18 Quality Management

Question 1

What is Quality Planning?

Answer 1

The process for establishing quality for a project.
- Involves taking the defined scope and listing the criteria to be sued to validate that the outputs are fit for purpose, and the methods that will be used to do this.

Question 2

Where can you find the quality plan?

Answer 2

Project Management Plan (PMP)

Question 3

What is included in the quality plan?

Answer 3

Regulations, standards, specifications and the agreed acceptance criteria.

Question 4

What does the quality plan guide?

Answer 4

Quality control and assurance activities and also confirms that outputs meet requirements.

Question 5

What does stakeholder agreement on the quality plan ensure?

Answer 5

• Support of a successful handover on project completion.
• It ensures what is being delivered by the project team achieves the outcomes of the business case and to the required standards.

Question 6

Four main components of a quality plan?

Answer 6

1. Methods of verifying that the outputs meet the requirements.
2. Pass/fail criteria for each method.
3. Frequency of the tests, checks or audits that are to be carried out.
4. Requirements for resources required to complete the activity in the quality plan.

Question 7

Define quality control.

Answer 7

Verifying compliance of the output to requirements.

Question 8

What is quality assurance?

Answer 8

Providing confidence that the right processes and methods have been used to deliver it.

Question 9

If in a project, at what level will quality requirements be planned and controlled?

Answer 9

Programme level.

Question 10

In an iterative lifecycle, when will the acceptance criteria be defined?

Answer 10

At each time period. It will then also be verified for the final product, once the project is delivered, to confirm the acceptance criteria have been met for the overarching outputs.

Question 11

What are the characteristics of quality control?

Answer 11

• Consists of inspection, measurement and testing to confirm project outputs meet acceptance criteria defined during quality planning.
• Focused on finding problems to prevent them from being passed onto the end customer.
• Can be performed by a member of the project team.
• Test plans agreed during quality planning need to be managed through change control, so any amends are agreed and communicated.
• Starts when physical outputs are to be tested against.
• Outputs are checked against a degree of conformance to the requirements and acceptance criteria. If non-conformance, decisions need to be made on what action is needed.
• Quality control as a process will provide a pass or fail result; there is nothing in between.

Question 12

What aspects are involved in test plans?

Answer 12

• Sample size of tests.
• Test protocols including resources required.
• Independent performance or witnessing of test results.

Question 13

What are the characteristics of quality assurance?

Answer 13

• Looks to build in quality using standard processes and procedures supported by training and feedback.
• Looks to maintain stakeholder confidence that a project has been delivered in the right way.
• Is performed by people independent to the project.
• To be effective, a framework with supporting documentation on how to do things and methods to use needs to be in place as a standard practice.
• To be applied as soon as the project commences management activity.
• In the event a deviation to standards is identified, a decision will need to made on what action to take.
• May not be followed fully, but can still deliver an acceptable output.