Review - Chapter 8 Flashcards
Importance of Project Quality Management
- Poor quality of IT products
- People seem to accept systems being down occasionally or needing to reboot their PCs
- Quality is very important in many IT projects
Project Quality
The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements
Conformance to Requirements
The project’s processes and products meet written specifications
Fitness for Use
A product can be used as it was intended
Project Quality Management
Ensures that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken
Planning Quality Management
Identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them
Performing Quality Assurance
Periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards
Performing Quality Control
Monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards
Planning Quality
Implies the ability to anticipate situations and prepare actions to bring about the desired outcome
How to Prevent Defects
- Selecting proper materials
- Training and indoctrinating people in quality
- Planning a process that ensures the appropriate outcome
Functionality
The degree to which a system performs its intended function
Features
The system’s special characteristics that appeal to users
System Outputs
The screens and reports the system generates
Performance
Addresses how well a product or service performs the customer’s intended use
Reliability
The ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions
Maintainability
Addresses the ease of performing maintenance on a product
Who’s responsible for the Quality of Projects?
Project managers
Quality Assurance
- Includes all the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project
- Continuous quality improvement
Lean
Involves evaluating processes to maximize customer value while minimizing waste
Benchmarking
Generates ideas for quality improvements by comparing specific project practices or characteristics to those of other projects or products within or outside the performing organization
Quality Audit
A structured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects
Main Outputs of Quality Control
- Acceptance decisions
- Rework
- Process adjustments
Seven Basic Tools of Quality
- Cause-and-Effect Diagrams
- Quality Control Charts
- Checksheet
- Scatter Diagram
- Histograms
- Flowcharts
- Run Chart
Cause-and-Effect Diagrams
- Trace complaints about quality problems back to the responsible production operations
- Helps find the root cause of a problem
- aka fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams
Quality Control Charts
- A graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time used to prevent defects
- Allow you to determine whether a process is in control or out of control
Seven Run Rule
If seven data points in a row are all below the mean, above the mean, or are all increasing or decreasing, then the process needs to be examined for non-random problems
Checksheet
- Used to collect and analyze data
- Sometimes called a tally sheet or checklist
- Useful in improving the process for handling complaints
Scatter Diagram
- Helps to show if there is a relationship between two variables
- The closer points are to a diagonal line, the more closely the two variables are related
Histogram
- A bar graph of a distribution of variables
* Each bar represents an attribute or characteristic of a problem or situation and the height represents frequency
Pareto Chart
A histogram that can help identify and prioritize problem areas
Pareto Analysis
aka the 80-20 rule, 80% of problems are often due to 20% of the causes
Flowcharts
- Graphic displays of the logic flow of processes that help you analyze how problems occur and how processes can be improved
- Show activities, destination points, and the order of how information is processed
Run Charts
- Also used for stratification
- Displays the history and pattern of variation of a process over time
- Can be used to perform trend analysis and forecast future outcomes based on historical results
Stratification
A technique that shows data from a variety of sources to see if a pattern emerges
Statistical Sampling
- Involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection
- Size of a sample depends on how representative you want the sample to be
Sample Size Formula
Sample size = .25*(certainty factor/acceptable error)^2
Six Sigma
A comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining, and maximizing business success
Six Sigma Target for Perfection
No more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities
DMAIC
A systematic, closed-loop process for continued improvement that is scientific and fact based
What does DMAIC stand for?
Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control
Sigma
Standard deviation
Standard Deviation
- measures how much variation exists in a distribution of data
- is a key factor in determining the acceptable number of defective units found in a population
Yield
Represents the number of units handled correctly through the process steps
Defect
Any instance where the product or service fails to meet customer requirements
Six 9s of Quality
- A measure of quality control = 1 fault in 1 million opportunities
- 99.9999% availability or 30s of downtime/year (telecom)
Types of Tests
Unit testing, integration testing, system testing, user acceptance testing
Unit Testing
Tests each individual component to ensure it is as defect-free as possible
Integration Testing
Occurs between unit and system testing to test functionally grouped components
System Testing
Tests the entire system as one entity
User Acceptance Testing
An independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered system
Software Defect
Anything that must be changed before delivery of the program
Deming
Rebuilding Japan and his 14 Points for Management
Juran
Quality Control Handbook and 10 steps to quality improvement
Crosby
Quality is Free and suggested that organizations strive for zero defects
Ishikawa
Concepts of quality circles and fishbone diagrams
Taguchi
Methods for optimizing the process of engineering experimentation
Feigenbaum
Concept of total quality control
ISO 9000
A quality system standard that is a three part continuous cycle that provides minimum requirements needed for an organization to meet quality certification standards and helps organizations reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction
Suggestions for Improving Quality for IT Projects
- Establish leadership that promotes quality
- Understand the cost of quality
- Focus on organizational influences and workplace factors that affect quality
- Follow maturity models
Cost of Quality
The cost of conformance plus the cost of nonconformance
Conformance
Delivering products that meet requirements and fitness for use
Cost of Nonconformance
Taking responsibility for failures or not meeting quality expectations
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
Maturity Models
Frameworks for helping organizations improve their processes and systems
Software Quality Function Deployment Model
Focuses on defining user requirements and planning software projects
Capability Maturity Model Integration
A process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes
CMMI Levels (lowest to highest)
Incomplete Performed Managed Defined Quantitatively Managed Optimizing
OPM3
Organizational Project Management Maturity Model that addresses standards for excellence in project, program, and portfolio management best practices and explains the capabilities necessary to achieve those best practices
