Chapter 8 Project Quality Management Information Technology Project Management Fourth Edition Learning Objectives Understand the importance of project quality management for information technology products and services Define project quality management and understand how quality relates to various aspects of information technology projects Describe quality planning and its relationship to project scope management Discuss the importance of quality assurance List the three outputs of the quality control process Learning Objectives Understand the tools and techniques for quality control such as Pareto analysis statistical sampling Six Sigma quality control charts and testing Summarize the contributions of noteworthy quality experts to modern quality management Describe how leadership cost organizational influences expectations cultural differences standards and maturity models relate to improving quality in information technology projects Discuss how software can assist in project quality management The Importance of Project Quality Management Many people joke about the poor quality of IT products see cars and computers joke on pages 290 291 People seem to accept systems being down occasionally or needing to reboot their PCs But quality is very important in many IT projects What Went Wrong In 1981 a small timing difference caused by a computer program caused a launch abort In 1986 two hospital patients died after receiving fatal doses of radiation from a Therac 25 machine after a software problem caused the machine to ignore calibration data Britain s Coast Guard was unable to use its computers for several hours in May 2004 after being hit by the Sasser virus which knocked out the electronic mapping systems e mail and other computer functions forcing workers to revert to pen paper and radios Design News February 1988 Datamation May 1987 Fleming Nic Virus sends coastguard computers off course http news telegraph co uk news main jhtml xml news 2004 05 05 ncoast05 xml May 15 2004 What Is Quality The International Organization for Standardization ISO defines quality as the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements ISO9000 2000 Other experts define quality based on Conformance to requirements The project s processes and products meet written specifications Fitness for use A product can be used as it was intended What Is Project Quality Management Project quality management ensures that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken Processes include Quality planning Identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them Quality assurance Periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards Quality control Monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards Quality Planning Implies the ability to anticipate situations and prepare actions to bring about the desired outcome Important to prevent defects by Selecting proper materials Training and indoctrinating people in quality Planning a process that ensures the appropriate outcome Design of Experiments Design of experiments is a quality planning technique that helps identify which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process Also applies to project management issues such as cost and schedule trade offs Involves documenting important factors that directly contribute to meeting customer requirements Scope Aspects of IT Projects Functionality is the degree to which a system performs its intended function Features are the system s special characteristics that appeal to users System outputs are the screens and reports the system generates Performance addresses how well a product or service performs the customer s intended use Reliability is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions Maintainability addresses the ease of performing maintenance on a product Who s Responsible for the Quality of Projects Project managers are ultimately responsible for quality management on their projects Several organizations and references can help project managers and their teams understand quality International Organization for Standardization www iso org IEEE www ieee org Quality Assurance Quality assurance includes all the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project Another goal of quality assurance is continuous quality improvement Benchmarking generates 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 A quality audit is a structured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects Table 8 1 Table of Contents for a Quality Assurance Plan 1 0 Draft Quality Assurance Plan 1 1 Introduction 1 2 Purpose 1 3 Policy Statement 1 4 Scope 2 0 Management 2 1 Organizational Structure 2 2 Roles and Responsibilities 2 2 1 Technical Monitor Senior Management 2 2 2 Task Leader 2 2 3 Quality Assurance Team 2 2 4 Technical Staff 3 0 Required Documentation U S Department of Energy 4 0 Quality Assurance Procedures 4 1 Walkthrough Procedure 4 2 Review Process 4 2 1 Review Procedures 4 3 Audit Process 4 3 1 Audit Procedures 4 4 Evaluation Process 4 5 Process Improvement 5 0 Problem Reporting Procedures 5 1 Noncompliance Reporting Procedures 6 0 Quality Assurance Metrics Appendix Quality Assurance Checklist Forms Quality Control The main outputs of quality control are Acceptance decisions Rework Process adjustments Some tools and techniques include Pareto analysis Statistical sampling Six Sigma Quality control charts Pareto Analysis Pareto analysis involves identifying the vital few contributors that account for the most quality problems in a system Also called the 80 20 rule meaning that 80 percent of problems are often due to 20 percent of the causes Pareto diagrams are histograms or column charts representing a frequency distribution that help identify and prioritize problem areas Figure 8 1 Sample Pareto Diagram Statistical Sampling and Standard Deviation Statistical sampling involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection The size of a sample depends on how representative you want the sample to be Sample size formula Sample size 25 X certainty