Raya Software awarded prestigious Advanced Global Certification for Quality Assurance in Software Development

For Raya Software, a subsidiary of Raya Holding, one of the largest IT and Telecommunications companies in the Middle East, the certification is an important step towards enhancing its competitive edge in the global and regional markets.

Raya Holding celebrated the achievement and its contribution to the IT industry in the Middle East recently at a high profile event in Cairo. The event was attended by Dr. Tarek Kamel Minster of Communication & Information Technology and Dr. Ahmed Darwish Minister of Administration Development, of the Government of Egypt.

"Software development has a promising future in Egypt. As a country with a large talent pool of IT professionals and a vibrant IT market, the emergence of a globally competitive Egyptian company is a natural development. However, to achieve this position, it has been a process of consciously choosing the path of internationally recognised best quality practices," explained Medhat Khalil, Chairman and CEO, Raya Holding. "Raya Software's journey to achieving CMMi Certification began two years ago, and was spawned from a business process improvement initiative. The Certification was achieved in half the targeted time and with no turbulences to the day to day business of the organization. This Certification is, therefore, an important recognition from a global institution of Raya Software's qualitative excellence for the global markets."

Developed by the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI), CMMi is recognised as the leading global recognition of quality assurance in all aspects of software development. The CMMi replaces legacy CMM certificates, by incorporating the pre-requisites of all the old criteria into the new certification. Consequently CMM certificates are in final stage of being phased out. Understanding the fact that a key element of achieving strategic success was the adoption and accreditation to the industry's best practices, Raya Software opted for the CMMi Certification.

After putting the requisite quality assurance processes in place, Raya Software underwent a rigorous screening process through the Quality Assurance Institute - Middle East and Africa (QAI-MEA), a well established and internationally renowned organization in the field of quality and process improvements. Having certified software companies in India, China, Philippines, Hong Kong and Australia, QAI-MEA has put in place extremely stringent quality measurement systems.

The screening process, called the Class "A" appraisal, was conducted between August 26th and September 2nd 2004. Through out the process, 90 % of the documented management systems of Raya Software were tested, although the SEI requires the testing of only 70% of the processes to award the certification. During the testing about 90% of Raya Software functions were examined, in comparison to the 50% required. More than 30% employees were interviewed, exceeding the 20% benchmark. 5 of the projects of Raya Software were appraised for total quality standards, once again exceeding the pre-requisite number of 4.

"Achieving the CMMi Level 3 Certification is only the beginning. With the benefits realized through the process of preparations and appraisal, we are already at work drafting action plans to acquire CMMi Level 4 and Level 5 Certifications," said Sameh Montasser, Vice President, Information Technology, Raya Holding. "We believe in the talent and commitment of our Human Capital; and our vision is to set new quality standards in software development."