Project Quality Management: Notes for PMP Exam (based on PMBOK5)

Note:

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So, what is Quality? Probably everyone knows the broad meaning of this term. Whenever we buy something, we look for quality.


Basically, quality is something by which a product is satisfying the user's requirements. In terms of project management we use the same definition.


Quality is the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics of a product / project fulfills the requirements.


So how we do the quality management. If you had a chance to go to any manufacturing industry, they have a dedicated department called "Quality Assurance". They assure the customer that the quality of the product they are producing is up to the standard. They demonstrate the process they are using, not the product.


So, if we think, we can easily conclude that there is something for quality planning, assuring the quality and controlling the quality.


Wow ! Here comes the three processes of Project Quality Management:


1. Plan Quality Management
2. Perform Quality Assurance
3. Control Quality


Some One-Liners to remember for exam:

• Quality is all about Prevention over Inspection. If you prevent, you will need less inspection.
• Everyone in the organization is responsible for the quality (project team for destined parts while PM for project quality), PM is ultimately responsible for the project quality.
• Quality Assurance is all about continuous improvement. This is different from  Quality Control. In QA, we ensure that the quality processes are being followed.
• Outliers are singular measurements outside the control limits (We will learn about Control Limits later)
• There are "Costs of quality" will be borne by the organization (Organization quality policy, e.g. Quality Audit etc.)
• Definition of Quality: The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements. So quality is all about fulfilling the customer requirements.
• When is a process "under control"? When the process is predictable and repeatable.
  

   
• What is Quality Control: Verifying the quality before delivery (Note the difference from Quality Assurance, see above)
• Grade  vs Quality: We can accept the Low Grade (Say Maruti 800) but we cannot accept the Low Quality (a BMW with high cabin noise).
• Accuracy is Correctness and Precision is consistence that means how closely measurements conform to target.
• Standard deviation is a measure of precision, smaller standard deviation higher precision.

 

Concepts of Quality Management (Name of Quality Gurus)

• Zero Defects by Philip Crosby:
• Fitness for Use by Juran: Does the product/service meet customer’s need?
• W. Edwards Deming: Management is responsible for 85% of quality problems.
• Six Sigma: Achieve 3.4/1 million defect level (99.999%) using DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement, Control) or [Design for Six Sigma]
• DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Validate) approach, refine the process to get rid of human error and outside influences with precise measurements,
• Just In Time: supports ZERO inventory. Forces attention to the quality.
• The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is a way of making small improvements and testing their impact before you make a change to the process as a whole. It comes from W. Edwards Deming’s work in process improvement, which popularized the cycle that was originally invented by Walter Shewhart in the 930s.
• Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI): improve overall software quality (design, development and deployment.

 

Plan Quality Management

Plan Quality Management 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 relevant quality requirements and/or standards. The key benefit of this process is that it provides guidance and direction on how quality will be managed and validated throughout the project.

 

Inputs

Tools and Techniques

 

Outputs

 

 

Cost-benefit Analysis: Cost of implementing quality against the benefits. You should analyze whether the cost you are putting in quality will give you the benefit.

 

 

Cost of Quality: This is the cost which we are incurring for quality.

Lowest quality cost is prevention, highest quality cost (poor quality) is rework and defect repair.

Failure cost may be internal/external (found by customer)

 

Warranty claims are external cost of quality

Cost of Quality is the total cost of quality efforts throughout the product’s lifecycle cost of conformance (prevention cost, appraisal cost) vs. cost of non-conformance (Failure cost [internal/external])

 

Poka Yoke (mistake proofing), Zero Quality Control (100% source inspection), Voice of Customer and FEMA (Failure Modes of Effects Analysis) are planning tools for quality management

 

Quality Metrics: Function points, MTBF (mean time between failure), MTTR (mean time to repair)

 

Marginal Analysis: You compare the cost of incremental improvements against the increase in revenue made from quality improvements. Optimal quality is reached when cost of The value of sigma of Normal Distribution are given below. These are important for the exam.

 

Normal Distribution Sigma values

 

Sigma	Percentage covered
One sigma	68.26%
Two sigma	95.46%
Three sigma	99.73%
Six sigma	99.99%

 

Based on the above table, we can see that in 6 Sigma, one out of 10,000 items can have defects. In 3-sigma, twenty seven out of 10,000 items can have defects.  improvements equals the costs to achieve quality.

 

Giving extras i.e. doing more than the project scope is called gold-plating. PMI does not recommend gold-plating.

 

7 Basic Quality Tools

• Cause-and-effect / Ishikawa / Fishbone Diagram/Why-Why Diagram: used for identifying the root cause.
 
• Flowchart: (e.g. SIPOC diagram) for identifying failing process steps and process improvement opportunities. Remember it is related to process
 
• Check Sheets (tally sheets): mainly used for collecting data/documenting steps for defeat analysis. Different from Checklists which are used in Control Quality.
 
• Histograms: Do not consider the influence of time on the variation that exits within a distribution.
 
• Pareto Chart: Based on 80/20 principle, a prioritization tool to identify critical issues in descending order of frequency, sort of a histogram.
 
• Control  Chart: determine if a process is stable/predictable using statistical sampling (assessed by accuracy [conformance] and precision[standard deviation]), identity the internally computed control limits (UCL/LCL) and specification limits (USL/LSL) by the customer/PM run chart is similar to control chart, but without the control usually +-3sigma i.e. a range of 6 sigma a form of time series if a process is within control limit but beyond specification limit, the process is experiencing common cause variation (random) that cannot be corrected by the system, management help is needed (special cause can be tackled but NOT common cause).

Stability Analysis / Zone Test: rule of seven (7 consecutive measurements on either side of the mean = out of control. If a process is out of control, it is to be adjusted. Process is out of control when any singled measurement is outside the Control Limits or any 7 consecutive measurement are on one side of Control Limit.

 
• Scatter Diagram: for trending, a form of regression analysis. These trends are between two variables. These to variables may be proportional to each other, inversely proportional to each other or not related at all.
   
   

Benchmarking: product / process is compared with the product / process of  something internal or external. External may be your competitor also.

Design of Experiments (DOE): you change several factors at a time for each experiment, to determine testing approaches and their impact on cost of quality. Then best combination of factors is chose.

Statistical sampling – Statistical sampling involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection. Appropriate sampling can reduce cost of quality. For example, for a Crash Test of cars, you may chose couple of random sample. You cannot crash all the cars. So it is used when there is a damage.

Additional Quality Planning Tools

 
• Loss Function: a financial measure of the user’s dissatisfaction with product performance
 
• Matrix Diagrams: House of Quality (HOQ) used in Quality Function Deployment (QFD) (method to transform user demands [VOC] into design quality)
 
• Kano Model: differentiate features as satisfy, delight or dissatisfy
 
• Marginal Analysis: cost-benefits analysis
 
• Force Field Analysis (FFA): reviews any proposed action with proactive and opposing forces

The main output of “Plan Quality Management is Process Improvement Plan which may defined process boundaries, configuration, process metrics/efficiencies, targets for improved performance.

Quality Checklists: checklist to verify a series of steps have been performed. These checklists are used in Quality Control.

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Perform Quality Assurance

Perform Quality Assurance is the process of auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements to ensure that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used. The key benefit of this process is that it facilitates the improvement of quality processes.

 

Quality Assurance is done in Executing Process Group

Quality Assurance ensures the quality standards are being followed, to ensure unfinished works would meet the quality requirements by quality assurance department.

 

This is not a quality control but it is primarily concerned with overall process improvement for activities and processes. So it is not concerned with deliverables directly.

Quality Assurance utilizes the data measurements taken in Control Quality Process.

Inputs

Tools and Techniques

Outputs

Quality Management Tools

• Affinity Diagrams: like a mind-mapping diagram, organize thoughts on how to solve problems

• Process Decision Program Charts (PDPC): defines a goal and the steps involved, useful for contingency planning

• Interrelationship Digraphs: maps cause-and-effect relationships for problems with multiple variables/outcomes

• Tree Diagrams

• Prioritization Matrices: define issues and alternatives that need to be prioritized for decision, items are given a priority score through brainstorming

• Activity Network Diagrams

• Matrix Diagrams:

Quality Audit: to verify quality of processes, to seek improvement, identify best practices, reduce overall cost of quality, confirm implementation of approved changes, need quality documentations


Process Analysis: Process analysis follows the steps outlined in the process improvement plan to identify needed improvements.
This analysis also examines problems experienced, constraints experienced, and non-value-added activities identified during process operation. Process analysis includes root cause analysis—a specific technique used to identify a problem, discover the underlying causes that lead to it, and develop preventive actions.

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Control Quality

Control Quality is the process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities to assess performance and recommend necessary changes. The key benefits of this process include: (1) identifying the causes of poor process or product quality and recommending and/or taking action to eliminate them; and (2) validating that project deliverables and work meet the requirements specified by key stakeholders necessary for final acceptance.

Control Quality is generally done before “Validate Scope” where final acceptance of the deliverable is taken from the customers/stakeholders.

 

Verify the deliverables against customer’s specifications to ensure customer satisfaction

Validate the changes against the original approved change requests conditional probability (events somewhat related) vs. statistical independence (events not interrelated) vs. mutual exclusivity statistical sampling for control quality

Variable (continuous) data: measurements, can do calculation on e.g. average

Attribute (discrete) data: yes/no, no.123, just an identifier.

Some Terms to know:

Mutual Exclusivity: Two events are mutually exclusive if they cannot occur in a single trial. Like in a dice throw Five and Six cannot occur in a single trial. In a coin, head and tail cannot come together.

Probability: Likelihood of an event. It is express in decimals or fraction or on a scale of 0 to 1.

Normal Distribution: We already know about it. It’s a probability distribution curve. Used to measure variations. Shape – Bell Curve.

Statistical Independence: The probability of one event occurring will not effect the probability of another event occurring. Example, In a dice throw, probability of getting six in one roll is statistically independent of probability of getting five in next throw.

Standard Deviation: We know this already, right? It a range of measurement and denotes whether the process is in control or not. It shown how far the process is from mean (not median). Remember (P-O)/6 is beta distribution for standard deviation.

Inputs

 

Tools and Techniques

 

Approved Change Requests Review: As part of the Perform Integrated Change Control process, a change log update indicates that some changes are approved and some are not. Approved change requests may include modifications such as defect repairs, revised work methods, and revised schedule. The timely implementation of approved changes needs to be verified.

Outputs

Validated Changes

Any changed or repaired items are inspected and will be either accepted or rejected before notification of the decision is provided. Rejected items may require rework.

Remember for Exam:

If the situation given is looking forward in time, it is “Plan Quality Management”. If the situation is looking back, you are in “Control Quality” because work has been done already in past and now you are controlling the quality. If the situation is looking back but in quality processes and procedures, it is most like “Perform Quality Assurance”.