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Quality in Projects Detail
Quality Management includes all the Project Management activities needed to implement a quality plan. The basic elements of an organisation’s approach to Quality Management are illustrated below:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Quality System | Includes the structures, procedures and processes to implement quality management |
| Quality Assurance | Creates and maintains the quality system and monitors its implementation, ensuring that the system is effective in meeting the customer’s quality expectations |
| Quality Planning | Puts quality objectives and requirements in place and outlines how the quality system should operate. An important part of this process is to understand and document the customer’s expectations of product quality. The way quality is handled should be described at project level in the Project Initiation Document (PID) |
| Quality Control | Is the means of ensuring that the specified quality criteria are met. Quality reviews are the means by which project quality is maintained |
Quality Reviews are at the heart of a Quality Management process. It is a structured procedure designed to asses whether a product/service is ‘fit for purpose’ or conforms to agreed requirements. The objectives of a Quality Review are as follows:
- Assess the conformity of a product against set criteria;
- Provide a platform for product improvement;
- Involve all those who have an interest in checking its quality;
- Share ownership of the product;
- Obtain commitment from all vested interests to the product; and
- Provide a mechanism for management, monitoring and control.
The International Organisation for Standards (ISO) provides an academic definition of quality as the “totality of characteristics of an entity which bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs”. As well as the international (ISO) standards mentioned, many organisations will have their own standards (based on considerations like ‘fitness for purpose’), which may need to be applied. In Project Management terms, best practice methods such as Office of Government Commerce’s (OGC) Projects in Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) provide comprehensive guidance on Quality Management.
| Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Customer | Provides the quality expectations for the products/services being delivered by the project |
| Project Manager | Delivers the products/services to meet customer expectations |
| Project Assurance | Carries out an independent inspection of the products/services being produced |
| Project Board | Ultimately responsible for project assurance but often project assurance activities are delegated |
