Quality Management

Question 1

what is quality?

Answer 1

meeting the customer’s requirements and fit-for-purpose applies to

• product (deliverables)
• project management processes (the fitness of purpose of the processes to meet the project objectives on time and within budget

Question 2

where is the quality plan?

Answer 2

the PMP

Question 3

what are the costs of quality?

Answer 3

prevention e.g. process and product design improvements; proactive identification of potential problems

Appraisal e.g. problem investigation, statistical testing Internal failure e.g. management time, scrapped material

External failure e.g. customer goodwill, warranty

Question 4

what is a quality (management) system?

Answer 4

the processes that govern all aspects of an organisation’s activities with respect to quality.

typically hierarchical and a given piece of work will be governed by overlapping proceses

every project manager should ensure a quality system is in place within their project and that this system is compatible with the organisation’s approach to quality

Question 5

quality planning

Answer 5

• developed as part of the PMP.
• focusses on procedures to ensure quality are determined
• procedures should be pragmatic, realistic and known and understood by those using them

Question 6

• what determines product quality?

Answer 6

• validation - building the deliverables according to needs, meeting requirements
• verification - building the deliverables according to the spec, the build quality

Question 7

What are the three approaches to quality management?

Answer 7

quality control

quality assurance

total quality management

Question 8

what is quality control?

Answer 8

• takes steps to identify and eliminate variations from quality standards when they occur
• checking and testing outcomes against expectation
• approach that corrects poor quality when it finds it

Question 9

• what is quality assurance?

Answer 9

• preventative approach
• avoids poor quality, takes steps to obtain good quality first time
• uses configuration management and proven approaches to quality e.g. standards

Question 10

Name some quality management techniques

Answer 10

check lists - process has predetermined check list to seek errors in the process process

flowcharts - flowchart shows where quality is judged and where there are quality gaps (things not being done) in a process

control chart - measures performance against the set quality standard for item against time - as long as an item lies within the upper and lower limits, it is in control

Question 11

what is the bathtub curve?

Answer 11

items have different probabilities of failure at different stages. e.g. lightbulb has high probability of failing when it is first plugged in. If it survives, it has much lower probability of failing for a while, until it wears out. then probability of failure increases

Question 12

what is pareto analysis?

Answer 12

method of analysing problems states that 80% of the impact of the problem will show up in 20% of the causes distinguish the vital few and focus on them, not the trivial many. i.e. focus on the causes that make the most defects

Question 13

what is TQM?

Answer 13

• holistic approach to quality management that emphasises the role of all parts of an organisation and all people within it to influence and improve quality.
• key principles;
• understand needs and expectations of customers
• every level of organisation focusses on satisfying customer needs, may be done through service level agreements
• prevention, get it right first time

Question 14

A Quality Plan for a project should be which of the following?

Select one:

A. Closely linked to the deliverables identified in the product breakdown structure to assure their performance and reliability.

B. Accredited to ISO standards to ensure the integrity and viability of the quality management system.

C. Part of the project plan.

D. A process for ensuring that performance specifications are achieved.

Answer 14

c. Part of the project plan