Quality Planning PMI Westchester Quality SIG -Best Practices- December 2007

2 Quality Planning Objectives During Quality Planning, we develop a Quality Management Plan. We also identify the following:  Customers  Requirements  Specifications This presentation will provide an overview of the above.

3 Quality Planning The PMBOK describes quality planning as “…identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them.” Quality is planned in, not inspected in. During Quality Planning, Project Managers should design in and build in quality. Project Managers should use conformance and prevention to achieve quality. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge – Third Edition, Project Management Institute, Newtown Square, PA, 2004, p. 183.

4 Quality Management Plan The quality management plan communicates the plan that will be used to ensure high quality for the project and deliverables. This plan will define the goals, processes and responsibilities required for effective quality management

5 Identify Customers Customers may be classified as external, internal and hidden:  External customers – paying customers, suppliers, and end users  Internal customers – elements in the supplier- process-customer chain Supplier – provides inputs to a process Process – all the tasks that convert inputs into outputs Customer – receives outputs from the process  Hidden customers – not directly involved but concerned about the project’s outcome

6 Prioritize Customers The project team should prioritize the customers in order to gain an understanding of their importance in order to avoid showstoppers – customers that could cause the project to stop work. An L-Shape Matrix could be used as the tool to prioritize customers.

7 Identify Requirements Project requirements are usually identified by the customers Requirements are useful to the project team Requirements are generally stated but details will come later Requirements may be explicitly stated as in the case of contracts Requirements may be implied or unstated as in the requirements of users, affected groups and concerned groups Requirements are measurable through specifications

8 Prioritize Requirements The project team should prioritize the requirements in order to gain an understanding of their importance in order to avoid showstoppers – requirements that could cause the project to stop work. An L-Shape Matrix could be used as the tool to prioritize requirements.

9 Identify Standards Standards are prescribed ways of doing things. Standards address how something is to be done. Standards guide project implementation and describe how the project team should or must employ a process. Some organizations develop their own standards for project implementation. Other organizations develop standards that are widely available to use; the ISO standards is an example.

10 Specifications Specifications detail the general stated requirements. Specifications are the specific and measurable statements of requirements. Specifications provide the specific targets for performance Note: Operational definitions provide clarification of ambiguous terms and allow the project team to develop specifications by this rational analysis rather than guesswork. Specification is a three-step process:  1. Identify Requirement: Answer phone calls  2. Develop Operational Definitions: the amount of time before a call is answered expressed as the number of rings as measured by the phone system.  3. Develop a specific value against which performance will be measured to determine project success: Answer 80 percent of phone calls on the second ring Note: Metrics are the means of measurement for determining conformance to specifications and are part of quality assurance.

11 Contact Information Linda P. Dowdell, PMP, MBA, MS President of Dowdell Consulting Services, LLC A Project Management Services Company Public Relations Program Manager & Quality Chair for Project Management Institute Westchester