building effective teams in amdocs-tecc - project report

Project Report

On

Building Effective Teams in TECC

Submitted By

Milind Gokhale

(AM - 317)

Amdocs - III

Submitted in partial fulfillment of

Executive Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management

(EPGDBM)

(Symbiosis International University)

Building Effective Teams in TECC 2012

3


4

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Amdocs DVCI and

SIBM Pune for giving me an opportunity to learn management as well as carry out

the project work and gain immensely enriching experience in doing so. My sincere

thanks to my project guide and mentor Mrs. Shaily Gupta for her timely guidance

and constant encouragement not only during the project work but throughout the

EPGDBM course. She has been giving me valuable inputs and ideas right from the

selection of topic for project till its successful completion.

I appreciate the folks at Amdocs TECC for helping me in my research

with their valuable inputs. I thank faculty of SIBM for her ongoing support and

encouragement in every aspect.

I would also like to extent my thanks to my Dad for his enlightening me

with the nuances of a research survey.

The successful completion of our project would not have been possible

without the dedicated support from all my colleagues, family and friends.

Milind Gokhale Roll No: AM-317

Tel No: 9822958236


5

List of Abbreviations Used

Acronym Description CC Competency Centre

TECC Test Engineering Competency Centre

ST System Test

DCUT Design Coding Unit Testing

GL Group Leader

PM Project Manager

SME Subject Matter Expert

SSME Senior Subject Matter Expert

APAC Asia Pacific

KT Knowledge Transfer

HF Hot Fix

NYSE New York Stock Exchange

DOX Amdocs stock symbol in NYSE

A&M Advertising and Media

CRM Customer Relationship Manager

ELITE Expert Line Testing Team


6

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ 4

List of Abbreviations Used ............................................................................. 5

Table of Contents ........................................................................................... 6

List of Figures ................................................................................................ 8

1. Executive Summary ................................................................................. 9

2. Introduction ........................................................................................... 10

2.1 Need for Building Effective teams in Amdocs. ................................ 10

2.2 Role of Amdocs TECC to improve the situation .............................. 11

3. Company Overview ............................................................................... 12

4. Objectives.............................................................................................. 13

5. Building Effective Testing Teams .......................................................... 14

5.1 Current process of building testing teams ........................................ 14

5.2 Problems within the current process ................................................ 16

6. Field Work ............................................................................................ 18

7. Data Collection ...................................................................................... 19

8. Scope of Work ....................................................................................... 20

9. Data Analysis and Interpretation ............................................................ 21

9.1 Knowledge levels and Knowledge transfer ............................................ 21


7

Graphical representation: .......................................................................... 21

Interpretation: ........................................................................................... 21

9.2 Crisis Period .......................................................................................... 22


Interpretation: ........................................................................................... 23

9.3 Visibility and Clarity ............................................................................. 23


Interpretation: ........................................................................................... 24

9.4 Frequent Rotation and Stability ............................................................. 25


Interpretation: ........................................................................................... 25

10. Recommendations ................................................................................. 26

11. Conclusions ........................................................................................... 28

12. Bibliography .......................................................................................... 29

Annexure I ................................................................................................... 30

Annexure II .................................................................................................. 31


8

List of Figures

Figure No. Name of Figure Page

No. 1 WDP ST effort Estimation 14

2 Resource Requirements Calculation 15

3 Resource Knowledge Level Matrix 15

4 Chart based on survey responses to question 4 in questionnaire (Annexure II) 21







9

1. Executive Summary Amdocs TECC consists of about 180 members worldwide. TECC comprises of

System Testing, Performance Testing and Testing Automation. System testing teams

require testing all the products of Amdocs which are to be delivered for an account

from Amdocs. It includes integration testing of all the modules of a product and

inter-product integration testing in case of projects consisting of multiple Amdocs

products. ST plays the role of the final gateway of delivery to the customer before

User Acceptance Tests performed by the customer. Detecting and reporting defects,

tracking and delivering the functionalities of all the modules of products involved in

a project is the most important task of a System Testing team in a project.

People in Amdocs work from assignment to assignment basis. Moreover, the

timelines available with the ST teams are very less and hence it is of utmost

importance that the teams are formed very quickly and they start performing in very

less time in order to meet the deadlines to deliver the project to the customer. For

this, it is very important to form better and efficient teams in ST that can perform the

challenging testing assignments effectively through achieving synergy within the

team. Certain norms are necessary and prior training is essential in order to reduce

the lead time of team formation and performance.

The main idea behind this project is to highlight the deficiencies in the current

team building process; the shortcomings faced by the members of TECC and suggest

improvements for building effective teams in TECC through emphasis on building

up of knowledge, stability of the assignments and the work environment for the

various teams in TECC, and thus help the organization to handle the testing projects

in an efficient and effective manner.


10

2. Introduction

2.1 Need for Building Effective teams in Amdocs.

During the period from 2009 onwards, Amdocs started to increase its presence

in Asia. There were big projects in pipeline with some of the biggest telecom giants

in various Asian countries like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand,

Philippines. These projects were supposed to be handled mostly from Indian arm of

Amdocs.

Asian projects are notoriously known for their inherent uncertainty. This is

mainly due to the factors like very critical timelines and constantly changing

requirements from the Customer. There was sudden spurt in the need of resources in

Amdocs. To fill in these requirements, Amdocs hired from the tier 2 and tier 3

colleges from all over India. Although people were hired in a hurry, very less was

done to impart Amdocs specific product knowledge to the people. Moreover the

attrition rate had started increasing and people with Amdocs Products knowledge

were decreasing. There were haphazard teams formed for the urgent requirement and

incomplete training and knowledge given to the team members due to the lack of

time. Result was some of the important projects failed due to improper delivery. This

situation needs to be tackled with a more rational approach and all the competency

centers need to focus on the common objective of building better project teams so as

to result in better team performance, higher possibility of project success, proper

delivery of products and in turn increased customer satisfaction.

To minimize the impact Amdocs needs to focus on matching the right number

of people to actual needs during the projects uncertainties. To accomplish this


11

Amdocs needs to better harness the right people for the right tasks at the right time

through proper planning and better team building process.

2.2 Role of Amdocs TECC to improve the situation

TECC is one of the major parts of Customer Delivery group, which is

responsible for the approved certification of the deliverables and the final delivery to

the customer tests i.e. User Acceptance Tests.

ST teams being the gateway of the delivery are always under squeezed

timelines and to add to the pressure, the hasty team formation and lack of product

specific knowledge has caused the ST Timelines to derail off the track time and

again for various projects. Hence TECC was worst hit by the situation and the work

life balance was also drastically degraded due to this.

As a resolution of this problem, TECC must start implementing a program to

build effective testing teams as quickly as possible with reduction in lead time.


12

3. Company Overview

Amdocs is the market leader in customer experience systems innovation, enabling

world-leading service providers to deliver an integrated, innovative and intentional

customer experience™ at every point of service. Amdocs provides solutions that

deliver customer experience excellence, combining the software, services and

expertise to help its customers execute their strategies and achieve service,

operational and financial excellence. Amdocs has variety of software products

designed for billing solutions of telecom service providers, CRM solution, solutions

for A&M providers. A global company (NYSE: DOX) with revenue of $3.2 billion

in fiscal 2011, Amdocs has over 19,000 employees and serves customers in more

than 60 countries worldwide. Amdocs has development centers in India (Pune and

Gurgaon), Israel, Cyprus, US and Brazil and Site offices in many locations

worldwide. More information about can be found at www.amdocs.com. (1)


13

4. Objectives To study and analyze the approach followed in building teams for projects in

TECC.

Identify the key issues in the current process which led to the failure of some

important projects.

Analyze the reasons for these failures.

Gathering data from Employee point of view.

Suggest ways to improve and maintain project success as well as overall

employee satisfaction.


14

5. Building Effective Testing Teams

5.1 Current process of building testing teams

Determine the scope of services:

a. Use the ST estimation model to identify the scope of the services

to be provided by TECC.

b. The estimation is based on the golden number which is 26% of

DCUT effort should be considered as ST effort.

Figure 1 (2)

c. Calculate the resource requirements as per the golden numbers.


15

Figure 2 (2)

Team ramp up:

a. Based on the resource requirements, the resources are identified

and acquired for the project.

b. A knowledge level matrix maintained in KTV helps in identifying

the key expertise areas of the resources.

Figure 3 (3)

c. Not all the resources are veterans and many resources being new

in the CC, The testing managers try to maintain a ratio of 60%

old and 40% new resources.

d. Assignment of a GL and a PM for the project.


16

Project Kick off

a. This activity includes an introduction of all the team members

addressed by GL and PM.

b. The objectives of the project and the expectations from the team

members are communicated to all in this meeting.

Ongoing meetings and progress

a. Throughout the various activities of the System testing scope,

there are regular meetings communicate the updates in the

account, identify the risks involved and suggest steps on

mitigation of the risks.

5.2 Problems within the current process

a. Although the golden numbers are formed based on the historical

data of various projects Amdocs has delivered. However the

golden number does not include the special effort or unique

projects especially in APAC region since Amdocs has recently

entered APAC region.

b. The special effort includes overlap of the various activities in the

project lifecycle, frequent untimely change requests from the

clients which demands regression of the previously working

functionalities frequently.

c. While acquiring resources although the team members are taken

using the KTV scores, there is a gap between the score and the

actual level of expertise of the resource. This happens due to the


17

improper recording of the scores and the certain amount of

subjective discretion in the scores measurement.

d. Also the resources are frequently shuffled in between products

and projects, due to which there is a fragmentation of the product

knowledge.


18

6. Field Work Identified the GLs and SSMEs within TECC and conducted pilot interviews

with them.

Prepared a questionnaire and chose employees from TECC as part of the

sample.

Undertook a survey to collect responses from the chosen employees.

The questionnaires were sent to the employees through mail.

The employees were assured of the anonymity of the responses to avoid any

feeling of threat or biases in the responses given in the survey.


19

7. Data Collection The data was collected by way of interviews and survey.

Interviews were conducted with GLs and SSMEs in order to identify the key

issues faced by them during team formation, managing the team and

maintenance of the team roles.

Questions were asked to GLs

Question 1: To know whether the GL has any say in the selection of team members.

Question 2: To know the problems faced by GL to handle his team.

Question 3: To know the problems faced by the GL to maintain his team and project.

Question 4: To know the time required for inducting new member into the team.

Questions were asked to SSMEs

Question 1: To know the major problems faced in their current project team.

Question 2: To know the lead time required for them to start performing in the new

project or new assignment.

Question 3: To know the work life balance of the employees.

Taking cues from the Interview responses a questionnaire was prepared.

The sample was selected consisting of candidates from various TECC

projects and varied experience levels.

The interview questions can be viewed in Annexure I and the Survey

Questionnaire in Annexure II.


20

8. Scope of Work Interviewing group leaders and SMEs to determine the key issues faced in

building and managing teams in TECC.

Undertake a survey to collect responses and analyze them to determine the

issues from the resources point of view.

Analyze the interview responses and the survey data and provide with

recommendations for improvement of the team building and their

management process.


21

9. Data Analysis and Interpretation

9.1 Knowledge levels and Knowledge transfer

Graphical representation:

Figure 4: Level of KT given to new comers and new team members.

Interpretation:

As per the survey responses about 66% of the people agreed that the

process for knowledge transfer is more of a knowledge bombardment than

explainations. This is really a very big problem especially for adding new

members into the team. These new members need to understand the business ,

product as well as knowledge of project specific processes. Due to the low

knowledge level specific to the project business and processes, there is lot of

confusion in the team members. Hence even small problems take long time to

resolve and work velocity and performance is hampered due to this.


22

9.2 Crisis Period


Figure 5: Frequency of occurrence of crisis

Figure 6: Team composure in crisis period


23

Interpretation:

The responses in the survey clearly indicate that the majority of the

employees feel that the occurrence of the crisis in project work is very often

with the frequency of around 1 week in a month which is on an average. The

frequent crisis period is also an indicator of the bad overall health of the

projects.

In periods of crisis the miss-co-ordination surely creeps in. It is

usually seen in TECC that in period of crisis there are some star team members

who pull the work towards completion instead of the complete team. There is a

lack of synergy in the teams.

9.3 Visibility and Clarity


Figure 7


24

Figure 8: Frequency of change in daily tasks of a resource

Interpretation:

Although there are regular meetings of PM with the team members

there is a lack of visibility felt not only among the team members however

among GLs as well as Testing PM sometimes. Due to the less visibility the

may be frequent changes in the tasks of the team. This can result in wastage,

rework, and redundant work as well as the frustration and disharmony among

team members.


25

9.4 Frequent Rotation and Stability


Figure 9

Interpretation:

In Amdocs many times to fill up the resource gaps people are put into

different projects just for a week to a month, without taking into consideration

the prior product experience of the resource. In such times it becomes a

liability on the target team to train the resource and also it becomes difficult for

the resources to adjust in the temporary assignment for a short time. In such a

time surely the team formation to performance transition cannot take place. In

the survey it was found that all the respondents agree unanimously that the

frequent rotation is neither useful for the project nor the individual growth of

the resources. Due to the frequent rotation plus frequent changes in the regular

day to day tasks, as well as regular occurrence of crisis periods in projects the

work life balance of the individual is completely out of control and in turn it

affects the stability of employees.


26

10. Recommendations

Following are a few recommendations suggested as part of improving the

team building and team maintenance program

Regular knowledge building and knowledge transfer sessions should take

place among the project team members and time should be allotted for the

same.

A knowledge bank should be maintained and regularly updated in the

creative SharePoint. It has been implemented in some projects. However, it

should be leveraged along with the KT sessions at regular intervals to avoid

knowledge bombardment in a small time which is not useful for retention and

utilization.

PM and GLs to better plan the resources so as to assign stable project

assignments and reduce frequent rotation of resources. This will help in

avoiding unnecessary liabilities on the team and help in achieving true

synergy in team contribution in project. To make it possible TECC is

planning an ELITE program consisting of highly experienced product experts

within TECC.

A new way of broadcasting the account updates and its impacts to the team

must be devised in TECC APAC projects. This is required because although

there are monthly meetings of team with the PM there is a lack of clarity and

visibility in the team.

To avoid dependency on GL, small leadership tasks should be introduced

within the team. This can include tasks like HF maintenance, Defects

management, Document trackers, Knowledge champions etc.


27

Better product and project related orientation through regular training and

standardization of processes to reduce the lead time to reach from Forming to

Performing or forming stage at least as fast as possible.


28

11. Conclusions

Amdocs TECC should act soon to build better teams and assure better project

delivery. A good team can indeed make the project or even a major project can also

fail because of bad or hasty team formation as was seen in TECC earlier. Good

initiatives do take time and it needs to be an ongoing continuous effort to reap the

benefits of top team performance in all the projects under TECC.

As mentioned some initiatives like ELITE program have been started as steps

towards the same goal. But this program requires highly experienced and

knowledgeable groups which can perform better and quicker in various teams.

Regular training and standardization of processes will be vital to keep producing and

grooming ELITE members.

This project was very helpful in identifying the current hindrances in the

TECC teams and thinking of ways to make the situation much better. It has given

TECC management an insight and a perspective of TECC employees and GLs. This

is a great opportunity to implement the recommendations suggested and achieve the

objective of highly performing teams along with stability as well as to maintain good

work life balance within teams.


29

12. Bibliography

1. About Us. Retrieved from http://www.Amdocs.com

2. ST Quality. Retrieved from documentcenter: http://documentcenter

3. Knowledge Maturity Model. Retrieved from http://ktv


30

Annexure I

The Questions asked in the pilot interviews with GLs and SSMEs

Questions asked to GLs

1. Do you have a say in the resource selection within your team?

2. What are the biggest problems or issues you face while handling your team?

3. Are the people in your team willing to take up challenges?

4. What according to you is the lead time to accommodate a new resource into

the team?

Questions asked to SSME

1. What is the major concern or issue in your current project assignment?

2. What in your view is the lead time required to start your work considering

that you’ve got an assignment for testing a new product or a new module?

3. How is the work life balance in your current project?


31

Annexure II

Below is the Questionnaire for the survey:

1. How long have you been working in Amdocs?

A) <2 yrs

B) 2-5 yrs

C) 5-8 yrs

D) 8-10 yrs

2. How many teams have you worked in within Amdocs TECC?

3. Out of the number of teams you’ve worked in, with how many teams

have you worked more than 2 months?

4. Whenever you enter a new team or project, is enough knowledge about

the project given to you?

A) There is hardly any knowledge given at all.

B) Little knowledge transfer sessions are arranged with information

bombardment in very less time.

C) Time-to-time 1 hour sessions are conducted in a week.

D) There is a knowledge bank maintained by the team.

5. What is the size of the current team you're working in?

6. How does your team react to intense pressure and crisis?

A) The complete team is calm and focused on the critical task and

does complete it within deadline effectively.

B) There is little miss-coordination sometimes, although the team

members co-operate and complete the task.

C) Everything goes into a mess and no one co-operates.

7. How often do you feel is the crisis period in your project?


32

A) All the time [Everyday]

B) Very often [1 week in a month]

C) Sometimes [2-3 weeks in 6 months]

D) Very few times [2-3 weeks in a year]

E) Never [Never]

8. How would you rate the co-operation of your team members?

A) Very cooperative

B) Somewhat co-operative

C) Never co-operate

9. Has anyone within the team ever challenged your team leader regarding

any decision?

A) Yes

B) No

10. What is the action taken by leader on raising risks, doubts and issues?

A) He is very diligent to track the issue and find a solution to the

problem.

B) He delegates the issue resolution to another team-member

C) He doesn’t listen to the problem.

11. Are there regular meetings of team along with manager to publish the

project/account updates to the team and the impacts on the team?

A) Everyday

B) Once in a week.

C) Once in a month.

D) Once in 2 months.

E) Once in 6 months.


33

12. In your view which location do you think is most effective for work

within your team?

A) Meeting room

B) Common Bay

C) Separate desks not necessarily within the same Bay.

13. Do you feel that being assigned into a new team for a major task for just

1-2 weeks is useful at all?

A) Yes

B) No

14. When the group leader is on a planned vacation there is a difficulty and

confusion within the team for daily tasks.

A) Strongly agree

B) Agree

C) Somewhat Agree

D) Disagree

E) Strongly Disagree.

15. On a usual working day how many times in a day is your task changed

suddenly while you're working on some task?

A) It happens very frequently

B) It happens sometimes

C) It happens very rarely

D) It never happens.

16. How many weekends do you have to work in a time period of 4 months?

A) Every weekend

B) Every alternate weekend


34

C) Once in a month

D) Once or twice in 4 months

E) Never

17. Do you feel free to ask questions to any senior or junior team member

within your team anytime?

A) There is no problem asking questions to anyone within the team

anytime. Everyone is learning all the time.

B) There is an awkward feeling while asking for information due to

the ego problems of the teammate.

C) There is an awkward feeling while asking questions since it might

reflect in your visible knowledge level.