ACADEMIA Letters

Quality Assurance in Management of Engineering

Projects and Activities.
Ifeanyichukwu Onyenanu

Engineering project is a human activity that can have broadly varying scope, all the way from
the design, manufacturing, distribution, and recycling of a paper clip, to the design, construc-
tion, management, and eventual decommissioning of a mass transit system. However, engi-
neering projects are complex and multidimensional undertakings, demanding comprehensive
procedures, integrative skills, discipline and a broad management perspective. To ensure that
a project is maintained within scope, kept on schedule, and controlled within the budget, a
project manager should have a good knowledge of engineering project management.
Engineering project management is a type of project management that focuses solely on
engineering projects. It uses the same standard methodologies and processes as any other
type of project management. This specialization is likely to appeal to anyone with an en-
gineering background who wants to get into the field of project management. Engineering
project management is focused on managing engineering projects — for example, designing
a new office building. Engineering project management requires the management of all as-
pects of the project, not just of the engineers or engineering work. The benefits of engineering
project management are not limited to improved efficiency, enhanced effectiveness, helps you
replicate success, helps you learn leadership and communications, and provision of common
operating language and pictures. In sum, the general quality of the project is being affected
by a good project management.
The idea of quality, on the surface, is abstract, ambiguous and difficult to define and
measure. Measuring and managing quality in the context of project-based work further com-
plicates matters as individual projects are often unique making it difficult to develop a set
of criteria to measure against. Project quality relies on identification of the customers and
their requirements. At the early phases of a project, requirements might be vague and unmea-

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Ifeanyichukwu Onyenanu, [email protected]

Citation: Onyenanu, I. (2021). Quality Assurance in Management of Engineering Projects and Activities.
Academia Letters, Article 1734. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1734.

1
surable. As the project progresses, requirements must be refined into specifications that are
measurable. The definition of quality as it relates to the project should be determined up front
and well-defined with customer input so that at the end of the project the customers perceive
the deliverables as being high quality. It is imperative to mention that quality assurance pro-
vides confidence that the quality requirements will be fulfilled. As such, it is the intent of this
paper to discuss quality assurance in management of engineering projects and activities.

Previous Works
Steyn 2008 proposed a framework for managing quality on system development projects. He
described the coverage of quality in project management literature and then discussed the ap-
plication of statistical methods in managing project quality. This was followed by a proposed
framework for the management of quality on system development projects. The framework
includes statistical process control techniques but also incorporate a variety of other tech-
niques that are often used by practitioners. Finally, one technique, Failure Mode and Effect
Analysis (FMEA), was used to illustrate the relationship between project quality management
techniques and project risk management techniques.
Flett 2001, proposes that project management needs an alternative methodology to pro-
vide a more practical method of project feedback, to enhance the ability of future projects.
He puts forward a foundation for this methodology based upon the valuable attributes of the
models identified during the research in addition to the value of the case studies compiled. He
asserts that the aim for the implementation of a practical quality system has to be based on a
reappraisal of what its purpose is. Therefore, it was proposed that the objective of any system
would be to capture knowledge, store and redistribute that knowledge in a manner that makes
a positive contribution to future project success. Emphasis was placed on increasing success
by the acquisition of knowledge, in contrast to the traditional quality concepts of decreasing
risk by the control of activities. In essence a shift from existing mechanistic systems towards
more neurocybernetic systems. The increasing capabilities of communication and informa-
tion technologies make the practicalities of creating this type of system perfectly feasible.

Project Quality
Project quality relies on identification of the customers and their requirements. At the early
phases of a project, requirements might be vague and unmeasurable. As the project pro-
gresses, requirements must be refined into specifications that are measurable. The definition

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Ifeanyichukwu Onyenanu, [email protected]

Citation: Onyenanu, I. (2021). Quality Assurance in Management of Engineering Projects and Activities.
Academia Letters, Article 1734. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1734.

2
of quality as it relates to the project should be determined up front and well-defined with cus-
tomer input so that at the end of the project the customers perceive the deliverables as being
high quality.
To manage project quality, it is imperative to understand what quality is and how it relates
to the project. Joseph M. Juran, widely-held to be the father of quality, defined quality as
“fitness for use” which was later revised to “fitness for purpose” in the 6th edition of “Juran’s
Quality Handbook.” Juran also emphasized two components of quality that are critical to
managing it: features that meet customer needs and freedom from failures.
In the context of project quality, it is important to meet the customer’s needs while not
“gold plating” the deliverables with expensive features that add little or no value to the cus-
tomer. The Project Management Institute defines quality as “the degree to which a set of
inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.” While it is important not to gold plate the deliv-
erables, it is also important not to simply meet the bare minimum of requirements as specified
in the project contract. Kenneth Rose, author of “Project Quality Management: Why, What
and How,” describes a simple set of statements related to project specifications:

• If you don’t meet the specifications, you are in breach.

• If you want to complete the current contract, meet the contract specifications.

• If you want to win the next contract, meet or exceed the customer’s expectations.

Exceeding the minimum requirements is important so the customer is satisfied. However,

this must be done in a way that exceeding the project requirements adds value to the customer
and not adding features that won’t benefit them.

Quality Assurance
Quality simply means fitness to use and conformance to requirements. Quality Assurance
(QA) focuses on the processes utilized in the project efficiently to generate quality project
deliverables. It includes the following meeting standards, progressive enhancing project work
and eliminating project defects.
Quality Assurance assures the quality of the product meaning that this process ensures
that the product generated from the process is defect free and conforms to all stated customer
requirements. It is said to be a process-based approach whose primary objective is to prevent
defects in deliverables at the planning stage to avoid rework, which increases process costs.
Quality Assurance can also be viewed upon as a proactive process and it places impor-
tance on planning, documentation, and guidelines finalization that will be needed to assure

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Ifeanyichukwu Onyenanu, [email protected]

Citation: Onyenanu, I. (2021). Quality Assurance in Management of Engineering Projects and Activities.
Academia Letters, Article 1734. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1734.

3
the quality. This process begins at the very start of the project to compare the product’s re-
quirements and expectations. Once all requirements and expectations are recognized, a plan
is developed to meet these requirements and expectations.

Tools used in the Quality Assurance Process

There are fundamentally three tools utilized in quality management – process analysis, quality
audit and quality management and control tools. In process analysis, one analyses the process
to spot any enhancements, find the root cause of any problem that comes up, and recognize
any non-value-added activities.
In, Quality Audit, a panel of external experts come and review the process and procedures.
If they discover any discrepancies, they will recommend corrective action or an enhancement
in the process. It is an excellent tool to ensure the best practice and approved procedures
are being followed. Quality management and control tools include different diagrammatic
techniques which aid in discovering ideas, help make decisions, and prioritize issues.

Quality Assurance versus Quality Control

Quality assurance and quality control are terms that are often used interchangeably but have
different meanings. Quality assurance focuses on the process and preventing defects before
they occur. Quality control focuses on the products and identifying and correcting defects
after they have been produced. Another way to compare the two is that quality assurance is
performed by people that need to understand the quality of a product but are external to the
production. Quality control is performed by those responsible for producing the product.
The major difference between quality assurance and quality control are listed as follows;

• Quality Assurance stresses on defect prevention and Quality Control focuses on defect
identification.

• In quality Assurance, one checks if the plan was efficient enough to avoid any forecasted
defect.

• In Quality Control, one attempts to find defects and correct them while creating the
product.

• Quality Assurance is a proactive process whereas Quality control is a reactive process.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Ifeanyichukwu Onyenanu, [email protected]

Citation: Onyenanu, I. (2021). Quality Assurance in Management of Engineering Projects and Activities.
Academia Letters, Article 1734. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1734.

4
 • Quality Assurance is a process-based approach whereas Quality Control is a product-
based approach.

• Quality Assurance includes processes managing quality, and Quality Control is utilized
to validate the product quality.

• Quality Audit is an example of Quality Assurance. Inspection and testing are great
examples of the Quality Control process.

Quality Assurance in Engineering Project Management

The Quality Assurance Activities is an article of the Quality Management Section in the
Project Implementation Guide. It explains the three kinds of activities to aid the Project
Manager and the quality team to formulate a quality assurance plan template, audit quality
performance and review project activities, procedures and processes. Given below are the
three key activities of Quality Assurance:

Develop a Quality Assurance Plan

The first of the Quality Assurance activities includes planning the overall process for assuring
quality. Its purpose is to formulate a Quality Assurance plan template which is a highly ef-
ficient tool to assure quality in a project and surveil problems and drawbacks that may come
up during the project execution process. The quality team is required to utilize such a plan to
do the rest of the Quality Assurance activities, such as Audit and Analysis.
The fundamental steps in creating a Quality Assurance plan template are sequential and
start off with setting up goals of project assurance as to why the project would need Quality
Assurance. The next step would be to designate responsibilities to members of the quality team
and decide the hierarchy of management such as who will carry out the Quality Assurance
activities. Collect the relevant project standard information and define compliance criteria
such as how to make Quality Assurance. Recognize a set of measurements and metrics to be
utilized to gauge quality levels and performance which involves checking whether the project
is performed under appropriate quality levels.

Audit Project Quality

A quality Audit is a standard, systematic review of project activities to recognize whether
these activities are executed in line with business processes and tactical decisions. The goal

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Ifeanyichukwu Onyenanu, [email protected]

Citation: Onyenanu, I. (2021). Quality Assurance in Management of Engineering Projects and Activities.
Academia Letters, Article 1734. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1734.

5
of executing a project quality audit is to show the missing or inefficient policies, procedures
and/or processes that decreases quality levels and increases the probability of project failure.
During a supervised conventional quality audit session, the project manager can review quality
metrics such as defect frequency, budget deviation, failure rate, on-time performance, and
gauge project activities against the quality baseline.
Auditing quality permits recognition and correction of any deficiencies in project activ-
ities. As a process it leads to minimize cost of quality management and highly improved
product acceptance and customer satisfaction. Frequently, quality auditing activities are exe-
cuted by the external and independent auditors who offer expert knowledge and advice. The
Quality Assurance activity generates a formal confirmation document that proves required
changes to the execution process and acts as a foundation for formulating corrective actions.

Analyze Project Quality

Quality Analysis is a group of steps to inspect and investigate a particular project activity
and recognizes what would improve the activity’s value. The objective of project quality
analysis is to review quality levels and define required enhancements in the current quality
management framework. The Quality Assurance activity permits examination of problems
encountered, deviations in constraints, and any tasks and processes that provide value. It
involves fit analysis, root cause analysis, techniques for recognizing and resolving issues, and
techniques for formulating corrective actions. For example, during fit analysis, product testing
is utilized as a method for scrutinizing product features and checking that they match the user
acceptance criteria. A testing plan will transform into a scenario for analyzing, assuring and
verifying product quality.

Conclusion
Using a systematic approach, quality assurance in management of engineering projects and
activities have been dissected and thus the following conclusions are made; Quality Assurance
processes are meant to make a product defect-free and make sure it conforms to requirements.
Quality Assurance is a process-based approach. Quality Assurance architects a process so
that the product coming from this process is defect free. These processes have critical roles
in the project success. Their effectiveness can only be actualized completely when they are
well understood by the enterprise and the team executing the job.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Ifeanyichukwu Onyenanu, [email protected]

Citation: Onyenanu, I. (2021). Quality Assurance in Management of Engineering Projects and Activities.
Academia Letters, Article 1734. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1734.

6
References
Steyn H., (2008), “A Framework for Managing Quality on System Development Projects”,
PICMET (2008) Proceedings, 27-31 July, Cape Town, South Africa. DOI: 10.1016/B978-
0-08-096704-2.50020-X

Flett, P., (2001), “The Role of Quality in the Management of Projects”, Thesis submitted
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Management and Organization
University of Stirling, Scotland.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Ifeanyichukwu Onyenanu, [email protected]

Citation: Onyenanu, I. (2021). Quality Assurance in Management of Engineering Projects and Activities.
Academia Letters, Article 1734. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1734.