Project Quality Management: Process & Metrics – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

Plan Quality Management

Quality must be planned into a project in order for it to succeed. The quality management process involves identifying our quality requirements and standards and deciding how to show that a product meets the quality criteria. At the end of the meeting, you’re going to have a few documents as outputs, including your quality management plan, which defines the acceptable level of quality and how the project will ensure quality is met in the product and processes, and your quality metrics, which is an objective measure of the quality standards.

The first task is to identify the quality requirements. The purpose of the new toy is to squeak when squeezed by a child. So, that’s the first quality criteria. Government regulations state that the toy cannot have small parts a baby could choke on, so that’s second quality criteria. Finally, our stakeholders require it to be easily washable, so that’s the third quality criteria.

You can see that the product’s quality criteria came from different requirement sources. These requirements are inputs, or prerequisite information, to the plan project management process. Inputs to a quality management plan are different depending on the project.

Now that we have our criteria, let’s move on to the second task in the plan quality management process, which is to specify the measurements, or standards, for our quality criteria, the quality metrics.

For quality metrics, we want to determine the acceptable levels of quality. Our new toy has three criteria, so let’s look at each one and determine what standard to set for each.

Our first criteria is that it squeaks when squeezed. Let’s keep it simple with a yes or no measurement. However, some babies are stronger than others, so a weaker baby might not be able to make the toy squeak. For our quality standards, we’ll ensure the toy squeaks 95% of the time.

Our second criteria is that the toy can’t have small parts a baby could choke on. To measure this, our team will use a specialized small parts cylinder to ensure no part is small enough to present a choking hazard. Any part that fits inside the cylinder is too small. The standard for this quality criteria is 100%, meaning all parts must pass this test.

The third criteria is that the toy must be washable. We want to be sure the toy can be washed without showing significant wear. The metric would be that it can go through 100 wash and dry cycles and still look good.

The last thing the team needs to do is determine how to show we met the criteria. The team suggests recording the number of defects per 1,000 units and providing quality testing reports. Your team now has what they need for the quality management plan. You identified quality criteria, determined the metrics, and can provide proof the criteria was met.

Perform Quality Control

Months later, the team performs quality control on the new toy. The quality control process verifies that the project deliverables meet quality criteria and take any needed corrective actions. Using a random sample of new toys from the production line, the team performs quality testing to ensure the standards are being met.

To verify the toy squeaks when squeezed, the team gives the toy to a group of babies and records the number of times it squeaks when squeezed. The standard for this was 95%, which the team verified and recorded.

To test that the toy had no small parts, the team disassembled several of the new toys. Using the small parts cylinder, the team tried to place each part inside and recorded the results. The team found that no parts fit inside the cylinder, so the 100% standard for this criteria was met.

Lastly, the team verified that the toy could be washed without showing significant wear. Using normal household appliances, a sample of the new toys were washed and dried 100 times. The toys were then compared to brand new toys’ appearances and the results recorded. The team then surveyed parents, asking if the washed toy appeared to have significant wear and tear, recording the results.

The team provided a report on the quality testing, which showed that all quality criteria were meeting the stated standards.

Perform Quality Assurance

To ensure continuous improvement, the team performs quality assurance. The quality assurance process focuses on improving quality processes and activities. In short, it’s an audit of the quality criteria and results. After several quality tests had been performed on the new toys, the quality control process was audited by officials from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. During the audit, the agents reviewed the quality testing results for accuracy and compliance. The agents then performed their own quality testing. The report they provided was positive, assuring the project team and the company that their project quality management was working well.

Lesson Summary

Let’s review. Quality means a product consistently does what it’s supposed to, and project quality management is identifying, assessing, and controlling the quality of a product to consistently achieve acceptable quality levels. There are three processes involved in assessing quality, including plan quality management, which determines the criteria, standards, and reporting process for product quality; perform quality control, which verifies quality, and perform quality assurance, which involves an audit of quality processes and activities.