Project Quality Management (Based on PMBOK . For PMP Certification Exam preparation)

5 Groups	Initiation	Planning	Execution	Monitoring and Control	Closing
Processes		8.1 Quality Planning	8.2 Perform Quality Assurance	8.3 Perform Quality Control

Project quality management involves making sure the project meets the needs that it was originally created to meet, or in other words, that stakeholder expectations were met.
Quality is the result of meeting the triple constraints. A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) states that quality management ensures "that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken," not just to meet or exceed the requirements. The PMBOK Guide also says, "Quality is the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements." This statement means that both stated and implied needs are understood through stakeholder analysis and then addressed in project scope management.
 

The three processes of Project Quality Management knowledge area can be explained as below:

8.1 Quality Planning – identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them.

8.2 Perform Quality Assurance – applying the planned, systematic quality activities to ensure that the project employs all processes needed to meet requirements.

8.3 Perform Quality Control – monitoring specific project results to determine whether they comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance.

Quality Planning:

Quality Planning typically receives the least attention and yet is the most critical element of Project Quality Management. This lack of attention primarily occurs due to insufficient understanding about quality and how it is an integral part of a project. The lack of an adequate Quality Plan inhibits the success of Quality Assurance and Quality Control efforts. This idea needs to be stressed: Quality is planned into projects to prevent errors rather than relying on inspections to catch them.

Project participants need to be encouraged to devote sufficient time to Quality Planning. Quality Planning must not be taken lightly and management must be in full support of it.

Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Enterprise environmental factors Organizational process assets Project scope statement Project management plan	Cost- benefit analysis Benchmarking Design of experiments Cost of quality (COQ) Additional quality planning tools	Quality management plan Quality metrics Quality checklists Process improvement plan Quality baseline Project management plan (updates)

The Cost of quality includes all the costs to conform to the required quality of the project, including the cost to ensure conformance to requirements as well as the cost of nonconformance and finding the right balance. Modern quality management philosophy emphasizes preventing mistakes rather than detecting them later because the cost of nonconformance

The costs associated with the cost of quality are:

• Prevention costs: Costs associated with keeping defective product away from the customer: Examples could include quality training, quality planning, reliability engineering, test engineering, or data analysis.
• Appraisal costs: Costs associated with checking the product to make sure it is conforming, such as inspection testing, calibration, studies, or surveys.
• Failure costs: Nonconformance that is found while the product is still within the performing organization is called internal failure costs, and includes things like rework or scrap. Nonconformance found when the product is at the customer is called external failure costs and includes repair or returns. The cost of nonconformance can also be classified as direct or indirect. Direct failure costs would include scrap, warranty costs, rework, engineering changes, liability insurance, or inventory costs. Indirect failure costs include fewer sales, lost customers, increased costs to get customers back, decreased team morale, or decreased project efficiency.

8.2 Perform Quality Assurance

• Perform Quality Assurance is all the planned and systematic activities implemented within the quality system to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.
• It should be performed throughout the project.
• May be performed by an internal or external organization, or designated members of the project team.
• Prevention-oriented

Inputs			Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Quality management plan Quality metrics Process improvement plan Work performance information Approved change request Quality control measurements Implemented change request Implemented corrective actions Implemented defect repair Implemented preventative actions	Quality planning tools & techniques Quality audits Process analysis Quality control tools and techniques	Requested changes Recommended corrective actions Organizational process assets (updates) Project management plan (updates)

8.3 Quality Control

• Involves
• Monitoring specific project results to determine if they meet quality standards
• Identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory results
• Is about prevention, not inspection
• Focuses on process
• Primary purpose is to prevent a process from producing a poor quality product or service
• Is continuously producing results that are fed back to the appropriate process or processes
• Is performed throughout the life of the project
• Is not the quality control organization

Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Quality management plan Quality metrics Quality checklist Organizational process assets Work performance information Approved change request Deliverables	Cause and effect diagrams Control charts Flowcharts Histograms Pareto diagrams Run charts Scatter diagrams Statistical sampling Inspections Defect repair review	Quality control measurements Validated defect repairs Quality baseline (updates) Recommended corrective actions Recommended preventive actions Requested changes Recommended defect repairs Organization process assets (updates) Validated deliverables Project management plan (updates)