Quality Management

How To Apply Quality Management

alphaPM Inc. www.alphaPM.com

Quality Management

The objectives of Quality Management are to facilitate the successful planning, development and implementation of projects, by the consistent use of project and quality management best practices and processes.

Quality Management is an integral part of all projects, not a separate process, and is one of the key core elements of a project, along with Change Management and Risk Management. These elements are inter-dependent, and failure to implement them in a coordinated manner is likely to jeopardize a project.

Quality Management Processes

Quality Assurance addresses the quality of the processes that are used to produce the project’s end products and services, to ensure the processes are consistent and effective.

For example, ensure that:

• A “best practice” Systems Development Life Cycle is consistently used

• Project reviews and health checks are carried out

• Processes are in place to test that the final end products are complete and free of defects

Quality Planning addresses:

• what quality processes will be applied

• how and when they will be applied, and

• who will be responsible for them.

The above is documented in a “Quality Management Plan”, which is included with the Project Plan.

QUALITYCONTROL

There are three types of quality management processes needed to ensure quality.

QUALITYPLANNING

QUALITYASSURANCE

Quality Assurance addresses the quality of the products that are produced by the project, to ensure they meet requirements and are free of defects.

Quality Control processes in software applications development, for example, include unit, integration and acceptance testing on the programs and validation of their outputs, to ensure they meet requirements and are free of bugs and defects.

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Quality Management PlanA Quality Management Plan typically includes the following contents:

Quality Management Overview(Address how the project planning and organization will facilitate quality)

– Describe Quality Management Objectives– Describe Quality Management Policies– Describe Quality Management Roles and Responsibilities

Quality Assurance(Validate the processes used to produce the project end products or services)

– Conduct Project Reviews (e.g. Health Checks)– Establish Testing Processes (e.g. Unit, Integration, Acceptance Tests)– Identify Testing Tools used

Quality Control(Validate the quality of the final product)

– Conduct Deliverable walkthroughs– Conduct Testing– Implement Defect tracking and removal

Note: A Quality Management Plan template is available in the PM Toolkit library.

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance verifies that industry standard and “best practice” project and

Quality management processes are in place and followed, through a combination of

the following:

• Development, Execution, Monitoring and Control of the Project Plan as prescribed in the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology for your project, to ensure that good planning and quality, risk and change management processes, for example, are an integral part of the project.

• Conducting Project Health Checks (typically conducted by an external facilitator) and the use of Checklists, to verify that the appropriate SDLC processes and deliverables are completed.

Note: A Project Review Checklist/Project Health Check Tool is available in the PM Toolkit library.

• Developing Application Software Test Plans. to cover the testing of all intermediate application program modules as well as the final system.

Quality Control

Quality Control verifies the correctness and completeness of all key interim and

final project management deliverables, for example through a combination ofthe following:

• Deliverable Walkthroughs of all key project management deliverables, attended by appropriate subject matter experts.

• Application Software Testing of intermediate application program modules as well as the final system. (See next slide for a summary of the various Test Plans typically needed).

Application Software Testing Test plans need to be produced to cover the testing of all intermediate

applicationprogram modules as well as the final system. The results of the outputs of thedeliverables produced are compared to the results expected, to ensure thatrequirements are met, and corrective action must be taken as necessary.

Test plans should be developed and implemented to test and verify the following:

Unit Correct implementation of each software program module

Integration

Correct implementation of the completed system

Conversion

All data elements are correctly converted

Interface All interfaces function correctly

Security Application security and audit controls function correctly

Performance

Application performs according to requirements (e.g. response time)

Recovery Application restart, recovery and backup facilities function correctly

Regression

Changes to the application have not affected previously tested areas

Acceptance

The final production application meets all customer requirements

Some Useful References

1. Guide to Successful Projects (Project Health Check)- Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

2. Introduction to Software Testing- QES, Inc.

3. Quality Assurance Guidelines- State of Texas Department of Information Resources

4. Quality Assurance Review Guide for Major Information Resources Projects- State of Texas Department of Information Resources

5. Quality Management Guideline– New South Wales Department of Commerce, Office of Information and Communications Technology

6. Quality Toolbox- Developed for the US Department of Energy by employees of the University of California

7. Test Plan templates- US Department of Energy- SQA Tester- QA City

Quality Management

How To Apply Quality Management

alphaPM Inc. www.alphaPM.com