Improvement of GPRS international roaming process using Lean Six Sigma approach

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to improve GPRS International Roaming process by using Lean Six Sigma approach. The selected methodology of this research is DMAIC. It is applied to efficiently reduce the average set-up time before commercial launch to customer. The scope of this research covers only the International Roaming services in data communication network, namely GPRS from preparing documents by international business division to processing by engineering division. Flow chart analysis, SIPOC and Cause and Effect diagram are applied as quality tools for problem identification and analysis in pre-launch phase of GPRS International Roaming process. Based on the study, it is found that the main causes are from Man, Material, and Method which have inefficiency in planning and designing. These causes lead to the delay problem in launching new GPRS International Roaming service, and inefficient resource management. These problems led to losing opportunity to increase revenue of the company and low competition to competitors. With results of analysis, the new process of GPRS International Roaming service is conducted as a standard process to improve resource managements, especially time management. It can reduce the average set-up time from 203.6 days to 84.6 days which is 58.45% time reduction.