our main concerns here. There are different functions in both operational and administrative areas as listed below , with the review on the status for installation of quality related software .

Operational areas :

Import / Export Management

Sales & Marketing

Purchasing

Production

Administrative areas :

Accounting

Personnel

Communication including E-mail , Internet , fax

Office Automation including word processing / spreadsheet , etc.

4.1.1 Computerized areas

For current computerization status, all respondents have computerized businesses most commonly for communication (92 %) and office automation ( 90%) purposes. Nearly one-third of the computer user respondents (33%) have quality related software installed in their systems. This is especially true among large ISO9000 certified companies where they are two times more likely to use quality related software than a small company.

Fig. 4.1 Current Computerization Status among companies
 
 

Installation of quality related software

Fig. 4.2 Installation Of Quality Related Software By Company Size

Discussion

According to the respondents?/FONT> feedback, the most common computerized area is in communication such as Email system , internet and E- fax which are the basic elements for every business. Office automation in term of the application for word processing and spreadsheet is common too, especially for the small firm (100% respondents) .

Actually, all elements in both operational and administrative areas could be linked with the ISO9000 quality system which may cover those areas. For example, the sales and marketing activities involve the contract review process (Clause 4.3) while the production activities relate to all ISO9000 clauses 4.9 (process control) , 4.10 (testing and inspection) , 4.13 (control of non-conformance) , etc. Therefore, when the ISO9000 certificated companies claim that they have the computerized areas for some operational or administrative areas , they actually own the computerized ISO9000 system in certain areas.

Other than the preset operational and administrative areas chosen , few respondents marked ?/FONT>other?/FONT> which represented the software application in their engineering section such as Computer aided design (CAD) software.

In term of ISO9000 clauses, some relevant computerized areas for the respondents?/FONT> companies are shown as below :-

　
 

Application Areas	ISO9001/2 Clauses
Import / Export Management	4.9 , 4.13 , 4.14 , 4.15 , 4.16
Sales & Marketing	4.3 , 4.16
Purchasing	4.6 , 4.16
Production	4.8 , 4.9, 4.10 , 4.12 , 4.13 , 4.14 , 4.15, 4.16
Personnel	4.1 , 4.18, 4.16
Communication	4.5 , 4.9, 4.16
Office Automation (e.g. word processing / spreadsheet , etc)	4.5 , 4.9, 4.16
Engineering support (e.g. CAD)	4.4 , 4.16

Table 4.1 Comparison table for the computerized application areas with ISO9001/2 Clauses.

　

In broad sense , the computerized ratio for all respondents?/FONT> quality system should be higher . And it is not surprising that there is a high rating for ISO9000 system in both five most interested software application relating to the quality system being used and in the future plan of the surveyed companies shown in table 4.2.

Referring to the survey findings for installation of quality related software , most respondents answered the question A2 in narrow sense for quality system. The content for the application areas of the quality related software may be restricted as mentioned in the question A3. Therefore, the result is shown in Figure 4.2 where percentage for the small firms is only 6 % comparing with the large companies.

It is useful to make the comparison individually as shown in Figure 4.3 where still show low percentage for small firms (20% installed) comparing with the large companies in 40% installed.

Fig 4.3 Installation of quality related software by companies

4.2  Usage of quality related software

4.2.1 Quality related software application areas

The most common application areas for quality related software are Data acquisition (53%), followed by ISO9000 system (47% for all clauses applied) and Capability studies (41%) . It is not surprising that high percentage even to 71% with few clauses applied on the ISO9000 system related software being used because all target companies is defined as the ISO9000 certificated companies in this survey.

For the current application areas of software for ISO9000 system among the companies, the most common application areas are purchasing ( 67% ) , followed by document control ( 58% ) and statistical techniques ( 58% )

Among the potential quality related software buyers, the most sought-after application area for future purchases include ISO 9000 system ( 21.2%) , Management (18%) , Statistical process control ( 18%) .

The five most interested software application relating to the quality system being used and in the future plan of the respondents are shown in table 4.2.

Table 4.2 Five most interested software application

As it can be seen from the table, three of the five areas were identified by the current users and in the computerization plan of the respondents ; namely, ISO9000 , Calibration and management . The high ranking for software application of ISO9000 system is consistent due to more and more companies aware that there are a lot of software existing to help them to implement and maintain the ISO9000 based quality system. It is quite true for other specific applications in table 4.2 (e.g. Statistical process control) which are part of ISO 9000 quality management system. The ranking trend also reflect the need of the ISO9000 certificated companies on the application of computer from data handling to management aspect , and focus on some technical aspects such as ?/FONT>Statistical process control ?/FONT> .

Hardware platform

Given that more than 30% of existing quality related software users are medium to large-sized companies, it is not surprising that 44% run on a PC-LAN platform with 44% of PC (standalone) installed and only 19% run on midrange systems such as AS/ 400 or UNIX.

When considering the whole picture for the application of hardware platform for all medium to large-sized companies, it is not surprising that 86% run on a PC-LAN platform and 38% run on midrange systems such as AS/ 400 or UNIX with 41% run on a standalone PC together. For future plans in Hardware , PC-LAN ( 41%) will continue to be the preferred choices of hardware platform for running quality related software in 1999.

Fig. 4.3 Type of Platform for Quality Related Software

OS platform

Similar to the tendency for the ISO9000 certificated companies to favor certain hardware platforms, there appears to be clear favorite choice of OS platform for quality related software too . The percentage of users are dispersed between Window 95 ( 31%) and Windows 3.x (31%) , Novell Netware (25%), Windows NT (19%), DOS (13%) , OS/ 400 or UNIX (6%) and MVS (6%).

Though some our respondents (12%) had not yet decided which OS platform they were likely to switch to in the future plan , our research indicates a likelihood to shift from DOS and Windows 3.x to Windows 95 ( 35%) and Windows NT (29%).

Fig. 4.3 OS Platform for Quality Related Software among Companies

Distribution method

There are four distribution methods of an electronic Quality Management System described in the Question A8 and B12 :-

• by means of disks, floppy or CD, loaded onto individual PCs
• by means of e-mail attachments extracted and loaded by individual users
• by placing files onto a local area network (LAN) covering a large group of people
• loading an QMS onto the Internet, either the full public system or a closed user group

Due to the usage of hardware platform type, the most common method for distribution of an Electronic Quality Management System (QMS) is by placing files onto a local area network (LAN) while other means such as disks, floppy , CD , E-mail attachments are lower preferred choices . There are only 2 cases shown the QMS being loaded onto the Internet for distribution purpose . The possible reason is that the Internet is too slow and unreliable nowadays.

Fig. 4.4 Current Distribution Method for Quality Related Software among Companies

Instead , the best choice may be the intranet which allow the information in multimedia and hypertext form to provide a high efficient and user friendly way for communication internally within the companies or corporate when operating the electronic quality system. However, hypertext systems are not suitable for presenting information which is changing frequently.

Fig. 4.5 The use of distribution channel for Quality Related Software among Companies

For a large company the LAN solution is probably the best and for smaller companies either the disk or the e-mail route .

Product evaluation

Quality related software scored high overall satisfaction ratings among ISO9000 Certificated companies when ranked in terms of "reliability ","ability to meet users needs" and "ease of use". However, in terms of "choice of features/flexibility ", 2 out of 15 users claim to be unsatisfied.

Fig. 4.6 The Evaluation Result for Quality Related Software

Purchase time and price

The amount of money spent on quality related software is reflected in company size: large companies tend to pay HK$100,000 or more while small companies tend to pay less than HK$20,000.

The prospects for Quality related software sales look favorable within the next 12 months given that almost 38% of respondents indicate a likelihood to purchase quality related software or add new application areas to their existing software within the year. Almost as many respondents (30%) remain undecided about their future computerization plans for the coming year. It is not surprising that the highest percentage (80%) for the annual plan in the small companies compare with 37% for large companies . The percentage of respondents for the purchasing plan for coming year is shown in Fig 4.7 .

　

Fig. 4.7 One Year Purchasing Plan among Companies

The way for computer system applied

There are three approaches for applying the quality related software defined in the

Question A5 and B11 , they are shown as below :-

• Draft the documents only
• Implement the Electronic Quality Management System
• Complement with the Documented Quality Management System (hard copy)

Table 4.3 The comparison for the way of computer system applied for current respondents and in their plan

It is found that the approach for the application of computer system will be changed from using the software to draft the documents only ( 50%) to fully implement a electronic quality management system (70.6%) in the future. However, the approach for implementation of such system complement with hard copy is similar (from 78.6 % to 64.7%) . It is probably just a reflection on the worry from the companies about the reliability and security of electronic quality management system. To secure the electronic quality management system, the following functions should be considered.

• Use of encrypted system logbook
• Illegal users tracking
• Effective user support
• Lost data recovery

　

4.3 Source of quality related software

Customized software and Standard package

Among the sources of quality related software being applied, the most common sources are developed by their own software people (71%) , by local software house 30% where 6% as tailor-made system , 24% as standard software package. 35% of software users purchased a standard software package which is developed and supported by overseas software house . Only 13% of software users purchased a locally-developed standard software package which is supported by a local software house .
 
 
 

Source of Quality software	Current			Plan
(Actual Value)	small	medium	large	small	medium	large
Own developed	1	2	9	1	1	6
Customized software - Local	0	0	1	1	0	2
Standard package - Local	0	1	3	2	1	4
Standard package - Overseas	0	2	4	1	1	4
External source	0	0	1	0	0	2
No idea	0	0	0	0	0	2

Table 4.4 Source of Quality software

　

Quality software provider

The respondents were asked to score both existing and future software providers in terms of how admirable or how important in their future plan they thought each factor was in terms of the following six attributes from scale of not acceptable (point 1 ) to Excellent (point 5) :

Ability to understand and fulfill user needs

Reliability of software solutions

Service quality / responsiveness

Price / Fees

Ability to apply latest technologies

Ability to add value to user?/FONT>s firm

Evaluation of current quality related software providers is generally favorable, except in the areas of "ability to apply latest technologies" and "service quality/responsiveness ". In fact, one out of 14 users rank their software providers poorly in the area of "service quality/responsiveness".

Respondents indicate that "reliability of software solutions " and "ability to understand and fulfill [the users ' needs " will be the major factors determining which external solution provider they choose in future.

Fig 4.7 Relative importance for the performance of software providers

There is two cases without comment on the software providers when the quality related software is developed by their own software people.
 

All future software needs is relied on the future plan on computerization of companies. When reviewing the feedback from the respondents , it shows that the shorter duration in the computerization plan for small firm comparing with the large companies which have the higher complexity of their operation.

Comparing with the feedback for future plan on computerization (Question B1) , the result of respondents for small firm is the same as the purchasing plan while large companies have a long-term plan and few still not decide yet for their planning. The number of confirmation for one year purchasing plan is less than which showed in their computerization plan. The maximum duration for the computerization is 5 years for most respondents.

Table 4.5 Comparison table for purchasing plan and computerization plan

　

Fig 4.8 The status of future plan on computerization among companies

　

4.4.1 Purchase intention

Among the potential quality related software buyers, the most sought-after application area for future purchases include ISO9000 system , Management system , Statistical process control , training . In terms of clause in ISO9000 system related software , the most choices are CLAUSE 4.2 , 4.3 , 4.5 , 4.6 , 4.9 , 4.17 & 4.18

    i.e. CLAUSE 4.2 Quality system

CLAUSE 4.3 Contract review

CLAUSE 4.5 Document and data control

CLAUSE 4.6 Purchasing

CLAUSE 4.9 Process control

CLAUSE 4.17 Internal quality audits

CLAUSE 4.18 Training

Fig 4.9 The analysis for the application areas of the ISO9000 software

4.4.2 Interest in new technologies

In terms of new technologies, the Client / Server, Video conferencing  and Electronic data interchange applications are the top three applications that are most likely to be introduced to our respondents workplace in 1999 . These findings are not surprising since the Internet(30%) , Chinese processing (28%) and Client/Server applications (22%) have been found to be installed already for our respondents.

Fig. 4.10 Interest in the new application

The summary of the installed applications for our respondents is shown as below :-

Table 4.6 The summary of the installed software applications in number

　

Our findings indicate that ISO9000 Certified companies engaged in trading toys, clocks and watches, and electronics are more interested in Internet and Chinese applications. Whereas Client / Server and Chinese applications are more likely to be sought by companies for manufacturing sector which increase ties to their China plant . Consultancy firms display interest in a wide range of technologies in addition to the Internet .

To summarize the likelihood of introducing the new applications among different industries , the top three types of software applications for the areas of installed software and the expected new software are shown in the following tables .

Table 4.7 The new and installed software applications in Construction sector.

Table 4.8 The new and installed software applications in Manufacturing sector.

Table 4.9 The new and installed software applications in Servicing sector.

　

The summary of the likelihood of introducing new software applications for our respondents in different business nature is shown as below :-

Fig. 4.11 The rating of new software applications by business nature