Project Management for the real world.

PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Materials in this course are based on the text, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®
Guide), Sixth Edition, published by the Project Management Institute, Inc. © 2017.

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 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 stakeholders’ objectives.

*These definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project
Management Institute, Inc., 2017.

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 Process 1: Plan Quality Management

*Plan Quality is 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.

*Quality is the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements.

*Grade is a category or rank used to distinguish items that have the same functional use
but do not share the same requirements for quality.

Different grades reflect different features or technical characteristics. Low grade may not
be a problem, but poor quality is always a problem.

Voice of the Customer (VOC) refers to a technique for capturing all customer
requirements for the
product, service, or result which should be included as part of the project

The Quality Knowledge Area for the PMP exam is one of the most important Knowledge Areas.
Expect 25 - 30 Quality questions.

*These definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project
Management Institute, Inc., 2017.

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 Process 1: Plan Quality Management

• Benchmarking provides a basis for measuring performance. It involves

comparisons with other organizations or other projects to identify best practices and
generate ideas for improvement.

Data Analysis techniques include Cost-Benefit Analysis and Cost of Quality (COQ).

• Cost-Benefit Analysis is an analysis of tradeoffs of the costs and expected

benefits of quality activities (e.g., less rework, higher productivity, lower costs,
increased stakeholder satisfaction, increased profitability)
• Cost of Quality (COQ) is analyzed to determine the optimal cost required to ensure
good quality both within and beyond the project. COQ includes the total cost of both
conformance and nonconformance efforts associated with a product’s life cycle:

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 Process 1: Plan Quality Management

• Cost of Conformance is the cost incurred to achieve good quality (so failures can be
avoided). The two categories are:

• Prevention Costs (e.g., training, documentation, design, equipment)

• Appraisal Costs (e.g., auditing, inspecting, testing, measuring)

• Cost of Nonconformance (Cost of Poor Quality) is the cost incurred if poor

quality is produced. The two categories are:

• Internal Failure Costs within the project (e.g., rework, scrap)

• External Failure Costs (e.g., warranty issues, lost business, liabilities)

Important outputs of the Plan Quality Management process are:

• Quality Management Plan describes how the quality objectives for the project will be
met, including how the organization’s quality policy will be implemented.
• Quality Metrics describe specific details of project or product attributes and how the
Control Quality process will measure those attributes to verify compliance.

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 Process 1: Plan Quality Management

Figure 6-2: Plan Quality Management—Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK ®
Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Figure 8-3, Page 277.

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 Process 2: 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 Manage Quality process is responsible for quality assurance activities and activities that
identify ineffective project processes and causes of poor quality. This process uses data and
measures gathered from the Control Quality process and integrates this data in Quality Reports
that show the overall status of project quality.

Data Gathering tools may be used to Manage Quality, such as:

• Quality Checklists are used for verifying that required steps have been performed, or
a list of requirements have been satisfied for a specific component.

*These definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project
Management Institute, Inc., 2017.

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 Process 2: Manage Quality

Data Analysis techniques used to Manage Quality include:

• Process Analysis identifies process improvement opportunities by examining problems,

constraints, and non-value-added activities occurring in a process.
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is used to determine the underlying reason contributing to a
variance, defect, or risk.

Data Representation techniques applicable in this process include :

• Matrix Diagrams are used to perform data analysis within the structure of the matrix.
They show the strength of relationships for the various factors, causes, and objectives in
the rows and columns of the matrix.

• Flowcharts provide a visual depiction of processes showing the relationship among

process steps. Flowcharts can be used to document and analyze the steps in a process
that might be contributing to defects and can help in analyzing how quality can be
improved.

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 Process 2: Manage Quality

Figure 6-3: Example of a Flowchart

*Quality Audit is a structured, independent process to determine if project activities comply with
organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures.

Design for X (DfX) includes a set of technical guidelines applied during the design of a product to
optimize a specific design aspect (e.g., reliability, assembly, usability, safety).
*These definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project
Management Institute, Inc., 2017.

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 Process 2: Manage Quality

The Manage Quality process is used to create Quality Reports, which become an input to
various other processes:

Quality Reports present qualitative, numerical, and/or graphical information pertaining to

any quality issues that have been gathered or reported, including results from the Control
Quality process. These reports also make recommendations for corrective actions and
product, process, and project improvements so that the quality objectives for the project
can be achieved.

*These definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project
Management Institute, Inc., 2017.

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 Process 2: Manage Quality

Figure 6-4: Manage Quality—Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide)
– Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Figure 8-7, Page 288.

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 Process 3: Control Quality

*Control Quality is the process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality
management activities to assess performance and ensure the project outputs are complete,
correct, and meet customer expectations.
The purpose of this process is to ensure that project deliverables meet the specified
requirements for final acceptance by the sponsor or customer and are fit for use.

Some common terms to be aware of throughout all of the quality management processes
include:
.
• Prevention involves keeping errors out of processes using proper planning and design.
Prevention is preferred over Inspection due to the higher costs associated with Inspection.

• Inspection involves keeping errors out of the hands of the customer. It is used to determine
if a product conforms to documented standards.

• Attribute Sampling assesses whether a quality control result conforms to a standard or not.

• Variables Sampling involves measuring results on a continuous scale to determine the

degree of conformity.

*These definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project
Management Institute, Inc., 2017.

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 Process 3: Control Quality

• Tolerances are set to determine whether results fall within a predetermined range.
Tolerance Limits are referred to as specification limits in some industries and organizations.
• Control Limits are thresholds which can indicate whether a process is stable or out of
control.
• Fitness for Use ensures the product or service satisfies its intended needs.
• Continuous Improvement efforts incorporate many quality theories and models, such as
the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle by Shewhart and Deming, Total Quality Management
(TQM), and Six Sigma.
• Precision refers to how close or exact a set of measurements are to each other.
• Accuracy refers to how close points are to the true or correct value. Precise
measurements may not be accurate.

In the dartboard, the cross darts are more precise but less accurate. The square darts are
more accurate but less precise.

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Process 3: Control Quality

Figure 6-5: Example of Precision versus

Accuracy

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 Process 3: Control Quality

Data Gathering techniques used to Control Quality include:

• Statistical Sampling involves choosing part of a population of interest for

inspection or testing, rather than measuring the entire group (e.g., choosing five
capsules at random every hour to determine if they meet requirements).
• Check Sheets are tally sheets that can be used to organize data gathered about
potential quality problems

Figure 6-6: Example of a Check Sheet

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 Process 3: Control Quality

Data Representation techniques used to Control Quality may include:

• Cause-and-Effect Diagrams also known as Fishbone diagrams, Why-Why diagrams, or

Ishikawa diagrams analyze the causes of a problem by breaking them down into discrete
branches. A Cause-and-Effect Diagram illustrates how various factors may be linked to a
problem or effect.

Figure 6-7: Example of a Cause-and-Effect Diagram

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 Process 3: Control Quality

• Control Charts are used to determine whether a process is stable or has predictable
performance.
Your research department has determined that every capsule of a drug for brain
cancer should have between 40 to 60 milligrams of a specific chemical. The quality
department advised that each capsule should have between 45 to 55 milligrams of
the chemical. A Control Chart can be used to monitor the quality activities for
manufacturing the drug capsules:

Figure 6-8: Example of a Control Chart for a Drug Manufacturing Process

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 Process 3: Control Quality

• Histograms are vertical bar charts that can be used to show the number of defects by
source.

Defect Type

Figure 6-9: Example of a Histogram

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 Process 3: Control Quality
• Pareto Diagrams are a specific type of Histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence
(e.g.number of defects ordered by type or cause). Pareto Diagrams follow the 80-20
Rule—80% of the problems are presumed to be due to only 20% of the causes.

Figure 6-10: Example of a Pareto Diagram

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 Process 3: Control Quality
• Scatter Diagrams shows the relationship between two variables. A dependent variable
(Y-axis) relative to an independent variable (X-axis) is plotted. The closer the points are
to the diagonal line, the more closely the variables are related.
In our drug development project, a manager wants to investigate the relationship
between the bonding of particles in the drug and the temperature. This could be
shown using a Scatter Diagram as shown below:

Figure 6-11: Example of a Scatter Diagram

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 Process 3: Control Quality

Figure 6-13: Control

Quality—Inputs, Tools &
Techniques, and Outputs

Project Management Institute

, A Guide to the Project Management
Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK Guide)
– Sixth Edition, Project Management
Institute, Inc., 2017, Figure 8-10,
Page 298.

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