RESUMEN

Tata Consultancy Services has been benchmarking itself against different quality models since the early '90s. All the TCS centers have been ISO 9001 certified since 1995. Seven of TCS's 17 development centers in India have been assessed at Software CMM Level 5, and one center has been assessed at Level 4. Although TCS started benchmarking itself with the Software CMM in 1996, the foundation for these quality initiatives was laid way back in the '80s. This article describes the path traversed and the lessons learned. The ISO 9000 initiative institutionalized the audit process and was instrumental in instituting an organization-wide quality management system. Quantitative process management provided an organizational perspective into the process capability through statistical process control. The Level 5 key process areas of Software CMM v1.1 provided a framework for reducing rework and evaluating new processes and technologies. These initiatives have benefited the organization, employees, and customers.