Why Is Quality Planning Important in Project Management?

In quality planning, the project manager defines and codifies the standards the project will be required to meet to be successful, and how those standards will be achieved and confirmed. Managers consider quality planning in conjunction with the rest of the project planning because it influences costs, scheduling and other factors. Without strong quality planning, a project carries an increased risk that the client won’t be satisfied with the results.

Sets the Standards

Quality planning determines the scope of what’s going to be measured, what metrics will determine whether the project is successful, and how those will be satisfied, from beginning to end. As project management online training resource PM 4 Dev suggests, usually, the scope will depend on the specific deliverables and processes the project manager is responsible for.

Quality assurance systems should be defined and implemented, whether that consists of audits, product testing, peer review or other measures. In addition, stakeholder expectations should be documented to ensure there are no surprises later. Without this, a project can be derailed if there are different interpretations of how and what determines acceptable quality for a project.

SMART Quality Planning Process

Except for very short-term projects, quality plans should include benchmarks. These points of reference identify the progress of a project against expectations generated from previous projects, industry standards or other measurements, and measure progress periodically from the initial development stages to the final product.

Like other processes, quality planning should include metrics that are specific, measurable, agreed-upon, realistic and time-bound. Such SMART goals can serve to keep the project on course and help identify quality problems early.

For example, if one of your project phases involves outsourcing the manufacture of key components, one benchmark might measure testing each component at various points in time. This would let a project manager know if the quality of raw materials or workmanship deteriorates before it’s incorporated into the final product.

Delegates Responsibility

Quality assurance in project management should detail not only what the benchmarks are, but who’s responsible for meeting them and which stakeholder has the authority to confirm standards are being met. This accountability helps mitigate the risks that a project won’t satisfy the client, finish on budget or stick to the schedule. A quality checklist that stays with the project manager can be used to serve as a reference. This helps lessen the risk of unwelcome surprises later on in the project.

Controls Costs

What makes quality planning in project management so important, reports CEBOS, is its impact on costs. Conducting a cost-benefit analysis determines how much each incremental improvement affects the bottom line, so an informed decision can be made when separating must-haves from nice-to-haves in project design.

A building that must remain fully functional during a flood, for example, will have different quality standards and different costs than one with a less rigorous design. If the building is located in a flood plain, these quality standards may be necessary. In a more arid environment, however, the cost of these standards may outweigh the benefit. A quality plan can help identify these variables.