Group 6 WDA Phase (I)

Wage Determination and

Administration

FastCat Phase 1

Submitted By GROUP 6:

Amit Kumar (P10066)

Chaitanya S N Peddi (P10076)

Himanshu Kapila (P10086)

Poorvi Sarin (P10097)

Sargam Toor (P10107)

Tania Roychoudhary (P10117)

CONTENTS

introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2

Opportunities ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Decision Areas ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Strategy ............................................................................................................................................... 3

Objectives of Compensation .................................................................................................................... 4

Internal Alignment Objectives.............................................................................................................. 5

Structure ................................................................................................................................................. 5

Strategy Mapping ................................................................................................................................ 7

MANUAL ................................................................................................................................................. 7

Managerial .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Administration ...................................................................................................................................... 10

Marketing ............................................................................................................................................. 15

Engineering .......................................................................................................................................... 19

TECHNICAL ............................................................................................................................................ 22

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Fastcat is a company that supplies Business to Business software and this quality of being able

to provide customers with reliable and best quality software has been the driving factor behind

Fastcat’s success in the 1980s and 1990s.

Economic slowdown has led the company to have a change of leadership and retrenchment of

workforce. Employee morale has reduced due to lay-offs and company is striving hard to retain

its talented workforce.

Two pronged strategy means the company has to focus both on “drill down” amongst present

customers and innovative new products. The requirement of the company is to encourage

individual efforts and promote teamwork.

We suggest company to divide it into a hierarchical based structure with 5 clearly defined

functions having separate structure of compensation. A tailored structure would be needed for

the company to perform better.

INTRODUCTION

Company came into existence in 1980s when some resourceful dealers hired software

engineers to automate the process of sales. The company grew by translating its core

competency of producing excellent quality software into competitive advantage in the field of

business to business software applications in the 1990s. The software helped customer get his

choice in buying a complex product in a simple way. Some said that the software was ahead of

its time.

Meltdown of 2000 led company to lay off 10% of the workforce and this step taken by

company led to decreased morale in its workforce. Most employees were skeptical about their

future and fun of working was gone according to them.

Company had to face much bigger challenge on finance front as revenues declined by 15% from

their highest levels. Declining sales and rising expenses were a cause of concern for the firm.

Customers became more demanding and employee satisfaction survey results showed gap in

communication amongst different departments.

OPPORTUNITIES

� Employees are proud of creativity and innovation that Fastcat offers to its customers

� Globalization offers a new opportunity as no other company has the ability to give

worldwide sales software support to MNCs

� Future is based on engineering talent. A workforce that is flexible, innovative and willing

to accept change is the order of the day.

DECISION AREAS

� Keeping or removing high revenue but high maintenance customers is the issue.

STRATEGY

� Two pronged

� Extended use of s/w in existing customer base

� Design flexible products and offer competitive pricing

� Mission statement of the company talks about organizational success being directly

related to customer success. Company has to get in touch with customers and design

innovative products that are cost effective and lead to customer satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES OF COMPENSATION

� Support Company’s strategy of extending software use and flexible products

This is one of the critical success factors for Fastcat as this will give company an

opportunity to cater to the needs of business that are at different levels of business

development and things like Annual licensing and transaction based pricing to be source

of recurring revenue.

� Attract and Retain talented workforce

Employees are an asset to any company and Fastcat has accepted this fact that their

success or failure depends on the quality of its workforce and it is this workforce that

gives company an edge over its competitors. Utmost care has to be taken to make sure

that employees are satisfied and give their 100% to achieve organizational objectives.

� Encourage Innovation that produces quality

Fastcat customers demand reliability, quality and dependability from the company.

When innovative path is taken sometimes there will be failures but learning from the

failures will help in developing better products. So company has to make sure that

compensation strategy encourages innovation.

� Customer Centric

Customers are happy with representatives but want more information on delays and

seek higher reliability. On the other hand, company is focused on time, knowledge and

trustworthiness which is actually a valid objective but it should also address customer’s

concerns about reliability and information on delays. A proper alignment between

company’s focus and customer’s demand should be the objective of this system.

� Reducing Expenses

Declining Sales/labor and rising Labor costs/expense ratio are cause of concern to the

company as it shows resource utilization is inefficient. This inefficiency improvement has

to be addressed by the compensation system.

INTERNAL ALIGNMENT OBJECTIVES

The objective of internal alignment is to address the problems within the organization

and is needed to support the business strategy from all dimensions.

� Improved Communication amongst various stakeholders

Improved communication between customer, Marketing department and Engineering

department will be a key for success as proper alignment of these three will aid the

company to channelize its resources effectively to meet the organizational goals

� Transparent performance appraisal systems:

All the employees should be well communicated about the procedure followed for

performance appraisal and critical success factors of their teams and themselves which

will improve the overall performance. All the employees should be given timely

feedback about the area of improvement

� Robust communication within organization:

There should be clear understanding of the organization structure and the hierarchy

within all the departments at all levels of employees. All the employees should be

communicated their goals and objectives and should be assured about job security

� Flexibility when it comes to internal alignment:

The market the firm is operating in is very dynamic and economically volatile. The value

and objectives of the firm should reflect the market conditions and customer

orientation. So the structure should be flexible to get itself aligned with firm’s current

objectives like cost cutting measures during the periods of economic downturn and

increasing market share during the booming periods.

STRUCTURE

Administrative

•Office Leader

•Administrative Assistant

•Executive Staff Assistant

•Administrative Assistant II

•Data Processor

•Office Aide

Marketing

•Technical Marketing Consultant

•Business Solutions Consultant

•Field Marketing Representative

•Marketing Support

Technical

•Senior Technician

•Technical Analyst B

•Technical Analyst A

•Technician

•Massage Therapist

Engineering

•Senior Fellow

•Usability Engineer

•Software User Interface Architect

•Software Interface Designer

•Visual Designer

•Software Development Engineer

Managerial Cadre

•Business Account Leader

•Project Manager

•Visionary Champion

STRATEGY MAPPING

MANUAL

Factors to be assessed for compensation are discussed for each of the 5

functions, and the methods and results for such assessment are also explained.

MANAGERIAL

Managerial cadre is responsible for monitoring the execution of strategy at various levels

depends on their position in hierarchy. Among the given job descriptions we have identified the

following three under managerial head.

� Business account leader

� Project manager

� Visionary champion

JOB BASED

The managerial cadre has been aligned using job-based approach. Difference between jobs in

managerial cadre can be attributed to difference in responsibilities associated with job, nature

and extent of client interaction, Knowledge and skills demanded by the job. We have used the

point value analysis for assigning the structure.

0

1

2

3

4

5

We have identified the following compensable factors for the above managerial job keeping in

mind their job descriptions and criticality of the job alignment with business strategy

Category

Skills

• Analytical skills

• Problem solving abilities

• Negotiation and coordination

skills

• Leadership

Knowledge

• Relevant work experience

• Business acumen

• Financial knowledge

• Cross functional knowledge

• Education qualifications

Responsibility

• Criticality of the work done

• Scope of job

• Initiatives to be undertaken

Customer interaction

• Level of communication

• Amount of work done thorough

customer interactions

Total


•Level of communication

•Amount of work done thorough



mind their job descriptions and criticality of the job alignment with business strategy

BUSINESS ACCOUNT LEADER

Weight

age

Degree Weight

30% Job Title

4 5

Problem solving abilities 3 5

Negotiation and coordination 4 5

4 15

25%

Relevant work experience 5 10

5 5

3 5

Cross functional knowledge 4 5

Education qualifications 3 5

25%

Criticality of the work done 3 7

4 13

Initiatives to be undertaken 3 5

20%

Level of communication 3 10

Amount of work done thorough 2 10

100 100

Skills

•Analytical skills

•Problem solving abilities

•Negotiation and coordination skills

•Leadership

Knowledge

•Relevant work experience

required

•Business acumen

•Financial knowledge

•Cross functional knowledge

•Education qualifications


mind their job descriptions and criticality of the job alignment with business strategy.

Total

20

15

20

60

50

25

15

20

15

21

52

15

30

20

378

Relevant work

Business acumen

Cross functional

Responsibility

•Scope of job

•Criticality of work done

•Initiatives to be undertaken

PROJECT MANAGER

Category

Weight

age

Degree Weight Total

Skills 30% Job Title

• Analytical skills 2 5 10

• Problem solving abilities 4 10 40


skills

2 5 10

• Leadership 4 10 40

Knowledge

30%

• Relevant work experience 4 15 60

• Business acumen 3 5 15

• Financial knowledge 2 2.5 5

• Cross functional knowledge 2 2.5 5

• Education qualifications 4 5 20

Responsibility 20%

• Criticality of the work done 5 5 25

• Scope of job 4 5 20

• Initiatives to be undertaken 5 `10 50

Customer interaction 20%

• Level of communication 5 10 50



3 10 30

Total 100 100 380

VISIONARY CHAMPION

Category

Weight

age

Degree Weight Total


• Analytical skills 4 5 20

• Problem solving abilities 5 10 50


skills

4 5 20

• Leadership 5 10 50

Knowledge

40%


• Business acumen 5 15 75

• Financial knowledge



Responsibility

• Criticality of the work done

• Scope of job

• Initiatives to be undertaken


• Level of communication



Total

Administration ensures that the day to day systems and processes run smoothly. This function

does not require a high degree of analytical skills but needs a high level of communication skills,

dedication and intrapersonal abilities by an individual. Prior work experience also c

efficiency and the job function basically needs to be assessed on the following parameters for

different positions:

� Office Aide

� Office Leader

� Administrative Assistant

� Administrative Assistant II

� Data Processor

� Executive Staff Assistant

The following compensable factors would be taken into account while evaluating the jobs that

come under the administrative department:

Skills

•Communication/interpersonal and writing skills

•Innovation skills

•Analytical/Problem solving skill

•Team working skills

•Planning and judgment skills

•Telephone skills

Knowledge

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

3 5

Cross functional knowledge 5 10

Education qualifications 5 5

15%

Criticality of the work done 4 5

5 5

Initiatives to be undertaken 5 5

15%

Level of communication 5 10

Amount of work done thorough 3 5

ADMINISTRATION

that the day to day systems and processes run smoothly. This function


dedication and intrapersonal abilities by an individual. Prior work experience also c


Administrative Assistant

Administrative Assistant II

Executive Staff Assistant

ollowing compensable factors would be taken into account while evaluating the jobs that

come under the administrative department:

Knowledge

• Relevant work experience

• Computer proficiency

• Business strategy and prioritization


• Knowledge about software development cycle and design


• Statistics and mathematical modeling knowledge

Responsibility

•Criticality of the work done

•Scope of job

•Initiatives to be undertaken

15

50

25

20

25

25

50

15

460

that the day to day systems and processes run smoothly. This function


dedication and intrapersonal abilities by an individual. Prior work experience also counts for the


ollowing compensable factors would be taken into account while evaluating the jobs that

Nature of job

•Multiple assignments to be handled

•Work load ( Mental effort)

OFFICE AIDE

Category

Weight

age

Degree

(1-5)

Weight

(%)

Total

Skills 25% Office Aide

• Communication/interpersonal

and writing skills

5 10 50

• Innovation skills 1 0 0

• Analytical/Problem solving skill 1 0 0

• Team working skills 5 10 50

• Planning and judgment skills 1 0 0

• Telephone skills 5 5 25

Knowledge

25%


• Computer proficiency 2 20 40

• Business strategy and

prioritization

1 0 0

• Cross functional knowledge 1 0 0

• Knowledge about software

development cycle and design

1 0 0


• Statistics and mathematical

modeling knowledge

1 0 0

Responsibility 25%



• Initiatives to be undertaken 4 10 40

Nature of job 25%

• Multiple assignments to be

handled

5 20 100

• Work load ( Mental effort) 2 5 10

Total 100 375

OFFICE LEADER

Category

Weightage Degree Weight Total

Skills 25% Office Leader


and writing skills

5 8 40






Knowledge

25%




prioritization

4 5 20




1 0 0



modeling knowledge

1 0 0

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

5 15 75


Total 100 100 452

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Category

Weight

age

Degree Weight

(%)

Total

Skills 25% Administrative Assistant


and writing skills

5 10 50






Knowledge

25%




prioritization

2 2 4




1 0 0



modeling knowledge

1 0 0

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

4 10 40


Total 100 572

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT II

Category

Weight

age

Degree Weight Total

Skills 25% Administrative assistant

II


and writing skills

5 6 30






Knowledge

25%




prioritization

2 3 6




1 0 0



modeling knowledge

1 0 0

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

5 15 75


Total 100 100 405

DATA PROCESSOR

Category

Weight

age

Degree Weight Total

Skills 25% Data Processor


and writing skills

4 10 40






Knowledge

25%




prioritization

2 2 4




1 0 0



modeling knowledge

3 5 15

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

5 15 75


Total 100 100 390

EXECUTIVE STAFF ASSISTANT

Category

Weight

age

Degree Weight Total

Skills 25% Executive Staff Assistant


and writing skills

5 10 50






Knowledge

25%




prioritization

1 0 0




1 0 0



modeling knowledge

1 0 0

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

5 15 75


Total 100 437

MARKETING

Marketing department plays a vital role in Fastcat, as they serve as the bridge between the

engineering departments which innovates and produce the product and the customers who use

the product. Hence a clear communication of the needs and requirements of customers to

engineers as well as of design and development constraints to customers becomes essential. As

we go up the marketing ladder, the technical knowledge of engineering processes and

negotiation skills becomes a part of the job as it results in better understanding of customer

needs which results in customer delight, over and above customer satisfaction.

Compensation structure for marketing should

leadership skills take a front seat than educational qualif

objective is to look for competencies that result in value addition and are

objective of the compensation. It should lay down the guidelines for behavior and performan

in the marketing department.

COMPETENCY SETS

We used levels to define what level of competency a person should possess in order to achieve

certain pay levels. Our competency structure is defined on four levels.

Level/ Phase

Fundamental

Competitive

Advanced

Expert Visionary

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS C

Category

Leadership based

o Initiative taking

o Team leadership

o Time management

Collaboration based

o Team work

o Interpersonal understanding

o Flexibility

Knowledge based

o Market awareness

o Information Seeking

o Technical Expertise

o Organizational awareness

Leadership based

• Initiative taking

• Team leadership

• Time management

marketing should be based on competencies as interpersonal a

leadership skills take a front seat than educational qualification and innovative skills.

objective is to look for competencies that result in value addition and are

objective of the compensation. It should lay down the guidelines for behavior and performan

in the marketing department.


certain pay levels. Our competency structure is defined on four levels.

Title

Associate, support

Contributor, professional

Coach; leader

Champion; Executive

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS CONSULTANT

Weight age Degree Weight

15%

2 5

Team leadership 1 5

Time management 2 10

25%

3 10

Interpersonal understanding 4 5

5 10

30%

Market awareness 5 10

Information Seeking 4 5

Technical Expertise 3 5

Organizational awareness 4 5

Collaboration based

• Team work

• Interpersonal understanding

• Flexibility

Knowledge based

• Market awareness

• Information Seeking

• Technical Expertise

• Organizational awareness


be based on competencies as interpersonal and

ication and innovative skills. The

objective is to look for competencies that result in value addition and are aligned with overall

objective of the compensation. It should lay down the guidelines for behavior and performance


Weight Total

10

5

20

30

20

50

50

20

15

20

Customer based

• Analytical Ability

• Problem solving

• Communication skills

• Maximize customer satisfaction

• Innovation

o Cross functional knowledge 2 5 10

Customer based 30%

o Analytical Ability 3 5 15

o Problem solving 1 5 5

o Communication skills 4 10 40

o Maximize customer

satisfaction

5 10 50

TOTAL 100 100 360

FIELD MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE

Category

Weight age Degree Weight Total

Leadership based 10%

o Initiative taking 4 10 40

o Team leadership 0 0

o Time management 0 0

Collaboration based 20% 0

o Team work 3 10 30

o Interpersonal understanding 4 5 20

o Flexibility 5 5 25

Knowledge based 30% 0

o Market awareness 5 10 50

o Information Seeking 5 5 25

o Technical Expertise 2 5 10

o Organizational awareness 2 5 10


Customer based 40% 0




o Maximize customer

satisfaction

5 15 75

TOTAL 100 100 395

MARKETING SUPPORT

Category




o Team leadership 0 0

o Time management 0 0

Collaboration based 25% 0

o Team work 5 10 50

o Interpersonal understanding 4 10 40


Knowledge based 30% 0






Customer based 35% 0




o Maximize customer

satisfaction

4 10 40

TOTAL 100 100 400

TECHNICAL MARKETING CONSULTANT

Category




o Team leadership 3 10 30

o Time management 2 5 10

Collaboration based 10%

o Team work 2 5 10

o Interpersonal understanding 0 0


Knowledge based 40%






Customer based 30%




o Maximize customer

satisfaction

5 10 50

TOTAL 100 100 415

Engineering

Engineering represents the core activity of the company. It is skill intensive and requires

adherence to the strictest standards. It also warrants the most careful selection and

compensation of talent. Keeping these in mind the Engineering job family has been aligned

using a mix of job based and person based structure and the point method has been used to

know the relative worth of each job. Skills consist of different computer skills and have been

given a weight of 30% and the job based compensable factors have been given a weight of 70%.

Computer skills have been given higher weight age because they are at the core of the

engineering expertise and also it will encourage the employees to learn new skills. This will help

in deploying the employees in different teams which will help in developing a lean workforce

thus reducing the labor cost.

SKILLS BASED

Following are the computer skills with the fractional weight against each one of them. The skills

may be updated in keeping with the changing technology.

1. C/C++ 10

2. OS – Linux/Unix/Solaris 30

3. XML 40

4. HTML/DHTML 40

5. Java/VB Scripting 50

6. COM/DCOM 30

7. Relational Database – Oracle/SQL 50

8. ERP – SAP/PEOPLESOFT/ORACLE 40

9. E-Commerce 45

10. Lotus Notes 25

11. Integration – Comp. Based Arch. 40

12. ASP/JSP 40

13. MTS 25

14. Shell Script 35

15. Perl 40

16. Make 30

17. CVS 20

18. CORBA 30

19. High-end Animation Tools 50

20. Windows Development –OOAD 30

21. Interactive media design/navigation design/Information design 50

22. Macromedia flash development 25

23. Photoshop/Dreamweaver/Flash and other design tools 25

JOB-BASED COMPENSABLE FACTORS

Following are the job related compensable factors with their weight.

• Educational Qualification (5%) • Work Experience (10%) • Problem Solving (10%) • Decision Making (5%) • Communication (10%) • Team skills (10 %) • Complexity (10%) • Scope of Job (10%)

Based on our analysis of the job descriptions, we have defined a 5 point scale for each of these factors as follows:

Compensable

Factors

Degree

Educational

Qualification

High School/Diploma

Graduation Post

Graduation

Grad/PG +

MBA

Doctoral/Post

Doctoral

Work

Experience

None 0 – 2 2 – 4 4 – 6 6 - 8

Problem

Solving

Understands

Problems

Conceptualizes

Solution

Prepares

contingencies

Adapts to

changing

demands

Creates problem

recognition systems

Decision

making

Individual Intra-team Inter-team Single-

customer

account

Organization

Communication Minimal Gathers Info

only

Disseminates

info only

Two way

interaction

Complete

consultation

Team Skills Working in a

single team

Working in

multiple teams

Works in

multiple single

function and

cross-

functional

teams

Handles

multiple

single-

function

teams

Handles Multiple

teams, single

function and cross-

functional

Complexity Simple, routine Routine with

minimal of

new

functionalities

Substantial

number of

new

functionalities

High degree

of innovation

High degree of

innovation, research

and development

Scope of job Single activity Multiple

involving

single function

Multiple team

and single

function

Multiple

single team

and cross-

functional

teams

Multiple inter-

teams and cross-

functional

It may be noted that meeting customer specification and deadline are critical factors for any

project. But they have not been added in compensable factors for the reason that they will be

critical across all the jobs in the job family and so will not make any relative difference in the

worth of the job.

Based on these definitions, we have assigned degrees, which when weighed add up to a

total score as shown.

Job Title TechS

(30)

EQ

(5)

WE

(10)

PS

(10)

DM

(5)

CS

(10)

TS

(10)

CX

(10)

JS Total

(10) (100)

Senior Fellow

5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 490

Soft. User

Interface Arch.

3 4 4 4 5 4 5 5 4 395

Soft.

Interface

3 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 380

Visual Designer

3.5 4 3 3 4 3 4 4 4 355

Soft. Dvpt 2.5 4 1 2 2 1 4 3 4 255

Usability Eng.

1.5 4 1 1 1 2 4 2 4 210

LEGEND:

1. TechS – Technical or computer skill

2. EQ – Educational Qualification

3. WE – Work Experience

4. PS – Problem Solving

5. DM – Decision making

6. CS – Communication Skill

7. TS – Team Skill

8. CX –Complexity

9. JS – job Scope

For Skill the points have been determined by first summing up the weights for different

computer skills required and then dividing them by 700 which is the sum of weights for all the

computer skills. This gives us the scale which is then multiplied with 30 to get the points for

skill. For example for software user interface architect the summation of weights for different

computer skills required come out to 415. So the scale would be (415/700)*5=3.0. Hence the

points will be 3.0*30=90

For FastCat Employees working in engineering profiles, Computer Skills of the employee were

given the highest weight age amongst the compensable factors as the knowledge of these

would be critical in deciding the efficiency of the employee at work. The computer languages

and platforms were assigned different weights depending on their applicability by the

employee. Apart from technical skills, these employees need to possess certain competencies

like interpersonal and communication skills as their work also involves interaction with clients,

especially during the requirements analysis stage, and analytical and team skills besides others.

TECHNICAL

The technical job family at FastCat does the core technical work of the company. They should

be differentiated from the Engineering family of jobs which require higher skills and experience.

The technicians do the actual work of coding, testing, etc, while the Engineering family of jobs is

mostly related to high level designing, conceptualization, etc. This job family should have a skill

based pay, as in an employee in this category should be paid in accordance to the number of

skills possessed by him/her as that is vital to his contribution to the organization’s success.

The jobs under this job family are:

• Technician

• Technical Analyst A

• Technical Analyst B

• Senior Technician

TECHNICIAN

Category




and writing skills

4 10 40






Knowledge

25%

• Relevant work experience 0 0



prioritization

0 0 0




0 0 0



modeling knowledge

0 0 0

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

5 20 100


• Travel 0 0 0

Total 380

TECHNICAL ANALYST A

Category




and writing skills

5 5 25






Knowledge

25%




prioritization

0 5 0




0 0 0



modeling knowledge

0 0 0

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

5 15 75


• Travel 0 0 0

Total 395

TECHNICAL ANALYST B

Category




and writing skills

5 5 25






Knowledge

25%




prioritization

0 5 0




0 0 0



modeling knowledge

0 0 0

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

5 15 75


• Travel 0 0 0

Total 430

SENIOR TECHNICIAN

Category




and writing skills

5 5 25






Knowledge

25%




prioritization

4 5 20




0 0 0



modeling knowledge

5 5 25

Responsibility 25%




Nature of job 25%


handled

5 15 75


• Travel 0 0 0

Total 465

Over and above this job based model, we use a skill based model to determine the computer

proficiency of the employees of the technical family.

Skills Grade Technician Technical

Analyst A

Technical

Analyst B

Senior

Technician

VB 1 √ √ √

HTM/DHTML/XML 1 √ √ √

ASP 1 √ √ √

ADO/OLE-DB 1 √ √ √

Microsoft IIS 1 √ √ √

ActiveX/Com/DCOM 2 √ √

Java 3 √

Lotus Notes 3 √

ERP 3 √

Visual Test 1 √ √ √

SQA 1 √ √ √

Silk Performer 1 √ √ √

SQL Oracle 1 √ √ √

MS Access 1 √ √ √

Microsoft PC

Applications

1 √ √ √ √

Each of the jobs are then evaluated on the basis of the sum of the grade of that software skill

possessed multiplied by the number of core technical skills in that grade possessed by the

employee.

Group 6 WDA Phase (I)

Documents

Transcript of Group 6 WDA Phase (I)