Project Management Methodology Quality Management and Control

What is the quality ISO gives a vague definition of quality as “the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs”

What is the quality Good quality Conformance to requirements The project delivers in accordance to written requirements Fitness to use The product can be used as it is intended to be Project team must communicate to key customers to understand what the quality means for them

Quality control/ management The objective The product must meet the requirements It also must meet the time and cost constraints Performing quality control means in fact periodical evaluation of the overall project performance

Quality management processes Quality planning Performing quality assurance Performing quality control

Quality planning Decide about the standards Introduce quality requirements and metrics Quality checklists MS Excel spreadsheet used to track quality requirements implementation Planning the process of quality assurance and control

Quality planning Identify relevant quality standards Current standards are developed by International Standards Organization (ISO). For IT this is a series of ISO 9000 Service Level Agreement (SLA) defines quality requirements from a customer perspective in terms of reliability and usability

Quality planning Design quality into the products of the project Design quality into the project management processes

Quality planning Design of experiments Quality planning technique used to identify which variables have the most influence on the outcome In project management this can be used to analyze various issues, such as cost and schedule trade-offs, cost and security trade-offs, etc.

Quality planning Communicating the correct actions for ensuring quality to the development team Focus on particular statements of the product and project description which affect quality Formalize them as the quality criteria list and the quality baseline

Quality planning Quality criteria apply to Functionality What functions must be implemented System outputs (GUI, reports, etc) How the outputs must look to provide high level usability for a customer Performance Response time, the volume of data and transactions, number of concurrent users

Quality planning Quality criteria apply to Reliability Maintainability Ability of the product to perform as expected under normal circumstances Data accuracy, availability as defined by SLA Maintainability Cost and simplicity of maintenance and operation Scalability Ability to scale when the business or technology requirements change

Quality assurance This is the process that runs from start to end of the project It assumes tracking of the quality requirements implementation both by fact and by process System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) methodology and supporting documentation create a foundation of the process

Quality assurance SDLC can be implemented for example as the gate-based process where: each gate assumes completion of a particular deliverables and A deliverable goes through solution review performed by a designated organizational body. Normally this is an assembled team of subject matter experts (SME)

Quality assurance Techniques used in quality assurance Design of experiments Benchmarking Comparing specific project practices or product characteristics to the Best Industry Practice Quality audit Structure review of specific quality management activities in practice Examine and evaluate factual information

Quality Assurance Processes, standards, organizational requirements, and other documents that outline the company Information Technology development and operational practice must be consolidated into a library, known as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) A librarian must maintain the library up-to-date

Performing quality control Quality control process outcomes Acceptance decisions Determines if a project will be accepted or rejected If a project, or a part of it, is rejected it must be reworked Rework This is an action taken to bring rejected part to compliance with the quality requirements. Often results in change requests, can be very intensive

Performing quality control Quality control process outcomes Process adjustments Correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality control measurements Updates to the quality control baseline, organizational processes, and the project management plan

Quality control tools Special tools used to monitor project parameters to ensure that they are compliant with the relevant quality standards Seven Basic Tools of Quality Cause-and-effect diagrams, aka fishbones Control charts Run charts Scatter diagrams Histograms Pareto chart Flowchart

Cause-and-Effect Diagrams Cause-and-effect diagrams trace complaints about quality problems back to the responsible production operations They help you find the root cause of a problem Also known as fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Figure 8-2. Sample Cause-and-Effect Diagram Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Quality Control Charts A control chart is a graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time The main use of control charts is to differentiate issues that are caused by random problems from ones that are systemic Quality control charts allow you to determine whether a process is in control or out of control When a process is in control, any variations in the results of the process are created by random events; processes that are in control do not need to be adjusted When a process is out of control, variations in the results of the process are caused by non-random events; you need to identify the causes of those non-random events and adjust the process to correct or eliminate them Information Technology Project Management, Sxth Edition

Figure 8-3. Sample Quality Control Chart Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition Run Chart A run chart displays the history and pattern of variation of a process over time It is a line chart that shows data points plotted in the order in which they occur Can be used to perform trend analysis to forecast future outcomes based on historical patterns Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Figure 8-4. Sample Run Chart Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition Scatter Diagram A scatter diagram helps to show if there is a relationship between two variables The closer data points are to a diagonal line, the more closely the two variables are related Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Figure 8-5. Sample Scatter Diagram Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition Histograms A histogram is a bar graph of a distribution of variables Each bar represents an attribute or characteristic of a problem or situation, and the height of the bar represents its frequency Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Figure 8-6. Sample Histogram Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Pareto charts A histogram that can help to identify and prioritize problem areas The diagram collect stats of a problem occurrences Use Bar Charts to indicate most common quality problem causes—address these first (taking severity into account of course)

Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition Pareto Charts A Pareto chart is a histogram that can help you identify and prioritize problem areas Pareto analysis is also called the 80-20 rule, meaning that 80 percent of problems are often due to 20 percent of the causes Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Figure 8-7. Sample Pareto Chart Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition Flowcharts Flowcharts are graphic displays of the logic and flow of processes that help you analyze how problems occur and how processes can be improved They show activities, decision points, and the order of how information is processed Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Figure 8-8. Sample Flowchart Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Quality control tools Statistical sampling Based on stats collected during sufficient period of time Validity of statistical data is critical Consult with an expert when using statistical analysis

Quality control tools - Six Sigma Cannot separate quality from how you run the business Addresses quality by addressing business processes Key is to reduce variation in process outputs Five phase improvement process Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control Toyota, Motorola, GE

Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition DMAIC DMAIC stands for: 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 Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Six Sigma Projects Use Project Management The training for Six Sigma includes many project management concepts, tools, and techniques For example, Six Sigma projects often use business cases, project charters, schedules, budgets, and so on Six Sigma projects are done in teams; the project manager is often called the team leader, and the sponsor is called the champion Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Six Sigma Projects Focus on Customer Drive out waste Raise quality levels By reducing variation! Improve financial performance

Quality Assurance - Testing Define testing “strategy” Unit Regression Integration System User Acceptance Frameworks, Standards

Figure 8-10. Testing Tasks in the Software Development Life Cycle Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Quality Control Metrics The Cost of Quality

Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition The Cost of Quality The cost of quality is the cost of conformance plus the cost of nonconformance Conformance means delivering products that meet requirements and fitness for use Cost of nonconformance means taking responsibility for failures or not meeting quality expectations A study reported that software bugs cost the U.S. economy $59.6 billion each year and that one third of the bugs could be eliminated by an improved testing infrastructure Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Five Cost Categories Related to 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 Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition Maturity Models Maturity models are frameworks for helping organizations improve their processes and systems The Software Quality Function Deployment Model focuses on defining user requirements and planning software projects The Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes Information Technology Project Management, Sixth Edition

CMM for the processes Maturity Definition None – process does not exist Initial – process is ad-hoc and disorganized Repeatable – process follows a regular pattern Documented – process is documented and communicated in a standard, company-wide way Optimized – process is designed to bring added value to security requirements understanding Project Management and SDLC processes must be at the level 4 to comply with the best industry practice