Question

explain what is meant by the following quality terms in project management and give relevant examples

a) Quality Assurance

b) Quality Systems

c) Quality Control

d) Quality Plan

e) TQM

Answer 1

ANS :A : QUALITY ASSURANCE

Project quality assurance is one out of three parts of a larger project quality system that ensures the project deliverables meet the planned quality standards. ... Normally called QA, it is the process of auditing and analyzing the systems which produce a product in order to improve their quality.

Quality simply means fitness to use and conformance to requirements. Quality Assurance (QA) focuses on the processes utilized in the project efficiently to generate quality project deliverables. It includes the following meeting standards, progressive enhancing project work and eliminating project defects.

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Quality Assurance assures the quality of the product meaning that this process ensures that the product generated from the process is defect free and conforms to all stated customer requirements. It is said to be a process-based approach whose primary objective is to prevent defects in deliverables at the planning stage to avoid rework, which increases process costs.

Tools used in the Quality Assurance Process

There are fundamentally three tools utilized in quality management – process analysis, quality audit, and quality management and control tools. In process analysis, one analyses the process to spot any enhancements, find the root cause of any problem that comes up, and recognize any non-value added activities.

In , Quality Audit, a panel of external experts come and review the process and procedures. If they discover any discrepancies, they will recommend corrective action or an enhancement in the process. It is an excellent tool to ensure the best practice and approved procedures are being followed.

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Quality management and control tools include different diagrammatic techniques which aid in discovering ideas, help make decisions, and prioritize issues.

The Benefits of Quality Assurance and Quality Control

The following are few benefits of these processes:

• High quality output
• Eliminate waste or in the very least minimize waste
• Increase the efficiency of operations by a large factor
• Offer customer satisfaction, which positively affects your brand and helps individuals and organizations grow their business
• Less rework and after-sale support is needed. This will aid one save a lot of money
• Promote high levels of confidence and a motivated team

· The Quality Assurance Activities is an article of the Quality Management Section in the Project Implementation Guide. It explains the three kinds of activities to aid the Project Manager and the quality team to formulate a quality assurance plan template, audit quality performance and review project activities, procedures and processes.

Examples of quality assurance activities include process checklists, process standards, process documentation and project audit.

ANS : B : QUALITY SYSTEMS

A “Quality System” is your organization’s blueprint: it identifies your business model and processes, provides details about how your people will work together to get things done, and establishes specifications for performance — so you can tell if you’re on track… or not.

According to the ASQ glossary, a quality management system (QMS, alternatively “quality system”) is a mechanism for managing and continuously improving core processes to “achieve maximum customer satisfaction at the lowest overall cost to the organization”. By bringing together philosophies, standards, methodologies and tools, the QMS helps an organization achieve its quality-related goals.

A quality system is a specific implementation of quality philosophies/concepts, standards, methodologies and tools, for the purpose of achieving quality-related goals. When implemented, a quality system will be unique to an organization. Its structure, however, may be similar to quality systems in other organizations (for example, if all ISO 9001 clauses are addressed).

Components of a Quality System

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) prescribes a minimum standard for the elements of a QMS through ISO 9001:2000. (This part did not change in ISO 9001:2015).

To build an ISO 9001 compliant QMS, you need to: [1]

§ Identify and map processes (administrative, organizational, operational)

§ Determine how processes are interrelated (that is, identify and map cross-cutting activities that span organizational boundaries)

§ Plan for operations and control of these processes, recognizing that the conditions and specifications for control of each of the processes may be different from one another,

§ Plan for dynamically allocating resources to accommodate the demands of the operations and control of these processes,

§ Apply systems thinking and describe the environment that your interdependent processes are embedded within,

§ Identify mechanisms to measure, monitor, analyze and continuously improve the processes in the context of the organization and its environment

§ Establish an Action Plan for proactively deploying the QMS through the organization, and

§ Ensure that Records are kept that track compliance to the QMS and changes that are made to the QMS itself.

Where Do I Start?

The July 2003 issue of Quality Progress [2] included all of the following under the banner of “quality systems”:

§ ISO 9001

§ Ford Motor Co.’s quality operating system

§ Lean

§ Six Sigma

§ Lean and Six Sigma combined

§ systems thinking

§ complexity theory

§ the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria, and

§ combinations of methods and unique approaches.

ANS : C : QUALITY CONTROL

Quality control is essential to building a successful business that delivers products that meet or exceed customers' expectations. It also forms the basis of an efficient business that minimizes waste and operates at high levels of productivity

QUALITY CONTROL IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Control quality involves activities used to evaluate whether the product or service meets quality requirements that are specified for the project. Quality control is very crucial in project management because it ensures that everything is within the scope of the project planning.

QUALITY CONTROL TOOLS & TECHNIQUES:

Some of the tools and techniques you can use to perform quality control include...

• Cause and Effect Diagram (Fishbone Diagram)
• Control Chart
• Flow Chart
• Pareto Chart
• Histogram
• Run Chart
• Scatter Diagram
• Statistical Sampling
• Inspection

For some of these tools, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of sampling and probability.

These quality control tools and techniques can help you in three ways...

• Confirm that your project is meeting the quality standards
• Provide a basis for corrective action
• Provide feedback about your quality assurance process

Examples of quality control activities include inspection, deliverable peer reviews and the software testing process

ANS : D : QUALITY PLAN

A project quality plan (PQP), sometimes referred to as a quality management plan, quality assurance plan or project quality management plan, is a project-specific quality plan that describes the activities, standards, tools and processes necessary to achieve quality in the delivery of a project

Quality is meeting or exceeding expectations of stakeholders. Quality is of paramount significance to the customer. Hence it is most important to ensure that the final deliverables from the project are quality deliverables. All the deliverables must meet the expected and stated standards and requirements, initially set out at the beginning of the project. Quality management is all about managing the quality of the project deliverables throughout the project lifecycle on a continuous basis.

Quality management is achieved through quality control and quality assurance activities. For that we need to develop a quality management plan. Project quality management plan will identify the relevant quality standards and requirements which the project deliverables need to fulfil and devising a plan for how to meet these requirements.

Project quality is not only the quality of the final deliverables, but also the quality of the processes those will be used to develop the product. It is about delivering a defect free product developed with maximum efficiency. Quality management plan will address both how to make a defect free product and also using the processes most efficiently.

We are listing below the suggested information to be captured in a quality management plan. The project quality plan should:

• Describe the project objectives and the quality expectations.
• Identify the organisation’s quality policies (for example, if they are ISO 9001 certified) and describe how these policies will apply to the project.
• Identify other quality criteria or policies that may need to be followed, such as the requirements of clients or investors.
• Describe how quality requirements will percolate down through the procurement and supply chain.
• Define the acceptance criteria for the project deliverables
• Define quality management roles and responsibilities.
• Identify the standards that will apply.
• Identify and list the quality metrics those need to be tracked.
• Describe monitoring and reporting procedures and the process for delivering continuous improvement.
• Describe the design and review procedures
• Describe the development procedures and processes
• Describe the testing and quality assurance procedures
• Describe procedures for dealing with defects.
• Describe the project acceptance processes and procedures
• Describe the quality audit procedures and plan
• Describe document control procedures.
• Describe change control procedures.
• Set out any quality training requirements.

While developing the quality management plan with above information, we need not duplicate any information. Any of the above information, if already defined, then we can use them with reference.

Conclusion

Quality Management plan is an integral part of the overall project management plan. It describes the project quality objectives clearly and lays down the detailed procedure for how to achieve and fulfil the quality objective of the project.

Quality Plan Example

Its quality plan consists of applicable procedures (describing the production process and responsibilities), applicable workmanship standards, the measurement tolerances acceptable, the description of the material standards, and so forth. These may all be separate documents.

ANS : E : TQM

· Total Quality Management (TQM) Total quality management (TQM) is a project management technique or strategy that is implemented to assure that an awareness of quality is embedded in all phases of the project from conception to completion.

· Total Quality Management (TQM) is a methodology derived from Japanese industry. This method of quality control has been around since the 1950s. Like Six Sigma and other quality control methodologies, TQM is customer-based. In other words, the methodology looks to customers to define quality. Also, TQM depends upon a hierarchy; those in the top managerial positions of a company must implement and model TQM principles for employees. Finally, improvement is seen as a continuous, not a static, state of affairs. Each member of a team running TQM strives to consistently improve the product or service.

Principles and Key Components

Total Quality Management contains its own system of productivity tools. The first three principles of TQM are as follows:

§ It requires everyone in the company to be completely involved and it covers all company activities.

§ It requires that the standards are set by customers, and that all practices conform to those requirements.

§ It requires that quality is monitored and controlled for optimum results.

There are ten steps to total quality management. These ten steps are:

1. New strategic thinking must be pursued. A great way to do this is to use brainstorming tools to come up with solutions to perceived problems.

2. Know your customers - you must research their needs. Create a survey, gather the data, and determine who your customers are.

3. Quality requirements will be set by your customers’ requirements for quality.

4. Prevention is key - correction costs too much money. By preventing quality problems in the future, the quality improvement process is more streamlined and less costly.

5. Reduce waste and sources of waste - this step is held in common with principles from Lean Six Sigma. Waste is anything that does not contribute to the immediate needs of the project.

6. The improvement strategy that your company pursues should be continuous. It would not make sense to start a quality improvement project only to quit after small successes.

7. Improve processes through use of a structured methodology. By following a structure, you can minimize time figuring out how to improve processes or when to improve processes.

8. Reduce any variation in your products or services.

9. Balance your approach - make sure that one sector isn’t receiving more attention than others.

10. Apply the quality improvement process to all functions.

Finally, you should be familiar with the process improvement sequence, known as PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Action):

§ Plan - Planning a change in your company’s processes involves three steps: First you must define the problem, then you must identify possible causes for the problem. Finally, you should evaluate possible causes through performing cause/effect analyses of the different problems that may arise.

§ Do - In this step, you implement the identified change.

§ Check - Gather data on the observed effects of the change. Determine what worked in the implementation process and what didn’t work.

§ Action - Ensure that the improvement is implemented in the process for the future.

Applying TQM Strategies

Total Quality Management lends itself well as a project management methodology. This process improvement strategy can help you to increase productivity and it benefits the quality of the products you offer customers and clients. The PDCA process lends itself well to project management methodology. By combining PDCA with the steps of planning a project, the likelihood of quality improvement success goes up. Finally, by creating a project charter, schedule, milestones, etc. for the TQM improvements being implemented, project managers can ensure that common project mistakes are thwarted.

One of the most famous examples of quality management is Toyota. Toyota implemented Kanban System to make its assembly line more efficient. The company decided to keep just enough inventories to fulfill customer orders as they were generated