Project Quality Management According to ISO, quality is defined as the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.

Other experts define quality on comformance of requirements and fitness dor use. Conformance to requirements means that the projects processes and products meet written specifications. On the other hand, fitness for use means that a product can be used as it was intended. Project quality managments goal is to make sure that the project will satisfy the needs for which undertaken. There should be a good working relationship between the project team and its customers to understand what quailty means to them. The customers are the ones who decide if the quality is acceptable. There are three main processes involved in project quality management and these are: Quality planning includes identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy these standards. Quality standards for IT projects might include allowing for system growth, planning a reasonable response time for a system, or ensuring that consistent and accurate information has produced. Quality assurance involves periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards. This process involves taking responsibilty for quality during the project as well as at the end of the project. Quality control involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards while identifying ways to improve overall quality. This process is often associated with the technical tools and techniques of quality management such as Pareto charts, quality controk charts, and statistical sampling.

Quality Planning Planning implies the ability to anticipate situations and prepare actions that bring about the desired outcaome. The current thrust in modern quality management is the prevention of defects through a program of selecting proper materials, training and indoctrinating people in quality, and planning a process that ensures the appropriate outcome. In quality planning, it is necessary to identify relevant quality standards for each unique project and to design quality into products of project and the processes involved in managing the project. A quality planning technique called design of experiments aids in identifying which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process. This can be applied also in project management issues like cost and schedule trade-offs.

Important scope aspects of IT projects that affect quality are as follows: Functionality the degree to which a system performs its intended function. Features are the special characteristics that appeal to users. Clarify which system functions and features are required and optional. System outputs can be screens and reports the system generates. Define clearly the system interface and reports. Performance addresses how well a product or service performs the customers intended use. Reliability the ability of a product or service to perform as expected as expected under normal conditions without unacceptable failures. Maintainability addresses the ease of performing maintenance on a product.

Quality Assurance Quality assurance includes all of the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project. Its goal is to improve quality continuously. Some tools used in quality planing can also be used in quality assurance. Benchmarking can be used to generate ideas for quality improvements by comparing specific project practices or product characteristics to those of other projects or products within or outside the performing organization. One of the main tools for quality assurance is a quality audit a strucured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that can improve performance on current or future projects. Quality audit can be scheduled or random, and it can be performed by in-house auditors or by third parties with expertise in specific areas. Quality Control Quality control requires the project manager and the project team to inspect the accomplished work to make sure that it is aligned with the project scope. One of the main objectives of quality control is to improve quality. Its major output are acceptance decisions, rework, and process adjustments. Acceptance decisions determine if the products or services produced as part of the project will be accepted or rejected. Rework is an action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or specifications or other stakeholder expectations. Project adjustments correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality control measurements. These are found based on quality control measurements, and often result in updates to quality baseline, organization process assets, and project management plan.

Tools and Techniques for Quality Control Pareto Analysis Pareto analysis involves identifying the vital few contributros that account for most quality problem in a system. It is sometimes referred to as the 80-20 rule, meaning that 80 percent of problems are often due to 20 percent of the causes. Pareto diagrams are histograms which help identify and prioritize problem areas.

Statistical Sampling Statistical sampling is a key concept in project quality management. It involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection (e.g., selecting ten engineering drawings at random from a list of seventy-five). For example, suppose a company wants to develop an electronic data interchange (EDI) system for handling data on invoices from all of its suppliers. It would be very time-consuming and expensive to review every single invoice to determine data requirements fot the new system. Even if the system developers did review all two hundred invoice froms, the data might be entered differently on every form. The size of the sample depends on how representative you want the sample to be. A simple formula for determining sample size is: Sample size = .25 x (certainly factor/acceptable error)2

The certainty factor denotes how certain you want to be that the data sampled will not include variations that do not naturally exist in the population. The table below shows the commonly used certianty factors. Desired Certainty 95% 90% 80% Certainty Factor 1.960 1.645 1.281

Suppose the developers of EDI system would accept a 95 percent certainty that a sample of invoices would contain no variation unless it was present in the population of total invoices. The calculated sample size would then be: Sample size = 0.25 x (1.960/.05)2 = 384 However, if the developers wanted 90 percent certainty, they would calculate the sample size as: Sample size = 0.25 x (1.645/.10)2 = 68 They would need to examine 68 invoices to determine the type of data the EDI system would need to capture. Six Sigma According to the book entitled The Six Sigma Way, Six Sigma is defined as a comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining, and maximizing business success. The Six Sigma principles can be applied by an organization to the design and production of a product, a Help Desk, or any customer-service process. Projects that use these principles for quality control should follow a five-phase improvement process called DMAIC. Define define the problem/opportunity, process, and customer requirements. The tools used for this phase are project charter, description of customer requirements, process maps, and voice of the customer (VOC). Measure define measures in terms of defects per opportunity, then collect, compile and display data. Analyze example process details to find improvement opportunities. Tool used in this phase is the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram. Improve generate solutions and ideas to improve the problem. Control track and verify the stability of the improvements and predictability of the solution. Tool used in this pahse is the control chart.

Quality Control Charts A control chart is a graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time. Its main use is to prevent defects, rather than to detect or reject them. Quality control charts can determine whether a process is in control or out of control. When a process is in control, any variations in the results of the process are created by random events. When a process is out of control, variations in the results of the process are caused by nonrandom events.

UCL Upper Control Limit LCL Lower Control Lomit In quality control, it is necessary tolook for and analyze patterns in process data. To look for patterns in data, use the quality control charts and the seven run rule. The seven run rule states that uf seven data points in a row are all below the mean, above the mean, or are all increasing or decreasing, then the process needs to be examined for nonrandom problems. Testing Testing should be done during almost every phase of the IT product development life cycle to ensure some degree of quality. There are several types of test done in a system. These are as follows: Unit testing tests each individual component to ensure it is free from possible defect. Integration testing occurs between unit and system testing to test functionality grouped components; ensures subsets of the entire system work together System testing tests the entire system as one entity; ensures the entire system works properly User acceptance testing independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered system; focuses on the business fit of the system

Modern Qualiyy Management Modern quality management requires customer satisfaction, prefers prevention to inspection, and recognizes management responsibility for quality. Noteworthy quality experts who helped develop modern quality management are Deming, Juran, Crosby, Ishikawa, Taguchi, and Feiganbaum. Deming Dr. W. Edwards Deming is primarily known for his work on quality control in Japan. He is a statistician and former professor at New York University. He taught the Japanese that higher quality meant greater productivity and lower cost. By 1980, after seeing the excellent work coming out of japan, U.S. coprporatoions vied for Demings expertise tot help them establish improvement programs in their own factories. Below is a summary of the 14 Points for Management that Deming developed: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Juran Like Deming, Joseph M. Juran helped Japanese manufacturers learn how to improve their productivity. He wrote the first edition of the Quality Control Handbook in 1974, stressing the importance of top management commitment to continuous product quality improvement. He developed 10 steps to quality improvement and these are: 1. Buold awareness for the need and opportunity for improvement 2. Set gaols for improvement 3. Organize to reach the goals (establish a quality council, identify problems, select projects, appoint teams, designate facilitators) 4. Provide training 5. Carry out projects to solve problems 6. Report progress Create constancy of purpose for improvement of products and service. Adopt the new philosophy Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality End the practice of awarding business on the Improve constantly and forever every process for planning, production , and service Institute training on the job Adopt and institute on the job Drive out fear Break down barriers between staff areas Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce Eliminate numerical quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for management Remove barriers that rob people of workmanship and self-improvement for everyone Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation

7. 8. 9. 10.

Give recognitions Communicate results Keep score Maintain momentum by makinbg annual improvement part of the regular system and processes of the company

Crosby Phillip B. Crosby wrote a book entitled Quality Is Free in 1979 and is best known for suggesting that organizations strive for zero defects. He stressed that the costs of poor quality should include all the costs of not doing the job right the first time, such as scrap, rework, lost labor hours and mahine hours, customer ill will and lost sales, and warranty costs. Crosby developed the following 14 steps for quality improvement: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Make it clear that management is committed to quality Formn quality improvement teams with representatives from each department Determine where current and protential quality problems lie Evaluate the cost of quality and explain its use as a management tool Raise the quality awareness and personal concern of all employees Take actions to correct problems identified through previos steps Establish a committee for the zero-defects programs Train supervisors to actively carry out their patr of the quality improvement program Hold a zero-defects day to let all employess realize that there has been a change Encourage individuals to establish improvement goals for themeselves and their groups Encourage employees to comunicate to mangement the obstacles they face in attaining their improvement gaols 12. Recognize and appreciate those who participate 13. Establish quality councils to communicate on a regular basis 14. Do it all over again to emphasize that the quality improvement program never ends Ishikawa Kaoru Ishikawa is best known for hist 1972 book entitled Guide to Quality Control. He developed the concept of quality circles and pioneered the use of fishbone diagrams. Quality circles are groups of nonsupervisors and work leaders ina signle company department who volunteer to conduct group studies on how to improve the effectiveness of work in their department. Fishbone diagrams, sometimes called Ishikawa diagrams, trace complaints about quality problems back to the responsible production operations. In other words, they help you find the root cause of quality problems.

Taguchi Genichi Taguchi is best known for developing the taguchi methods for optimizing the process of engineering experimentation . Key concepts in Taguchi methods are that quality should be designed into the product and not inspected into it and that quality best achieved by minimizing deviation from the target value. Feigenbaum Armand V. Feiganbaum developed the concept of total quality control (TCQ) in his 1983 book Total Quality Control: Engineering and Management. He proposed that the responsibility for quality should rest with the people who do the work. Improving IT Project Quality Establish leadership that promotes quality As Joseph M. Juran said in 1945, It is most important that top management be quality-minded. In the absence of sincere manifestation of interest at the top, little will happen below. Understand the cost of quality The cost quality is the cost of confromance plus the cost of nonconformance. Conformance means delivering products that meet requiremenys and fitness for use. Cost of nonconformance means taking responsibility for failures or not meeting quality expectations. Focus on organizational influence and workplace factors that affect quality Study by Demarco and Lister showed that organizational issues had much greater influence on programmer productivity than the technical environment or programming languages. Studies found no correlation between productivity and programming language, years of experience, or salaray. A dedicated workspace and a quite work environment were key factors to improving programmer productivity. Follow maturity models

Maturity Models Maturiy models are frameworks for helping organizations improve their processes and systems. Software Quality Function Deployment Model (SQFD) This is an adaptation of the quality function deploymeny model suggested in 1986 as an implementation vehicle for total quality management. SQFD focuses on defining user requirements and planning software projects. Its end result is a set of measurable technical product specification and their priorities.

Capability Maturity Model (CMM) This is a five-level model laying out a genetic path to process improvement for software development in organizations. 1. Initial The software development processes for organizations at this maturity level are ad hoc and occasionally even chaotic. Few process are defined, and success often depends on individual effort. 2. Repeatable Organizations at his maturity level have established basic project management processes to track cost, scheduke, and functionality for software projects. 3. Defined At this level, the software proceses for both management and software engineering activities are documented, standardized, integrated into a standard software process for the organization 4. Managed At this maturity level, organizations collect detailed measures of the software process and product quality 5. Optimizing Operating at highest level of this maturity model, organizations can enable conitnuous process improvement by using quantitative feedback from the processes and ffrom piloting innovative ideas and technologies Project Management Maturity Model The PMI Standards Development Program released the Organizational project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) Standard in December 2003. The model is based on market research surveys sent to more than 30,000 project management professionals, and incorporates 180 best practices and more than 2,400 capabilities, outcomes, and key performance indicators. It addesses standards for excellence in project, program, and portfolio management best practices and explains the capabilites necessary to achieve thise best pratcies.