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Project Quality Management
Knowledge Areas Major Processes desc. Primary Inputs Tools & Techniques Primary Outputs
Quality
Quality Planning Identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them. 1. Enterprise environmental factors
2. Organizational Process Assets
3. Project Scope Statement
4. Project Management Plan 		1. Cost-Benefit analysis
2. Benchmarking 3. Design of experiments
4. Cost of quality (COQ)
5. Additional quality Planning Tools		 1. Quality management plan
2. Quality Metrics
3. Quality Checklists
4. Process Improvement Plan
5. Quality Baseline
6. Project Management Plan (updates)
Perform Quality Assurance Applying the planned systematic quality activities to ensure that project employs all processes needed to meet requirements 1. Quality management plan
2. Quality Metrics
3. Process Improvement Plan
4. Work performance Information 5. Quality control Measurements 6. Approved Change Requests
7. Implemented Corrective Actions
8. Implemented Preventive Actions
9. Implemented Change Requests
10. Implemented Defect Repair 		1. Quality planning tools and techniques
2. Quality audits
3. Process analysis
4. Quality control tools and techniques 		1. Requested Changes
2. Corrective Actions
3. Organization process assets (updates)
4. Project management plan (updates)
Perform Quality Control Monitoring specific project results to determine whether they comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance. 1. Quality management plan
2. Quality Metrics
3. Quality Checklists
4. Organization process assets
5. Work performance Information
6. Approved Change Requests
7. Deliverables		 1. Cause and effect diagram
2. Control charts
3. Flow-charting
4. Histogram
5. Pareto chart
6. Run Chart
7. Scatter diagram
8. Statistical sampling
9. Inspection
10. Defect repair review		 1. Quality Control Measurements
2. Validated Defect Repair
3. Quality Base line (updates)
4. Recommended Corrective Actions
5. Recommended Preventive Actions
6. Requested Changes
7. Recommended Defect Repair
8. Organization process assets (updates)
9. Validated deliverables
10. Project management plan (updates)
Low grade (a limited number of features) - low quality (many bugs)
Precision – Consistency that the value of repeated measurements have little scatter. Precise measurements may not be accurate
Accurate – It correctness of measured value, accurate measurements may not be precise.

Quality - Is planned, designed and built in, not inspected in.

  • Joseph Juran – Quality - Fitness of Use
  • Edward Deming – Quality Improvement – Plan, Do, Check and Act
  • Philip Crosby – Quality – Conformance to requirements, Advocated Prevention over inspection and “Zero Effects
Quality Management –Complements Project Management. Both recognize the importance of Customer satisfaction, prevention over inspections, Management Responsibility and Continuous improvement.
Cost of quality - All work to ensure conformance to requirements + nonconformance to requirements.
Marginal Analysis – Optimal Quality is reached at the point where the increased revenue from improvement equal incremental cost to secure it
Quality Management Plan – Provides input to the overall project management plan and must address Quality Control, Quality Assurance and continues process improvement for the project. Peer review may not include individuals that worked on the material being reviewed.
Gold Plating – Giving Customers extras, it is not recommended
Quality Matrix – Defines what something is and how to measure it.
Process improvement Plan– Subsidiary of PMP, it details the steps for analyzing processes that will facilitate the identification of waste and non value added activity, it includes 1. Process boundaries 2.Process configuration 3.Process matrix 4.Targets for improved performance.
Quality Control Measurements – Results of QC activities that are fed back to QA to reevaluate and analyze the quality standards and processes for performing organization.

Seven Basic Tools of Quality –

1.Cause and Effect Diagram

2.Control Charts

3.Flowcharting

4.Histogram

5.Pareto Chart

6.Run Chart

7.Scatter Diagram
Design of experiments - is a statistical method that helps identify which factors might influence specific variables
Prevention (keeping errors out of the process) and inspection (keeping errors out of the hands of the customer).
Tolerances - (the result is acceptable if it falls within the range specified by the tolerance) and control limits (the process is in control if the result falls within the control limits).
Inspections - are variously called reviews, product reviews, audits, and walkthroughs; The process may be changed to provide improvements, but it should not be adjusted when it is in control.
Pareto Diagram – Histogram, ordered freq of occurrence, take corrective action & 80 prob/20 causes
Statistical sampling - 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.
Project Quality Management – processes required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
Quality is the conformance to requirements/specifications and to fitness of use.
Quality function deployment– provide better product definition and product development. Its main feature are to capture the customer’s requirements, ensure cross functional teamwork, and link the main phases of product development
Rework – action taken to bring a non-conforming item into compliance. Rework is a frequent cause of project overruns
Quality Variable A quality characteristic that is measurable
Quality Attribute A quality characteristic that is classified as either conforming or nonconforming
Benchmarking Comparing practices of other projects. Provides a standard to measure performance (time consuming). (e.g. investigating quality standards that other companies are using)
Statistical Analysis Involves determining the probability of an occurrence
Trend Analysis Uses mathematical techniques to forecast future outcomes based on historical results; used to measure technical, cost, and schedule performance
Quality Audit Structured review of other quality management activities performed to identify lessons learned (used for process improvement) Part of Quality Assurance. Provide management confidence that the project will satisfy relevant quality standards.
Inspection Prevent errors from reaching the customer before delivery to the customer. Can be done throughout product development.
Design of Experiments A technique to identify which variables have the most influence on overall outcomes (part of Quality Planning) (e.g. analyze the color/size combination that will contribute most to the functionality of the new product). Can be applied to cost and schedule tradeoffs.
Flow chart Help analyze how problems occurs
Attribute Sampling Measures whether or not the results conforms to specifications
Variable Sampling Are characteristic you want to measure (size, shape, weight, etc…). An attribute is what you are measuring. The result is rated on a continuous scale that measures the degree of conformity.
Assignable Causes Data point on a control chart that requires investigation
Specification Limit Shows customer’s expectations for quality (on a control chart)
Control Chart Help newly assigned project manager determine whether the project is out of control (in order to verify quality level). Can be used to monitor project management processes such as coscard, schedule variance, volume and frequency of scope changes, and errors in project documents.
Statistical Control Chart Are used to monitor process variations overtime. Help people understand and control their process work.
“Out of Control” Non-random points that are still within the upper and lower control limit
Upper and Lower Control Limit on a Control Chart Acceptable range of variation of a process. [These limits are set based on the company’s quality standards. The control limits are determined from data obtained from the process itself.]
Specification Limit Fixed by the customer
Pareto Diagram Used to show how results were generated, by type or category of identified cause
Ishikawa Made popular Pareto Chart, Cause-and-Effect Diagram and Control Chart
Taguchi Method Is used to estimate the loss associated with controlling or failing to control process variability. If you select good design parameters, you can produce products that are more forgiving and tolerant. The tool helps determine the value or break-even point of improving a process to reduce variability.
ISO 9000 Provides a basic set of requirements for a quality system, without specifying the particulars for implementation.
Checklists Used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed in quality control process
“Statistically Independent” Determine if problems are related before planning what to do about them
Mutually Exclusive If two events cannot both occur in a single trial (?)
Random Cause Normal process variation
Cause and Effect Diagram (Fishbone)

(1) Creative way to look at actual causes and potential causes of a problem

 (2) Process of constructing helps stimulate thinking about an issue; helps to organize thoughts; generates discussion

 (3) Used to explore a wide variety of topics

(4) Also known as Ishikawa or Fishbone diagram

Quality Planning Refers to potential problems. Although it usually occur during planning phase, it can occur during execution if there is a change.
Quality Control Refers to specific performance of a task (measuring quality and comparing results to the quality plan)
Quality Assurance Refers to overall quality requirements (standards) (e.g. evaluating overall project performance regularly)
Cost of Quality
Conformance Non-Conformance (most accurate)
Planning Scrap
Training Rework and repair
Process Control Additional Material
Design and process validation Repairs and service
Test and evaluation Complaints
Quality audits Liability
Maintenance and calibration Product recalls
Inspection Field service
Field testing Expediting

Impact of Poor Quality

      • Increased cost
      • Decreased productivity
      • Increased risk and uncertainty
      • Increased costs in monitoring
Goal of the cost of quality program should be 3 - 5% of total value.
Cost of non-quality is estimated to be 12 - 20% of sales.
Cost of Quality Includes Prevention Costs (training), Appraisals Costs (inspection/testing) and Internal (scrap, rework)/External (warranty) Failure costs
Management is 85% responsible for quality. The team member is ultimately responsible for quality management. The project manager is primarily responsible for quality management.
Two components of product availability are reliability and maintainability.
To effectively use statistical quality control, the project team should know the differences between special causes and random causes.
Sampling and probability are the most important topics to understand in statistical process control. Top management should direct continuous improvement
Quality control measurement are records of quality control testing and measurement in a format for comparison and analysis (input to quality assurance).
Documentation Quality Management Plan – describes method for implementing quality policy project quality system and organizational structures, responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources needed to implement project quality management
TQM – Total Quality Management Philosophy encourages companies and their employees to focus on finding ways to continuously improve quality of their business practices and products.
Process Analysis – Lessons learned in first few cases is used to improve the process on the remaining ones.
Standard Deviation – From 3 point Estimates = (P – O)/6
Six Sigma – Level of Quality. +/- 1 Sigma equal to 68.26%, which is percentage of occurrences to fall between the two control limits.
Rule of Seven – Based on Heuristics, seven random data points grouped together in a series with in control limit. It represents that they are not random and should be investigated.