Quality Management Exam

Question 1

Define Quality

Answer 1

Quality is the fitness for purpose or the degree of conformance of the outputs of a process or the process itself to requirements.

Question 2

What three things does quality apply to?

Answer 2

Products
Processes
Procedures

Question 3

What is the acceptance criteria?

Where is this documented?

Answer 3

Certain aspects a product must meet or conform to in order to be deemed quality and acceptable.

Quality plan and individual work package descriptions

Question 4

What other functions / PM areas do Quality engage/rely on?

Answer 4

Configuration Management (is the configuration up to date)
Change Control (have stakeholders been engaged & can we do things better)
Requirements Management (stakeholder engagement & are the latest requirements being worked to?

Question 5

What are the four sub-sections of Quality?

Answer 5

Quality Planning
Quality Assurance
Quality Control
Continuous Improvement

Question 6

What is Quality Planning?

Answer 6

It describes how the project will produce quality products and how it will manage itself.

It is created as a plan within the PMP.

Question 7

What should the Quality Plan define/include?

Answer 7

Roles & Responsibilities
Processes that will be followed
How continuous improvement will be carried out
Project assurance techniques
Quality control techniques
Interaction with other processes

Question 8

What considerations should be made when writing the Quality plan?

Answer 8

Existing processes and procedures within the organisation
External influences 
Six Sigma
ISO (9000)
Industry standards
Total Quality Management (TQM)

Question 9

What are some project assurance techniques?

Answer 9

Audits, supplier vetting, specification writing

Question 10

Who owns the Quality plan?

Answer 10

Project Manager

Question 11

What is Quality Assurance & what does it provide?

Answer 11

The process associated with demonstrating and providing confidence to stakeholders that the quality requirements will be achieved.

Provides stakeholders with satisfaction that plans are being followed and that a quality product will be produced.

Question 12

What are some Quality Assurance techniques?

Answer 12

Training - SQEP team? Suitably trained? Training records in place?

Audit - Done either internally/externally/formally/informally to ensure processes, principles and techniques are being followed as stated in the quality plan.

LFE - Ensure LFE is documented and implemented.

Supplier Accreditation - Assess suppliers to ensure competence and stability against set criteria.

Question 13

What is Quality Control?

Answer 13

Quality control refers to the application of techniques to ensure products are produced to quality expectations and meet success criteria. These techniques aim to prevent re-work.

Quality control must be undertaken using an objective mechanism comparing the finished product against a specification to conform acceptability.

Question 14

What are some Quality Control techniques?

Answer 14

Inspection and Measurement - visually inspecting the finished product to ensure it meets requirements.

Walk-throughs - More in-depth and will look at the parts of a product, how it was made etc.

Pareto - Process of understanding the nature of the observable faults and the root cause of them. 80% of faults are caused by 20% of the root causes

Process Control charts - Plots measurements/samples as they’re produced to monitor quality over time.

Question 15

What is Continuous Improvement?

Answer 15

Involves the correct use of feedback and using the lessons of the past to drive actions of the future.

Process of improving efficiencies, productivity and practicalities of PM.

An on-going process. Informs the quality planning process before and during the project but it refines the plan rather than replaces it.

Question 16

Name some examples & the benefits of how aspects of PM / Quality might use continuous improvement?

Answer 16

Highlight inefficiencies
Develop processes
Evolve principles, procedures and techniques
Maturity
Identify root causes and recommendations

Benefits of CI:

Improve accuracy 
Reduce defects
Become more mature
Conformance to requirements
Become more efficient

Question 17

What are the benefits of a quality management process?

Answer 17

Help eradicate problems
Reduce the need for re-work
Provides confidence to stakeholders that they will receive a quality product
Provides assurance over safety-critical products
Improve efficiency, effectiveness and motivation

Question 18

What is Crosby’s view?

Answer 18

Crosby - The Cost of Quality, 1979

As prevention costs rise, the failure and prevention costs will fall.

The organisation becomes more mature, makes less faulty goods and requires less re-work.

Question 19

What is PDCA?

Answer 19

Plan, Do, Check, Act. Four step management process which helps support continuous improvement of processes, procedures and products.

Plan - establish objectives, what is the problem, what’s trying to be achieved.

Do - Implement new process and actions

Check - Monitor and measure progress against policies, objectives, requirements and KPIs?

Act - Take actions to continually improve aims. Adopt change and improvement.

Question 20

What % of projects fail to be completed?

What percentage of projects that are completed experience cost overruns?

What % of projects are delivered late or over budget?

What % of projects don’t meet the business goals or objectives?

Answer 20

18%

33%

43%

33%

Question 21

What is the role of a Quality Assurance Manager?

Answer 21

Ensure products meet level of quality required to meet acceptance criteria

Plan, direct and coordinate quality assurance programmes and create quality control processes.

Work to improve organisational efficiency, profitability and helps reduce waste.

They also:
Oversee processes
Manage teams
Train employees
Manage inputs
Analyse data

Question 22

Define Quality Management

Answer 22

QM is a discipline for ensuring outputs, benefits and processes by which they’re delivered meet stakeholder requirements, standards, specifications and are fit for purpose.

Question 23

Why is it important to manage quality on a project?

Answer 23

Reduce costs

Reduce re-works

Maintain the company’s reputation

Become more mature

Continuous improvement

Meet industry standards

Question 24

Why does quality need to be measured?

Answer 24

In all quality control activities, decisions need to be made about the degree of conformance of the output tested to the specification and acceptance criteria and what action needs to be taken.

Measure quality against a quantitative baseline/figure and the end-product.

Measure and track the quality/progress of a project throughout the life cycle to ensure quality is maintained and aligned with objectives.

Question 25

What is a NCR?

Answer 25

Non Conformance Report

Report that addresses specific project deviations, defects or work that fails to meet the quality standards/specifications/designs.

NCRs detail:
Problem description
How it happened
Why it happened
Who's responsible
What's required to fix it

Question 26

When is an NCR raised?

Answer 26

Work that wasn’t specified in the designs

Work that fails to meet tolerances

Work that fails to meet specifications

Work that is being performed using unapproved methods, techniques and processes

Failure to follow testing and inspection plans

The product doesn’t meet standards or regulations

Using materials that haven’t been approved or aren’t specified in the design/requirements

Question 27

Who can issue an NCR?

Answer 27

Any member of the project team but will most likely require sign off from all stakeholders including the PM, quality manager and contractor/responsible person.

Question 28

What are the issues with NCRs and other QC techniques?

Answer 28

May be seen as obstructing project progress

Disrupt relationships

Increase costs