Quality assurance includes all the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project.
Another goal of quality assurance is continuous quality improvement.
Benchmarking generates ideas for quality improvements by comparing specific project practices or product characteristics to those of other projects or products within or outside the performing organization.
A quality audit is a structured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects.
Table 8-1. Table of Contents for a Quality Assurance Plan* *U.S. Department of Energy 1.0 Draft Quality Assurance Plan 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Purpose 1.3 Policy Statement 1.4 Scope 2.0 Management 2.1 Organizational Structure 2.2 Roles and Responsibilities 2.2.1 Technical Monitor/Senior Management 2.2.2 Task Leader 2.2.3 Quality Assurance Team 2.2.4 Technical Staff 3.0 Required Documentation 4.0 Quality Assurance Procedures 4.1 Walkthrough Procedure 4.2 Review Process 4.2.1 Review Procedures 4.3 Audit Process 4.3.1 Audit Procedures 4.4 Evaluation Process 4.5 Process Improvement 5.0 Problem Reporting Procedures 5.1 Noncompliance Reporting Procedures 6.0 Quality Assurance Metrics Appendix Quality Assurance Checklist Forms
Six Sigma is “a comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining, and maximizing business success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes.”*
*Pande, Peter S., Robert P. Neuman, and Roland R. Cavanagh, The Six Sigma Way , New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000, p. xi.
Table 8-4: Six Sigma Conversion Table The Six Sigma convention for determining defects is based on the above conversion table. It accounts for a 1.5 sigma shift to measure the number of defects per million opportunities instead of the number of defects per unit .
A control chart is a graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time. It helps prevent defects and allows you to determine whether a process is in control or out of control.
The seven run rule states that if seven data points in a row are all below the mean, above the mean, or are all increasing or decreasing, then the process needs to be examined for non-random problems.
A control chart is a graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time.
The main use of control charts is to prevent defects, rather than to detect or reject them.
Quality control charts allow you to determine whether a process is in control or out of control.
When a process is in control, any variations in the results of the process are created by random events; processes that are in control do not need to be adjusted.
When a process is out of control, variations in the results of the process are caused by non-random events; you need to identify the causes of those non-random events and adjust the process to correct or eliminate them.
Watts S. Humphrey, a renowned expert on software quality, defines a software defect as anything that must be changed before delivery of the program.
Testing does not sufficiently prevent software defects because:
The number of ways to test a complex system is huge.
Users will continue to invent new ways to use a system that its developers never considered.
Humphrey suggests that people rethink the software development process to provide no potential defects when you enter system testing; developers must be responsible for providing error-free code at each stage of testing.
Level 1: Initial - Characterized by an immature software organization in which the software process is ad hoc and often reactive to crises. Does not have a stable environment for software projects, and success of a project rests largely with the people on the project and not the processes that they follow.
Level 4: Managed - Quantitative metrics for measuring and assessing productivity and quality are established for both software products and processes which are characterized as being quantifiable and predictable.
Level 5: Optimizing- At the highest level of software process maturity, the whole organization is focused on continuous process improvement.
A performed process is a process that satisfies the specific goals of the process area. It supports and enables the work needed to produce identified output work products using identified input work products.
A critical distinction between an incomplete process and a performed process is that a performed process satisfies all of the specific goals of the process area.
A managed process is a performed (capability level 1) process that is also planned and executed in accordance with policy, employs skilled people having adequate resources to produce controlled outputs, involves relevant stakeholders; is monitored, controlled, and reviewed; and is evaluated for adherence to its process description.
The process may be instantiated by an individual project, group, or organizational function.
Management of the process is concerned with the institutionalization of the process area and the achievement of other specific objectives established for the process, such as cost, schedule, and quality objectives.
At the defined capability level, the organization is interested indeploying standard processes that are proven and that therefore take less time and money than continually writing and deploying new processes. Because the process descriptions, standards, and procedures are tailored from the organization's set of standard processes and related organizational process assets, defined processes are appropriately consistent across the organization.
An optimizing process focuses on continually improving the process performance through both incremental and innovative technological improvements.
Process improvements that would address root causes of process variation and measurably improve the organization’s processes are identified, evaluated, and deployed as appropriate.
These improvements are selected based on a quantitative understanding of their expected contribution to achieving the organization’s process-improvement objectives versus the cost and impact to the organization.
The process performance of the organization’s processes is continually improved.
A maturity level is a well-defined evolutionary plateau of process improvement.
There are five maturity levels.
Each level is a layer in the foundation for continuous process improvement using a proven sequence of improvements, beginning with basic management practices and progressing through a predefined and proven path of successive levels.
PMI released the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) in December 2003.
Model is based on market research surveys sent to more than 30,000 project management professionals and incorporates 180 best practices and more than 2,400 capabilities, outcomes, and key performance indicators.
Addresses standards for excellence in project, program, and portfolio management best practices and explains the capabilities necessary to achieve those best practices.
Using Software to Assist in Project Quality Management
Spreadsheet and charting software helps create Pareto diagrams, fishbone diagrams, and so on.
Statistical software packages help perform statistical analysis.
Specialized software products help manage Six Sigma projects or create quality control charts.
Project management software helps create Gantt charts and other tools to help plan and track work related to quality management.