Project Quality
Management
PMP Study Workbook
Dan Ryan, MBA, PMP, PMI-ACP
www.pmexamcoach.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Project Quality Management ................................................................................................ 1
Quality Overview ............................................................................................................................... 1
Quality Key Concepts ......................................................................................................................... 2
Quality Trends and Emerging Practices .............................................................................................. 3
Quality Tailoring Considerations ........................................................................................................ 3
Quality Considerations for Agile Environments ................................................................................. 4
Plan Quality Management.................................................................................................................. 4
Plan Quality Management: Inputs ......................................................................................................................... 5
Plan Quality Management: Tools & Techniques ................................................................................................. 6
Plan Quality Management: Outputs ..................................................................................................................... 8
Manage Quality.................................................................................................................................. 9
Manage Quality: Inputs........................................................................................................................................ 10
Manage Quality: Tools & Techniques ................................................................................................................ 11
Manage Quality: Outputs .................................................................................................................................... 14
Control Quality ................................................................................................................................. 15
Control Quality: Inputs .......................................................................................................................................... 16
Control Quality: Tools & Techniques .................................................................................................................. 17
Control Quality: Outputs ...................................................................................................................................... 20
Project Quality Management
Project Quality Management
P M P S T U DY W O R K B O O K
PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Quality Overview
According to the PMBOK® Guide, “Project Quality Management
includes the processes for incorporating the organization's quality
policies regarding planning, managing, and controlling project and
product quality requirements in order to meet stakeholders’
objectives.” Project Quality Management also supports continuous
process improvement activities as undertaken on behalf of the
performing organization.
The following processes are contained in the Project Quality Management Knowledge Area:
Plan Quality
Management
Manage
Quality
Control
Quality
PMP Exam Study Tip
Performing the processes in Quality Management result in two
outputs that are used in other knowledge areas; verified
deliverables and quality reports.
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Project Quality Management
Quality Key Concepts
Project Quality Management concentrates on both the management of the overall project and
the management of the project deliverables.
Project Quality Management applies to all projects, regardless of the type of deliverables
being produced.
Quality techniques and measurements are specific to the type of deliverables being produced
by the project.
On any project, prevention (ensuring there are no errors in the deliverables before they are
handed off to the customer) is always better than inspection (ensuring that there are no errors
in the final deliverables after they are handed off to the customer).
The cost of correcting product defects after delivery is usually considerably higher than the
cost of preventing product defects before delivery.
Cost of Quality (COQ) is an important concept in Project Quality Management and should be
understood by all team members. Following are the major characteristics of COQ:
▪
COQ includes all costs over the life of the product.
▪
COQ can be minimized by evaluating the conformance to product requirements before
the product is delivered to the customer.
▪
Product failure costs can be either internal (discovered by the project team), or external
(discovered by the customer). Failure costs are also called the cost of poor quality.
PMP Exam Study Tip
Quality refers to the degree to which a set of inherent
characteristics fulfill requirements.
Grade refers to deliverables possessing the same functional use
but different technical characteristics.
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Project Quality Management
Quality Trends and Emerging Practices
Following are some major trends and emerging practices to keep in mind for Project Quality
Management:
Customer Satisfaction – It needs to be ensured that you understand, evaluate, define, and
manage requirements in order to meet customer expectations.
Continual Improvement – The best way to improve quality on your projects is to understand
and implement the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle, which was created by Walter A.
Shewhart and improved by G. Edwards Deming.
Other quality improvement methods should also be employed to help improve both the
quality of project management and the quality of the end deliverable. Commonly used
quality improvement methods include Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, and Lean
Six Sigma.
Management Responsibility – Project success is dependent not only on the project team
being constantly responsible for ensuring quality, but also on management being constantly
responsible for providing the proper resources at the right time and in the right quantities.
Mutually Beneficial Partnership with Suppliers – A mutually beneficial relationship helps to
improve the ability to create value for both the project organization and the supplier
organization.
Quality Tailoring Considerations
Each project is unique, which means that the project manager may need to tailor the way that
Project Quality Management processes are applied. Following are key considerations that the
project manager should keep in mind when applying the Project Quality Management processes:
Policy
Compliance
& Auditing
Standards &
Regulatory
Compliance
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Continuous
Improvement
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Project Quality Management
Quality Considerations for Agile Environments
Following are key considerations that the project team should keep in mind when working in an
agile project environment:
To handle changes in the project, agile methods include frequent quality and review steps.
These are conducted throughout the project rather than only at the end of the project.
Recurring retrospectives regularly check on the effectiveness of the quality processes.
Agile methods focus on small chunks of work in order to ensure frequent, incremental delivery
of project deliverables and their components.
Plan Quality Management
According to the PMBOK® Guide, “Plan Quality Management
involves identifying project and deliverable standards and
requirements, and documenting how the project will show compliance
with these project and deliverable standards and requirements.” This
process benefits the project by providing direction and guidance on
how project quality will be managed and verified throughout the
project.
PMP Exam Study Tip
It is important that quality management planning be performed in
parallel with the other planning processes on a project.
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Project Quality Management
Plan Quality Management: Inputs
Project
Management
Plan
Project
Charter
EEFs
Project
Documents
OPAs
Project Charter – Components for this process include product characteristics, measurable
project objectives, and their related success criteria, all of which will have an impact on
project quality management.
Project Management Plan – Components for this process include the schedule the
requirements measurement plan, the risk management plan, the stakeholder engagement plan,
and the scope baseline.
Project Documents:
▪
Assumption Log
▪
Requirements Documentation
▪
Requirements Traceability Matrix
▪
Stakeholder Register
▪
Risk Register
Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) – Examples include geographic distribution and
cultural perceptions.
Organizational Process Assets (OPAs) – Examples include the organization’s quality
management system, and quality templates such as check sheets.
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Project Quality Management
Plan Quality Management: Tools & Techniques
Expert
Judgment
Data
Gathering
Techniques
Data Analysis
Techniques
Decision
Making
Techniques
Data
Representation
Techniques
Test and
Inspection
Planning
Meetings
Expert Judgment – Any individuals or groups within the organization possessing detailed
knowledge and understanding of quality assurance, quality control, and quality systems
should be consulted during the project whenever necessary
Data Gathering Techniques – Following are some important data gathering techniques used
in this process:
▪
Benchmarking – Comparing actual or planned project practices or quality standards to
those of similar projects. The goal is to outline a performance measurement structure, to
identify best practices, and to develop ideas for improvement.
▪
Brainstorming – Using creative ways of gathering data from a group of team members or
subject matter experts to help in the development of the quality management plan.
▪
Interviews – Interviewing project participants, stakeholders, and quality subject matter
experts.
Data Analysis Techniques – There are two major data analysis techniques used in this
process:
▪
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Cost-Benefit Analysis – A financial analysis tool used to estimate the strengths and
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Project Quality Management
weaknesses of alternatives to help determine if the planned quality activities are cost
effective, so that the alternative with the lowest cost and highest benefit will be selected.
▪
Cost of Quality (COQ) – The cost of quality associated with a project consists of one or
more of the following costs:
− Prevention Costs – Costs incurred as a result of preventing poor quality in the project
deliverables.
− Appraisal Costs – Costs incurred as a result of evaluating, measuring, auditing, and
testing the project deliverables.
− Failure costs – Costs related to nonconformance of the project deliverables. These can
be internal or external (cost of defect repair).
The most effective COQ includes a balance between the investment in the cost of
prevention and appraisal, which will help avoid failure costs.
Figure 6-1: Cost of Quality – Conformance vs. Non-Conformance
Decision Making Techniques – The major one used in this process is multi-criteria decision
analysis.
Data Representation Techniques – Typical data representation techniques used in this
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Project Quality Management
process include:
▪
Flowcharts (Process Maps) – These show a flow of steps and the branching possibilities for
a process, which eventually transforms one or more inputs into one or more outputs. A
commonly used flowchart model to depict a value chain is the SIPOC Model (suppliers,
inputs, process, outputs, and customers).
▪
Logical Data Model – This visually represents an organization's data, presented in plain
business language that isn't dependent on any specific technology.
▪
Matrix Diagrams – These help in the identification of key quality metrics that will help
ensure project success.
▪
Mind Mapping – This helps to visually organize information and enable the project team
to rapidly gather project quality requirements.
Test and Inspection Planning – During the planning phase, the project manager and the
project team determine how to test or inspect the project deliverables to ensure they meet
both stakeholder expectations and the project's performance and reliability goals.
Meetings – These commonly include planning meetings with the goal of developing the quality
management plan.
Plan Quality Management: Outputs
Quality
Management
Plan
Quality
Metrics
Project
Management
Plan Updates
Project
Documents
Updates
Quality Management Plan – The quality management plan is a component of the project
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Project Quality Management
management plan that describes how the project quality will be planned, structured and
controlled.
Quality Metrics – These are specific descriptions of a project attribute or product attribute
and how the Control Quality process will verify that the project and the product are within
compliance.
Project Management Plan Updates – Any recommended change to the project management
plan must have a change request submitted. Although many different project management
plan components may require change requests, following are the most common ones for this
process:
▪
Risk Management Plan
▪
Scope Baseline
Project Documents Updates – Although many different project documents are updated as a
result of performing this process, following are the most common ones:
▪
Lessons Learned Register
▪
Requirements Traceability Matrix
▪
Risk Register
▪
Stakeholder Register
Manage Quality
According to the PMBOK® Guide, “Manage Quality is the
process of identifying project and deliverable standards
and requirements, and documenting how the project will
prove compliance with these project and deliverable
standards and requirements.” This process benefits the
project by increasing the probability of meeting the quality
objectives, identifying ineffective project processes, and identifying causes of poor quality.
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Project Quality Management
The data and results from the Control Quality process is analyzed in order to present the quality
status of the project to the stakeholders. Quite often on projects, depending on the organizational
structure, the organization may have a separate Quality Assurance Department that performs
some of the activities in Manage Quality.
PMP Exam Study Tip
The focus of Quality Assurance is on the processes used in the
project. Manage Quality includes all the Quality Assurance
activities, but also includes the product design activities and
process improvement activities.
Manage Quality: Inputs
Project
Management
Plan
Project
Documents
OPAs
Project Management Plan – Components for this process include the quality management
plan.
Project Documents:
▪
Lesson Learned Register
▪
Quality Control Measurements
▪
Quality Metrics
▪
Risk Report
Organizational Process Assets (OPAs) – Examples include the organizational quality
management system and results from prior audits.
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Project Quality Management
Manage Quality: Tools & Techniques
Data
Gathering
Techniques
Data Analysis
Techniques
Decision
Making
Techniques
Data
Representation
Techniques
Audits
Design for X
(DfX)
Problem
Solving
Quality
Improvement
Methods
Data Gathering Techniques – Examples include checklists.
Data Analysis Techniques:
▪
Alternatives Analysis – Used to evaluate quality options that have been identified with the
goal of selecting the options that will benefit the project the most.
▪
Process Analysis – Used to identify process improvement opportunities.
▪
Document Analysis – Analyzing the documents produced by the Project Control Processes
(e.g., quality reports and test reports) can identify out of control processes that may affect
project execution.
▪
Root cause analysis (RCA) – Used to determine the “actual cause”, or “root” cause of a
variance, defect, or risk.
Decision Making Techniques – The major one used in this process is multi-criteria decision
analysis.
Data Representation Techniques – Typical data representation techniques already discussed
include affinity diagrams, flowcharts and matrix diagrams. Other techniques used include:
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Project Quality Management
▪
Cause and Effect Diagrams – These are also referred to as why-why diagrams, fishbone
diagrams, or Ishikawa diagrams. They are used to get to the root cause of a problem so
that effective solutions can be developed to solve the problem.
Figure 6-2: Ishikawa Diagram
▪
Histograms – These are in the form of a bar chart and display a graphical representation
of numerical data.
Figure 6-3: Histogram
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Project Quality Management
▪
Scatter Diagrams – These present a graphical depiction of the relationship between two
variables.
Figure 6-4 Scatter Diagram
Audits – These are a structured and independent set of steps that are followed to determine
whether the project's activities comply with the organization's and project's policies, processes,
and procedures.
Design for X (DfX) – A set of technical guidelines followed during product design for the
optimization of a specific aspect of the design (X).
Problem Solving – This technique involves searching for solutions to challenges and issues that
you may encounter on your project. The ability to master this technique is critical to effective
project quality assurance and project quality improvement.
Quality Improvement Methods – These are tools used to analyze and evaluate possible
opportunities for improvement on your project. Important methods include Plan-Do-Check-Act
(PDCA) and Six Sigma.
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Project Quality Management
Manage Quality: Outputs
Quality
Reports
Test and
Evaluation
Documents
Project
Management
Plan Updates
Change
Requests
Project
Documents
Updates
Quality Reports – The lessons learned register is created as an output of this process early in
the project. After that it is used as an input and updated as an output in many processes
throughout the project. At the end of a project or phase, the information is transferred to an
organizational process asset called a lessons learned repository.
Test and Evaluation Documents – These are used to determine if the quality objectives have
been achieved, and are inputs to the Control Quality process.
Change Requests – If project management plan components, project documents, project
management processes or product management processes are impacted by this process, a
change request should be submitted by the project manager.
Project Management Plan Updates – Any recommended change to the project management
plan must have a change request submitted. Although many different project management
plan components may require change requests, following are the most common ones for this
process:
▪
Quality Management Plan
▪
Scope Baseline
▪
Schedule Baseline
▪
Cost Baseline
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Project Quality Management
Project Documents Updates – Although many different project documents are updated as a
result of performing this process, following are the most common ones:
▪
Issue Log
▪
Lessons Learned Register
▪
Risk Register
Control Quality
According to the PMBOK® Guide, “Control Quality process involves
monitoring and recording the results of the quality management activities
in order to assess performance and ensure the project outputs are
complete, correct, and meet customer expectations.”
This process benefits the project by verifying that the project work and
project deliverables meet the quality requirements of the project stakeholders, which is critical in
gaining final acceptance of the project deliverables.
PMP Exam Study Tip
Performing quality control on your projects is an iterative process
that ends with a demonstration that the deliverables match the
customer’s acceptance criteria.
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Project Quality Management
Control Quality: Inputs
Project
Management
Plan
Project
Documents
Approved
Change
Requests
Deliverables
Work
Performance
Data
EEFs
OPAs
Project Management Plan – The major component of the project management plan that is
used as an input to this process is the quality management plan.
Project Documents:
▪
Lesson Learned Register
▪
Quality Metrics
▪
Test and Evaluation Documents
Approved Change Requests – During Perform Integrated Change Control, the change log is
updated to reflect any approved changes that need to be implemented. Examples include the
repair of defects, improved work method processes, and schedule updates.
Deliverables – The deliverables that are outputs of Direct and Manage Project Work are
inspected to ensure that the meet the acceptance criteria included in the project scope
statement.
Work Performance Data – This can include information on project status such as observations,
technical performance measurements, and quality information about schedule performance.
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Project Quality Management
Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) – Examples include the PMIS and governmental
agency regulations.
Organizational Process Assets (OPAs) – Examples include quality standards and policies,
and reporting procedures for issues and defects.
Control Quality: Tools & Techniques
Data
Gathering
Techniques
Data Analysis
Techniques
Inspection
Testing/Product
Evaluations
Data
Representation
Techniques
Meetings
Data Gathering Techniques – Following are some important data gathering techniques used
in this process:
▪
Checklists – These can be used to employ a structured method of managing the control
quality activities.
▪
Check Sheets – Also referred to as tally sheets, they are used to organize facts and data
relating to potential quality problems on the project.
Figure 6-5: Check Sheets
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Project Quality Management
▪
Statistical Sampling – This is used to select a small sample of the project deliverables for
inspection to measure controls, and to verify the quality of the deliverables.
▪
Questionnaires and Surveys – These are used to collect data concerning customer
satisfaction once a deliverable has been deployed by the customer.
Data Analysis Techniques – There are two major data analysis techniques used in this
process:
▪
Performance Reviews – Performed to measure, compare and analyze the quality metrics
outlined in the Quality Management Plan to ensure that the actual results match them.
▪
Root Cause Analysis – Performed to determine the source of defects so that they can be
repaired.
Inspection – This involves evaluating whether a work product conforms to the documented
standards issued for the work product.
Testing/Product Evaluations – Finding errors and defects and other nonconformance
problems is the main goal of testing. It compares the quality of deliverables to the guidelines
outlined in the Quality Management Plan to ensure they match the documented requirements.
PMP Exam Study Tip
It is critical to perform early testing on your project so that you
can identify any nonconformance problems.
This will help reduce the costs by fixing those components that
don’t conform before they are delivered to the customer.
Data Representation Techniques – Typical data representation techniques already discussed
include cause and affect diagrams, histograms and scatter diagrams. Other techniques used in
this process include control charts. Following are some characteristics of control charts:
▪
They are used in the determination of whether or not a process is stable or is displaying
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Project Quality Management
predictable performance.
▪
They contain upper and lower specification limits to determine if the results are within the
acceptable range outlined in the Quality Management Plan. These are usually dictated by
the customer.
▪
They contain upper and lower control limits to determine if the results are within the
acceptable range outlined in the Quality Management Plan. Control limits are usually
dictated by the organization performing the work and use statistical calculations to
establish the rules for determining when a process is stable.
Figure 6-6: Control Chart
Meetings – Project teams may attend different meetings as part of the Control Quality
process. The two major types of meetings that are used in this process are approved change
request review meetings and retrospectives/lessons learned meetings.
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Project Quality Management
Control Quality: Outputs
Quality
Control
Measurements
Verified
Deliverables
Change
Requests
Work
Performance
Information
Project
Documents
Updates
Quality Control Measurements – These are the documented results of activities performed in
the Quality Control process and are captured in the format outlined in the quality
management plan.
Verified Deliverables – These are the deliverables that have been verified for correctness
that result from performing the Control Quality process and that serve as an input to the
Validate Scope process.
Work Performance Information – This includes information that is a result of performing the
Control Quality process. Examples include fulfillment of project requirements and
recommendations for corrective action.
Change Requests – If changes surface while performing activities in the Control Quality
process that may impact the project management plan or project documents, a change
request should be submitted by the project manager.
Project Documents Updates – Although many different project documents are updated as a
result of performing this process, following are the most common ones:
▪
Issue Log
▪
Lessons Learned Register
▪
Test and Evaluation Documents
Page 20
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