ITPM - project quality management

Project Quality Management

Includes the processes required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.

Quality Planning

Identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them.

Quality Assurance

Evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.

Quality Control

Monitoring specific project results to determine if they comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance.

Quality policy

The overall intentions and direction of an organization with regard to quality, as formally expressed by top management.

Scope statement

Documents major project deliverables as well as the project objectives which serve to define important stakeholder requirements.

Product description

Often contains details of technical issues and other concerns that may affect quality planning.

Standards and regulations

Application-area-specific requirements that may affect the project.

Benefit/Cost Analysis

The quality planning process must consider benefit/cost trade-offs.

Benchmarking

Involves comparing actual or planned project practices to those of other projects in order to generate ideas for improvement.

Flowcharting

Any diagram that shows how various elements of a system relate.

Design of experiments

An analytical technique which helps identify which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome.

Quality Management Plan

Describes how the project management team will implement its quality policy.

Operational Definitions

Describes, in very specific terms, what something is, and how it is measured by the quality control process.

Checklists

A structured tool used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed.

Quality Audits

A structured review of other quality management activities.

Quality Improvement

Includes taking action to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the project to provide added benefits to the project stakeholders.

Inspection

Activities such as measuring, examining, and testing undertaken to determine whether results conform to requirements.

Control Charts

A graphic display of the results, over time, of a process.

Pareto Diagrams

A histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence, that shows how many results were generated by type or category of identified cause.

Statistical Sampling

Involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.

Trend Analysis

Involves using mathematical techniques to forecast future outcomes based on historical results.

Acceptance Decisions

The items inspected will be either accepted or rejected.

Rework

Action taken to bring a defective or non-conforming item into compliance with requirements or specifications.

Completed Checklists

When checklists are used, the completed checklists should become part of the project’s records.

Process Adjustments

Involve immediate corrective or preventive action as a result of quality control measurements.

Quality

The totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.

Grade

A category or rank given to entities having the same functional use but different requirements for quality.

Difference between quality and grade

Low quality is always a problem; low grade may not be.

Example of high quality and low grade

A software product with no obvious bugs and a readable manual, but a limited number of features.

Example of low quality and high grade

A software product with many bugs and poorly organized documentation, but numerous features.

Responsibility for quality and grade

Determining and delivering the required levels of both quality and grade are the responsibilities of the project manager and the project management team.

Customer satisfaction

Understanding, managing, and influencing needs so that customer expectations are met or exceeded.

Two components of customer satisfaction

Conformance to specifications and fitness for use.

Prevention over inspection

The cost of avoiding mistakes is always much less than the cost of correcting them.

Management responsibility

Success requires the participation of all members of the team, but it remains the responsibility of management to provide the resources needed to succeed.

Processes within phases

The repeated plan-do-check-act cycle described by Deming and others is highly similar to the combination of phases and processes.

Cause-And-Effect Diagrams

Also called Ishikawa diagrams or fishbone diagrams, which illustrate how various causes and subcauses relate to create potential problems or effects.

System or process flowcharts

Show how various elements of a system interrelate. Flowcharting can help the project team anticipate what and where quality problems might occur and develop approaches to dealing with them.

Results of Quality Control Measurements

Records of quality control testing and measurement in a format for comparison and analysis.

Prevention vs. Inspection

Prevention means keeping errors out of the process; inspection means keeping errors out of the hands of the customer.

Attribute sampling vs. Variables sampling

Attribute sampling means the result conforms or it does not; variables sampling means the result is rated on a continuous scale that measures the degree of conformity.

Special causes vs. Random causes

Special causes are unusual events; random causes are normal process variation.

Tolerances vs. Control limits

Tolerances mean the result is acceptable if it falls within the range specified by the tolerance; control limits mean the process is in control if the result falls within the control limits.

Work results

Include both process results and product results. Information about the planned or expected results should be available along with information about the actual results.

Technical Performance

How many errors or defects have been identified, how many remain uncorrected.

Cost and Schedule Performance

How many activities per period were completed with significant variances.

Acceptance Decisions

38. The items inspected will be either accepted or rejected. Rejected items may require rework.