CHAPTER 4

Project Quality Assurance

After project quality planning, both project quality assurance and project quality control begin. Chapter 4 covers project quality assurance and Chapter 5 covers project quality control.

Quality assurance can be defined as “all the planned and systematic activities implemented within the quality system to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.”¹ For the sake of clarity, we define quality assurance activities to start when the key project stakeholders approve the project plan and the focus of activities shifts from strictly planning to mostly execution. Quality assurance activities continue until the final project deliverables are complete. Quality assurance follows quality planning as the third stage in the five-stage project quality process model and runs largely parallel with project quality control (see Figure 4-1).

The project quality assurance stage as the third stage and the project quality control stage as the fourth stage have unique and dynamic interactions centered around the process improvement and fact-based management tasks. As is true for all the process stages, the level of detail needed during the project quality assurance stage can vary significantly from one project to another. Typical project quality assurance activities are shown in Figure 4-2. The flow of information both from and to the fourth stage (the project quality control stage) is also depicted on this flowchart.

The pillars, activities, and tools that accomplish the tasks during this process stage are listed in Table 4-1.

This chapter is structured to follow the order of the project quality pillars and their sequenced activities depicted in Table 4-1. The first number of the listed activities corresponds to the appropriate quality pillar, e.g., Activity 1.1 is associated with the first pillar and Activity 2.1 is associated with the second pillar. The second number refers to the typical approximate chronological sequence of its execution within the pillar’s domain, although this sequential order may well vary with different projects, organizations, or industries. For example, 2.1 Conduct Ongoing Review of Project Process Adequacy normally comes before 2.3 Improve Processes based on Data Analysis.

FIGURE 4-1 Project Quality Process Model

FIGURE 4-2 Project Quality Assurance Flowchart

TABLE 4-1 Project Quality Assurance Factors Table

FIRST PROJECT QUALITY PILLAR: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Project quality assurance includes improving the management of external and internal customer satisfaction expectations. These are ongoing activities that occur throughout the entire project quality assurance stage of the project. Improving the satisfaction of external customers contributes to bottom-line profitability by generating repeat business and positive referrals. Improving the satisfaction of internal customers increases operational efficiency, accelerates the pace of organizational learning, and supports meaningful teamwork. Properly managing the human resource system sustains intrinsic work motivation and cooperative empowered performance of individuals and teams dedicated to quality assurance.

1.1 Manage External Customer Quality Assurance

Managing external customer quality assurance involves continually engaging in the following project activities:

1. Defining and segmenting customers and markets

2. Listening to and learning from customers

3. Linking customer input to design, production, and delivery processes

4. Building trustworthy relationships from initial contact to follow-up services

5. Collecting and responding to customer complaints systematically

6. Measuring perceptions of quality with benchmarking techniques and improving service accordingly.

Managing external customer quality assurance requires that project customer information be acquired by any or all of the following methods: comment cards and formal surveys, focus groups, field intelligence, direct customer contact, complaints analysis, and Internet monitoring.

Managing external customer quality assurance ultimately means providing the product/service during moments of truth so that the perception of quality is solidified in the customer’s mind. For example, when a customer purchases a Lexus automobile from a dealership, every contact from sales to service affects the perceived quality of that product and the company. In addition, a good project team builds project customer relationships by providing customers with: easy accessibility; strong commitments: well-trained, empowered customer-contact employees; and rapid, effective complaint response time.

Next, external customer quality assurance requires supplier certification and mutual process disclosures for continued improvement of raw materials and other project inputs. The “garbage in, garbage out” syndrome is overcome by disallowing any substandard upstream supplier input so that external downstream customer satisfaction will be better assured.

Finally, measuring customer satisfaction by means of the customer significance-success (CSS) matrix guides improvement efforts (see Figure 4-3). Strength in managing external customer assurance means demonstrating successful delivery of products/services in a way that meets or exceeds customer expectations on issues that are of high significance. If, however, resources are wasted on successful delivery of insignificant features or significant customer expectations are neglected, the organization is ultimately vulnerable to competitors who can manage external customer assurance more effectively.

1.2 Manage Internal Customer Quality Assurance

Managing internal customer quality assurance involves human resource practices that inspire confidence in the project system processes. The leading human resource practices in project quality assurance include:

1. Integrating human resource development plans into organizational and project objectives

2. Designing project work to promote personal and organizational learning, innovation, and flexibility

3. Implementing project performance management subsystems that recognize and reward excellence

4. Promoting cooperative teamwork and individual empowerment to ensure project customer satisfaction

5. Investing in human resource training, education, and well-being to support project productivity

6. Listening to and measuring the voice of the employee, and improving human resource satisfaction indices accordingly.

FIGURE 4-3 Customer Significance-Success Matrix

With regard to designing project work, meaningfulness is enhanced by skill variety, task identity, and task significance. Productivity is enhanced by increased autonomy and performance feedback. Project managers who expand opportunities for team involvement through suggestion subsystems and other improvement activities are likely to increase internal customer project assurance levels.

Furthermore, performance appraisal systems that factor in both system-determined and individual contributions to performance are important. The 360-degree feedback process allows for peer review, subordinate input, customer evaluations, self-assessments, and personal development plans so that employees are more likely to regard the appraisal process as fair and developmental.

SECOND PROJECT QUALITY PILLAR: PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

While process improvement in previous stages consisted mostly of planning, now process improvement becomes more action-oriented. The project quality assurance stage requires ongoing review of the adequacy of existing processes, an interim project termination review, and ongoing improvement of processes based on data analysis.

2.1 Conduct Ongoing Review of Project Process Adequacy

The process improvement practices that reassure key project stakeholders include:

1. Clearly translating project customer requirements into project design

2. Using appropriate quality tools to implement incremental, competitive-parity, or breakthrough improvements

3. Ensuring that supplier requirements are met and new partnering relationships are formed to increase project efficiency

4. Identifying statistically significant variations in project performance

5. Accurately analyzing the root causes of variations, making corrections, and verifying new project operation results

6. Measuring and benchmarking project processes for continual improvement.

The project process qualification activities are also ongoing to determine whether a particular process is at Spontaneous Level 1, Initialized Level 2, Formalized Level 3, or Optimized Level 4 (see Figure 1-4).

The aim of project process assurance is to improve qualification levels as soon as possible and confirm that qualified processes are in fact being implemented on a regular basis. This confirmation goes a long way toward one of the primary aims of quality assurance—to provide confidence that the project will satisfy relevant quality standards.

2.2 Conduct Interim Project Termination Review

One of the assurance decisions that is crucial is the interim project termination review. If a preponderance of midstream data indicate that the project is not worth further investment of resources, a rigorous termination review will result in a recommendation to cut losses and reallocate resources to more promising options.

Among the considerations that might result in interim termination are the following:

• Low probability of achieving technical objectives and commercializing outcomes

• Technical and/or production problems that cannot be solved with available resources

• Unanticipated large cost overruns or reduced profitability

• Unacceptable schedule delays

• Lowered market potential due to substitutes and competitors

• Shifts in strategic priorities

• Top management decisions to outsource or subcontract the project to cost cuts

• Problems in protecting new project knowledge through patents

• Emergence of a better alternative for use of funds and resources.

Project managers need to be aware of these threats to interim project termination and be prepared to respond to each in an appropriate manner. While many of these factors do not suggest poor management of the project, they do suggest that terminating the project is in the best interests of the overall organization. When confronted with this truth, project managers and sponsors must remember that while they are advocates for the project, they must make recommendations and decisions that are correct for the entire organization. Terminating a project is often painful, yet sometimes necessary.

2.3 Improve Processes Based on Data Analysis

Once the project has passed the interim review, new process resources need to be allocated to continually improve the efficiency of the endorsed project through data collection and analysis. Among the quality tools to be used are project check sheets and project histograms.

Project check sheets are special types of data collection forms in which analytical results may be easily interpreted on the form without additional processing. The sample of a project check sheet in Figure 4-4 depicts the frequency of different types of problems on a weekly basis and helps to quickly identify the most frequently occurring problem as problem C.

In addition to project check sheets to improve processes based on data analysis, the project histogram is a quality tool that graphically depicts the frequency or number of observations of a particular value that occurs within a specific group. Figure 4-5 provides a graphic example of how frequently a particular range of thickness occurred. The greatest frequency of 30 occurrences is visually shown in the population of objects with a thickness of at least 9.4 but less than 9.6. Using project histograms to improve processes, however, requires that the tool be used under typical conditions and consist of a minimum sample size of 50.

FIGURE 4-4 Project Check Sheet

THIRD PROJECT QUALITY PILLAR: FACT-BASED MANAGEMENT

Among the fact-based management tasks of project quality assurance are (1) conducting and reporting quality audits, (2) interpreting quality control measurements, (3) collecting quality assurance lessons learned, and (4) authorizing new or additional tests as needed.

FIGURE 4-5 Project Histogram

3.1 Conduct and Report Results of Quality Audits

Internal or external project quality audits focus on identifying whether documented processes are being followed and are effective, and reporting unacceptable variances to project managers for correction. Audits normally include a review of project process records, training records, registered complaints, documented suggestions, corrective actions, and issues from previous audit reports.

The audit normally begins by asking those who perform a project process regularly to explain how it works. Their statements are compared to written procedures and project norms, and compliance and deviations are noted. Next, the paper trail and other data streams are followed to determine whether the project process is consistent with the intent of the written procedure and the operator’s explanation.

Quality audits also go beyond routine procedures of quality control and address the following strategic questions:²

1. To what extent are current quality policies and goals aligned with organizational mission priorities?

2. To what extent does the current level of quality provide product/service satisfaction to customers?

3. To what extent is the current level of quality externally competitive with the moving target of the marketplace?

4. To what extent is the organization making progress in reducing and/or eliminating the costs of poor quality?

5. To what extent is the cross-functional collaboration among and between functional departments adequate to ensure optimal business results?

6. To what extent does the current level of quality performance meet social and environmental sustainability standards?

3.2 Interpret Results of Quality Control Measurements

One of the important tasks of fact-based management during the project quality assurance stage is to rigorously apply statistical thinking in the interpretation of quality control measurements. The temptations during this stage are either to overreact or to underreact in an effort to reassure customers that quality service is being provided.

To counteract these temptations, project managers need to interpret control chart data in a way that focuses attention on statistical outliers above the upper control limits and below the lower control limits as objects of intervention. Project managers who are not trained in statistics will often overreact to productivity differences in project team member performance that are not statistically significant, and thus create problems where there were none. In addition, project managers not trained in statistics may ignore substandard performance below the lower control limit and permit a statistically important productivity problem to persist.

Data and trends are only useful if they are properly interpreted statistically so that accurate information or facts provide the solid foundations for improvement decision-making.

3.3 Collect and Share Project Quality Assurance Stage Lessons Learned

Just as lessons at the end of the initiation and planning stages were collected, the same procedure can and should be followed near the end of the project quality assurance stage. Lessons are to be used to improve future stages of the current projects, and, through sharing, contribute to the organization’s learning capacity.

3.4 Authorize New or Additional Tests As Needed

During the quality assurance stage, project managers not only need to interpret data from existing tests, but also must be prepared to authorize new or additional tests as needed. As customers request midstream changes in product/service design, new or additional tests may be necessary to assure the process and outcome quality of the contracted product/service. For example, if a Dell Computer customer changes her mind and wants more “bells and whistles” than her initial order, the project quality assurance team will need to perform new and additional tests to ensure that those new “bells and whistles” work properly.

FOURTH PROJECT QUALITY PILLAR: EMPOWERED PERFORMANCE

In the quality assurance stage, empowered performance is enhanced through the management of positive stakeholder relationships as well as the management of feedback changes.

4.1 Project Manager Manages Stakeholder Relations

Project managers empower key project stakeholders in a variety of ways; two important ways are sharing information and eliciting discretionary effort. Although key project stakeholders have clarified their role responsibilities endorsed the project, an ongoing, accurate stream of information that keeps these stakeholders apprised of interim progress is important. The project manager is able to elicit discretionary effort from the key project stakeholders by soliciting midstream feedback and sharing it with project participants to help motivate them.

When a project leader shares both his or her passion for the project along with the current facts of how it is progressing, many participants will be motivated to work a little harder. Some of the key functional managers may also be motivated to provide additional resources that could accelerate project progress. Delegation of responsibility and authority to key project stakeholders gradually transfers power from the project manager to other stakeholders; stakeholder-empowered performance adds collective force and commitment to project quality assurance.

4.2 Manage Feedback Changes

Project managers need to establish organized procedures for obtaining and responding to project change requests. Figure 4-6 provides a sample change request form that includes a description of the proposed change and the disposition status (nature of response) of the change decision.

When a clear change control system is not well used, project participants are often frustrated because they do not know if their decisions will be over-turned. Conversely, project participants are empowered when they clearly understand the limits of what they can do regarding each proposed change. Managing these feedback changes in a clear, organized, and timely manner demonstrates the empowered responsiveness of the project team and reassures key project stakeholders that the voice of the customer always counts in project quality assurance. Integrated feedback change control processes systematically incorporate improvement during the assurance stage.

NOTES

1. International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Quality Management and Quality Assurance (Geneva, Switzerland: ISO Press, 1994).

2. J. M. Juran, Juran on Leadership for Quality (New York: Free Press, 1989).

FIGURE 4-6 Project Change Request Form