Case Study: QMS for uk retail bank’s smart card team

Organisation

The smart card solutions development team of a leading UK retail bank. The team comprised 120 people, 80% of whom were external contractors or consultants.

Scenario

The organisation had no documented processes. This meant that the many external resources employed tended to follow their own process. The organisation had identified the need to develop a Quality Management System (QMS) to bring structure and control to the way they were working. However, they did not have the necessary skills to do this themselves.

Approach

We were responsible for planning and managing the project and chose the following structured approach to develop the QMS:

• Gathered business requirements.
• Identified processes.
• Agreed process ownership.
• Designed the Quality Management System.
• Produced the Quality Manual.
• Documented the processes.
• Developed templates and supporting documents to facilitate implementation.
• Developed and delivered training and awareness sessions.
• Facilitated review meetings and workshops.

• Audited adherence to processes.

The organisation decided against ISO9001 certification at the time. However, the QMS was developed in-line with ISO9001 and TickIT to support future certification if required.

Outcome

• A fully-implemented Quality Management System and framework of processes and templates for managing the development of the team’s software products.
• A common approach to the way the products were developed.