Chapter 8: Project Quality Management

Question 1

The Project Quality Management processes are:

Answer 1

Plan Quality Management, Manage Quality, and Control Quality

Question 2

Define the process “Plan Quality Management”

Answer 2

The process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and its deliverables, and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with quality requirements and/ or standards

Question 3

Define the process “Manage Quality”

Answer 3

The process of translating the quality management plan into executable quality activities that incorporate the organization’s quality policies into the project

Question 4

Define the process “Control Quality”

Answer 4

The process of monitoring and recording the results of executing the quality management activities to assess performance and ensure the project outputs are complete, correct, and meet customer expectations

Question 5

There are two outputs specific to the Project Quality Management Knowledge Area that are used by other Knowledge Areas:

Answer 5

verified deliverables and quality reports

Question 6

What is the difference between “grade” and “quality”

Answer 6

Quality as a delivered performance or result is “the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements.” Grade as a design intent is a category assigned to deliverables having the same functional use but different technical characteristics. While a quality level that fails to meet quality requirements is always a problem, a low-grade product may not be a problem

Question 7

Define “Tolerances and control limits”

Answer 7

Tolerances: specified range of acceptable results, and control limits: identify the boundaries of common variation in a statistically stable process or process performance

Question 8

Define “Prevention”

Answer 8

Prevention is keeping errors out of the process and inspection (keeping errors out of the hands of the customer)

Question 9

Define “Attribute/ Variable sampling”

Answer 9

Attribute sampling: the result either conforms or does not conform, and variable sampling: the result is rated on a continuous scale that measures the degree of conformity

Question 10

The cost of quality (COQ) includes:

Answer 10

all costs incurred over the life of the product by investment in preventing nonconformance to requirements, appraising the product or service for conformance to requirements, and failing to meet requirements (rework)

Question 11

Failure costs are often categorized into ____ (found by the project team) and _____ (found by the customer)

Answer 11

Internal, external

Question 12

True or false: Decisions about the COQ over a product’s life cycle are often the concern of program management, portfolio management, the PMO, or operations

Answer 12

True, because projects are temporary

Question 13

There are five levels of increasingly effective quality management as follows:

Answer 13

1: Usually, the most expensive approach is to let the customer find the defects. This approach can lead to warranty issues, recalls, loss of reputation, and rework costs. 2: Detect and correct the defects before the deliverables are sent to the customer as part of the quality control process. The control quality process has related costs, which are mainly the appraisal costs and internal failure costs. 3: Use quality assurance to examine and correct the process itself and not just special defects. 4: Incorporate quality into the planning and designing of the project and product. 5: Create a culture throughout the organization that is aware and committed to quality in processes and products.

Question 14

Trends in Project Quality Management include but are not limited to:

Answer 14

Customer Satisfaction, Continual Improvement, Management Responsibility, Mutually beneficial partnership with suppliers

Question 15

Define “fitness for use”

Answer 15

the product or service needs to satisfy the real needs

Question 16

Define “plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle”

Answer 16

It is the basis for quality improvement as defined by Shewhart and modified by Deming. This is a form of continual quality improvement

Question 17

Considerations for tailoring Project Quality Management include but are not limited to:

Answer 17

Policy compliance and auditing, Standards and regulatory compliance, Continuous improvement, Stakeholder engagement

Question 18

Define “Benchmarking” as a data gathering technique

Answer 18

Benchmarking involves comparing actual or planned project practices or the project’s quality standards to those of comparable projects to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a basis for measuring performance. Benchmarked projects may exist within the performing organization or outside of it, or can be within the same application area or other application area. Benchmarking allows for analogies from projects in a different application area or different industries to be made

Question 19

Define “Cost-benefit analysis”

Answer 19

A cost-benefit analysis is a financial analysis tool used to estimate the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives in order to determine the best alternative in terms of benefits provided. A cost- benefit analysis will help the project manager determine if the planned quality activities are cost effective

Question 20

The cost of quality (COQ) associated with a project consists of one or more of the following costs:

Answer 20

Prevention costs, Appraisal costs, Failure costs

Question 21

The optimal COQ is:

Answer 21

One that reflects the appropriate balance for investing in the cost of prevention and appraisal to avoid failure costs. Models show that there is an optimal quality cost for projects, where investing in additional prevention/appraisal costs is neither beneficial nor cost effective

Question 22

Data representation techniques that can be used for Project Quality Management include but are not limited to:

Answer 22

Flowcharts, Logical data model, Matrix diagrams, mind mapping

Question 23

Define “Logical data model”

Answer 23

Logical data models are a visual representation of an organization’s data, described in business language and independent of any specific technology. The logical data model can be used to identify where data integrity or other quality issues can arise

Question 24

Define “Matrix diagrams”

Answer 24

Matrix diagrams help find the strength of relationships among different factors, causes, and objectives that exist between the rows and columns that form the matrix. Depending on how many factors may be compared, the project manager can use different shapes of matrix diagrams; for example, L, T, Y, X, C, and roof–shaped. In this process they facilitate identifying the key quality metrics that are important for the success of the project

Question 25

Define “Mind mapping”

Answer 25

Mind mapping is a diagrammatic method used to visually organize information. A mind map in quality is often created around a single quality concept, drawn as an image in the center of a blank landscape page, to which associated representations of ideas such as images, words, and parts of words are added

Question 26

During the _____ phase, the project manager and the project team determine how to test or inspect the product, deliverable, or service to meet the stakeholders’ needs and expectations, as well as how to meet the goal for the product’s performance and reliability

Answer 26

planning

Question 27

Define the process “Manage Quality”

Answer 27

Manage Quality is the process of translating the quality management plan into executable quality activities that incorporate the organization’s quality policies into the project

Question 28

True or false: Manage Quality is sometimes called quality assurance, although Manage Quality has a broader definition than quality assurance as it is used in nonproject work

Answer 28

True

Question 29

Define “Process analysis”

Answer 29

Process analysis identifies opportunities for process improvements. This analysis also examines problems, constraints, and non-value-added activities that occur during a process

Question 30

Define “Root cause analysis (RCA)”

Answer 30

Root cause analysis is an analytical technique used to determine the basic underlying reason that causes a variance, defect, or risk. A root cause may underlie more than one variance, defect, or risk. It may also be used as a technique for identifying root causes of a problem and solving them. When all root causes for a problem are removed, the problem does not recur

Question 31

In the context of managing quality, what is the difference between making Project and Product decisions?

Answer 31

Project decisions can include choosing among different implementation scenarios or suppliers. Product decisions can include evaluating the life cycle cost, schedule, stakeholder satisfaction, and risks associated with resolving product defects

Question 32

Define “Cause-and-effect diagrams”

Answer 32

Cause-and-effect diagrams are also known as fishbone diagrams, why-why diagrams, or Ishikawa diagrams. This type of diagram breaks down the causes of the problem statement identified into discrete branches, helping to identify the main or root cause of the problem

Question 33

Define “Histogram”

Answer 33

Histograms show a graphical representation of numerical data. Histograms can show the number of defects per deliverable, a ranking of the cause of defects, the number of times each process is noncompliant, or other representations of project or product defects

Question 34

Define an “audit”

Answer 34

An audit is a structured, independent process used to determine if project activities comply with organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures. A quality audit is usually conducted by a team external to the project, such as the organization’s internal audit department, PMO, or by an auditor external to the organization

Question 35

Quality audit objectives may include but are not limited to:

Answer 35

Identifying all good and best practices being implemented, Identifying all nonconformity, gaps, and shortcomings, Sharing good practices introduced or implemented in similar projects in the organization and/or industry, Proactively offering assistance in a positive manner to improve the implementation of processes to help raise team productivity, Highlighting contributions of each audit in the lessons learned repository of the organization

Question 36

Define “Design for X (DfX)”

Answer 36

Design for X (DfX) is a set of technical guidelines that may be applied during the design of a product for the optimization of a specific aspect of the design. DfX can control or even improve the product’s final characteristics. The X in DfX can be different aspects of product development, such as reliability, deployment, assembly, manufacturing, cost, service, usability, safety, and quality. Using the DfX may result in cost reduction, quality improvement, better performance, and customer satisfaction

Question 37

True or false: The quality reports can be graphical, illustrative, or qualitative

Answer 37

False. The quality reports can be graphical, numerical, or qualitative

Question 38

Define the process “Control Quality”

Answer 38

Control Quality is the process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality management activities in order to assess performance and ensure the project outputs are complete, correct, and meet customer expectations

Question 39

True or false: In waterfall model-based projects, the quality control activities are performed at specific times, toward the end of the project or phase, by specified team members

Answer 39

True

Question 40

True or false: Work performance data contains data on product status such as observations, quality metrics, and measurements for technical performance, as well as project quality information on schedule performance and cost performance

Answer 40

True

Question 41

Define “Check sheets”

Answer 41

Check sheets are also known as tally sheets and are used to organize facts in a manner that will facilitate the effective collection of useful data about a potential quality problem. They are especially useful for gathering attributes data while performing inspections to identify defects; for example, data about the frequencies or consequences of defects collected

Question 42

Define “Statistical sampling”

Answer 42

Statistical sampling involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection (for example, selecting 10 engineering drawings at random from a list of 75). The sample is taken to measure controls and verify quality. Sample frequency and sizes should be determined during the Plan Quality Management process

Question 43

Define “Control charts”

Answer 43

Control charts are used to determine whether or not a process is stable or has predictable performance. Upper and lower specification limits are based on the requirements and reflect the maximum and minimum values allowed. Upper and lower control limits are different from specification limits. The control limits are determined using standard statistical calculations and principles to ultimately establish the natural capability for a stable process

Question 44

The following meetings may be used as part of the Control Quality process:

Answer 44

Approved change requests review, Retrospectives/lesson learned