Quality touches virtually every piece of the project, so this term is very important.

Its very easy to think

about Quality of a Product but that much difficult to care for Quality of the processes which will be
used to meet the requirements. In fact how something is carried out is as much important as the end
results.

Until few years ago the approach of the quality is relied heavily upon INSPECTION & now the
approach is shifting towards Prevention rather than Repair since it cost more to fix an error than it
does to prevent one.

Keep in mind you can never inspect Quality into product, but you can deliberately plan for it from
beginning.

PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Project Quality Management includes the processes for incorporating the organization’s quality policy
regarding planning, managing, and controlling project and product quality requirements in order to
meet client objectives. Project Quality Management also supports continuous process improvement
activities as undertaken on behalf of the performing organization.

What are the different phases in project quality management? 

Project quality management consists of three major processes:-

1. Quality management planning: This involves identifying the quality requirements and

standards for the project and product. The goal of the project quality management should be clearly
shared with all interested parties /stakeholders, and appropriate tasks should be delegated to those
responsible.
2. Quality assurance (Manage Quality) : This involves auditing the quality requirements and
quality control results to ensure appropriate quality standards are used. When standards are not met
or goals aren’t achieved, necessary steps and corrective actions should be employed to fix these
issues.
3. Quality control: This involves monitoring and recording the results of quality activities to
assess performance and recommend necessary changes.

What is the definition of “quality” in “project quality management”? 

The definition of quality is central to understand these three processes. To be able to define quality,
you need to be clear about the following terms:

 Validation: assurance that the product meets the agreed-upon needs

 Verification: compliance with requirements
 Precision: How close the measurements to each other.
 Accuracy: How close the measurements to the true value
 Tolerance: range of acceptable results

Well, now look at these processes in detail-

Plan Quality Management—The process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the
project and its deliverables, and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with
quality requirements and/ or standards.

The Plan Quality Management process is concerned with the quality that the work needs to have.
Manage Quality is concerned with managing the quality processes throughout the project. During the
Manage Quality process, quality requirements identified during the Plan Quality Management process
are turned into test and evaluation instruments, which are then applied during the Control Quality
process to verify these quality requirements are met by the project. Control Quality is concerned with
comparing the work results with the quality requirements to ensure the result is acceptable
Meeting customer requirements by overworking the project team may result in decreased profits and
increased levels of overall project risks, employee attrition, errors, or rework.

Meeting project schedule objectives by rushing planned quality inspections may result in undetected
errors, decreased profits, and increased post-implementation risks.

Quality Assurance (MANAGE QUALITY) -

Manage Quality is the process of translating the quality management plan into executable quality
activities that incorporate the organization’s quality policies into the project.

The key benefits of this process are that it increases the probability of meeting the quality objectives
as well as identifying ineffective processes and causes of poor quality.

Manage Quality uses the data and results from the control quality process to reflect the overall quality
status of the project/ Product to the client.

Manage Quality is sometimes called quality assurance. Quality assurance involves following and
meeting standards to assure stakeholders that the final product will meet their needs, expectations,
and requirements. Manage Quality includes all the quality assurance activities, and is also concerned
with the product design aspects and process improvements.

Techniques used in Quality Assurance –

Document analysis:-The analysis of different documents produced as part of the output of Quality
control processes, such as quality reports, test reports & performance reports can point to on
processes that may be out of control and may jeopardize meeting the specified requirements

Process analysis:- Process analysis identifies opportunities for process improvements. This analysis
also examines problems, constraints, and non-value-added activities that occur during a process.

Root cause analysis (RCA):- Root cause analysis is an analytical technique used to determine the
basic underlying reason that causes a variance, defect. A root cause may underlie more than one
variance or defect. It may also be used as a technique for identifying root causes of a problem and
solving them. When all root causes for a problem are removed, the problem does not recur.

Affinity diagrams:- Affinity diagrams can organize potential causes of defects into groups showing
areas that should be focused on the most.

Cause-and-effect diagrams :- Cause-and-effect diagrams are also known as fishbone diagrams,

why-why diagrams, or Ishikawa diagrams. This type of diagram breaks down the causes of the
problem statement identified into discrete branches, helping to identify the main or root cause of the
problem.

Flowcharts - Flowcharts show a series of steps that lead to a defect.

Histograms – Histogram’s show a graphical representation of numerical data. Histograms can show
the number of defects per Product / deliverable, a ranking of the cause of defects, the number of
times each process is non-compliant.

Scatter diagrams (Correlation Chart) - A scatter diagram is a graph that shows the relationship
between two variables. Scatter diagrams can demonstrate a relationship between any element of a
process, environment, or activity on one axis and a quality defect on the other axis.

Audits - An audit is a structured, independent process used to determine if project activities comply
with organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures.

Design for X- Design for X (DfX) is a set of technical guidelines that may be applied during the design
of a product for the optimization of a specific aspect of the design. DfX can control or even improve
the product’s final characteristics. The X in DfX can be different aspects of product development, such
as reliability, deployment, assembly, manufacturing, cost, service, usability, safety, and quality. Using
the DfX may result in cost reduction, quality improvement, better performance, and customer
satisfaction.
Problem Solving - Problem solving entails finding solutions for issues or challenges. It can include
gathering additional information, critical thinking, quantitative and logical approaches. Effective and
systematic problem solving is a fundamental element in quality assurance and quality improvement.
Problems can arise as a result of the Control Quality process or from quality audits and can be
associated with a process or deliverables. Using a structured problem-solving method will help
eliminate the problem and develop a long-lasting solution.

Problem-solving methods generally include the following elements:

Defining the problem,
Identifying the root-cause,
Generate possible solutions,
Choosing the best solution,
Implementing the solution,
Verifying solution

Quality Control —The process of monitoring and recording the results of executing the quality
management activities to assess performance and ensure the project outputs are complete, correct,
and meet customer expectations.

The Control Quality process is performed to measure the completeness, compliance, and fitness for
purpose of a product or service prior to user acceptance and final delivery. This is done by measuring
all steps, attributes, and variables used to verify conformance or compliance to the specifications
stated during the planning stage.

Quality Control Techniques –

Checklists - Checklists help in managing the control quality activities in a structured manner.

Statistical sampling - Statistical sampling involves randomly selection of samples /Parts from a lot
for inspection (for example, selecting 10 pipe fittings (WNRF) at random from a lot of 100). The
sample is taken to measure controls and verify quality. Sample frequency and sizes should be
determined during the Plan Quality Management process.

Performance reviews- Performance reviews measure, compare, and analyse the quality metrics
defined by the Quality Management Plan against the actual results.

Root-cause analysis (RCA) - Root cause analysis is used to identify the source of defects.

Inspection - An inspection is the examination of a work, product to determine if it conforms to

documented standards. Inspections may be called reviews, peer reviews, audits, or walkthroughs.

Testing / Product Evaluation -Testing is an organized investigation conducted to provide objective

information about the quality of the product or service under test in accordance with the client
requirements. The intent of testing is to find errors, defects or other non-conformity in the product. The
type, amount, and extent of tests needed to evaluate each requirement is part of the project quality
plan and depend on the nature of the project, time, budget, and other constraints. Tests can be
performed throughout the project and at the end of the project before the final deliverable shipment.
Early testing helps identify non-conformance problems and helps reduce the cost of fixing the
nonconforming components

There are five levels of effective quality management :-

1. Usually, the most expensive approach is to let the customer find the defects. This approach
can lead to warranty issues, recalls, loss of reputation, and rework costs.
2. Detect and correct the defects before the deliverables are sent to the customer as part of the
quality control process.
3. Use quality assurance to examine and correct the process itself and not just DEFECT’s / Non
-Conformance.
4. Incorporate quality into the planning and designing of the project and product.
5. Create a culture throughout the organization that is aware and committed to quality in
processes and products.
TRENDS AND EMERGING PRACTICES IN PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Modern quality management approaches seek to minimize variation and to deliver results that meet
defined customer requirements. Trends in Project Quality Management include but are not limited to:
Customer satisfaction - Understand, evaluate, define, and manage requirements so that customer
expectations are met. This requires a combination of conformance to requirements (to ensure the
project produces what it was created to produce) and fitness for use (the product or service needs to
satisfy the real needs).

Continual improvement - The plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle is the basis for quality improvement
as defined by Shewhart and modified by Deming. In addition, quality improvement initiatives such as
total quality management (TQM), Six Sigma, and Lean Six Sigma may improve both the quality of
project management, as well as the quality of the end product, service, or result.

Management responsibility- Success requires the participation of the whole organisational mebers /
Team. Management retains, within its responsibility for quality, a related responsibility to provide
suitable resources at adequate capacities.

Mutually beneficial partnership with suppliers - An organization and its suppliers are
interdependent. Relationships based on partnership and cooperation with the supplier is more
beneficial to the organization and to the suppliers than traditional supplier management. The
organization should prefer long-term relationships over short-term gains. A mutually beneficial
relationship enhances the ability for both the organization and the suppliers to create value for each
other, enhances the joint responses to customer needs and expectations, and optimizes costs and
resources.

https://asq.org/quality-resources/seven-basic-quality-tools