Project Quality Management PDF

Project Quality Management 12S3103 - Information System Project Management 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 1 What Is Project Quality Management? International Organization for Standardization (ISO) definition of quality – “Totality of characteristics of an en...

Project Quality Management 12S3103 - Information System Project Management 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 1 What Is Project Quality Management? International Organization for Standardization (ISO) definition of quality – “Totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs” (ISO8042:1994) – “The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements” (ISO9000:2000) Other definitions of quality – Conformance to requirements Project’s processes and products meet written specifications – Fitness for use Product can be used as it was intended 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 2 Project quality management processes Project quality management ensures the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken Project quality management processes – Planning quality management: identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them; a metric is a standard of measurement – Managing quality: translating the quality management plan into executable quality activities – Controlling quality: monitoring specific project results to ensure they comply with the relevant quality standards 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 3 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 4 Planning Quality Management Scope aspects of IT projects – Functionality: degree to which a system performs its intended function – Features: system’s special characteristics that appeal to users – System outputs: screens and reports the system generates – Performance addresses: how well a product or service performs the customer’s intended use – Reliability: ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions – Maintainability: ease of performing maintenance on a product All project stakeholders must work together to balance the quality, scope, time, and cost dimensions of the project – Project managers are ultimately responsible for quality management on their projects 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 5 Managing Quality Quality assurance includes all the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project – Another goal is continuous quality improvement – Kaizen is the Japanese word for improvement or change for the better – Lean involves evaluating processes to maximize customer value while minimizing waste – 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 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 6 Controlling Quality Main outputs of quality control – Acceptance decisions – Rework – Process adjustments 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 7 Tools and Techniques for Quality Control Basic tools of quality that help in performing quality control – Cause-and-effect diagrams – Control chart – Checksheet – Scatter diagram – Histogram – Pareto chart – Flowcharts/run charts 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 8 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 9 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 10 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 11 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 12 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 13 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 14 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 15 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 16 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 17 Statistical Sampling Choosing part of a population of interest for inspection – Size of a sample depends on how representative you want the sample to be – Sample size formula Sample size =.25 x (certainty factor/acceptable error)2 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 18 Six Sigma A comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining, and maximizing business success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes.” DMAIC is a systematic, closed-loop process for continued improvement that is scientific and fact based – Define: define the problem/opportunity, process, and customer requirements – Measure: define measures, then collect, compile, and display data – Analyze: scrutinize process details to find improvement opportunities – Improve: generate solutions and ideas for improving the problem – Control: track and verify the stability of the improvements and the predictability of the solution 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 19 Testing Many IT professionals think of testing as a stage that comes near the end of IT product development – Testing needs to be done during almost every phase of the systems development life cycle, not just before the organization ships or hands over a product to the customer 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 20 Testing Types of tests – Unit testing tests each individual component (often a program) to ensure it is as defect-free as possible – Integration testing occurs between unit and system testing to test functionally grouped components – System testing tests the entire system as one entity – User acceptance testing is an independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered system Testing alone is not enough – Watts S. Humphrey, a renowned expert on software quality, defines a software defect as anything that must be changed before delivery of the program Testing does not sufficiently prevent software defects – The number of ways to test a complex system is huge – Users will continue to invent new ways to use a system that its developers never considered Humphrey suggests that people rethink the software development process to provide no potential defects when you enter system testing – Developers must be responsible for providing error-free code at each stage of testing 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 21 Modern Quality Management Quality experts Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award ISO standards 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 22 Improving IT Project Quality – Establish leadership that promotes quality – Understand the cost of quality Prevention cost: cost of planning and executing a project so it is error-free or within an acceptable error range Appraisal cost: cost of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure quality Internal failure cost: cost incurred to correct an identified defect before the customer receives the product External failure cost: cost that relates to all errors not detected and corrected before delivery to the customer Measurement and test equipment costs: capital cost of equipment used to perform prevention and appraisal activities – Provide a good workplace to enhance quality – Work toward improving the organization’s overall maturity level in software development and project management 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 23  EOF 12S3103_MPSI_Qual_PAT 24