Chapter 3

Planning Project Quality

Introduction

• Have you heard of the adage – “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”?
• Projects started without planning are prone to catastrophic failure.
• Planning for quality is the first step in project quality management.
• Before beginning a new project, agree upon what counts as "quality"
for that specific project and what needs to be done in order to achieve
that level of quality.
• As mentioned, this will depend on what that customer or stakeholder
expects from the project’s deliverables.
Intro..

• The big question to ask during this stage is, "Will this process result in
a product deemed acceptable by its end-user?"
• Quality represents a fundamental aspect for end users when buying
and interacting with products or services because it is the foundation
for branding through customer satisfaction.
• But quality in project management has a different meaning since it
involves the delivery of project activities and outputs
as effectively as possible.
• project manager are responsible for the overall quality of the work
done by setting project quality goals, continuously auditing through
project assurance (with regard to the process of checking the
performance of the quality management plan) and products or services
acceptance metrics through quality controls.
• Quality planning is fundamental for project success because quality
itself is connected to the project triple constraints (time, cost, and
scope) and recognize as the 4 element of the Iron Triangle
• Quality may decrease when a project has a short window of time for
output delivery or when the budget is consistently cut.
• Over-scoping a project with extra activities due to the stakeholder’s
request for additional products or services features can also
compromise the project management quality plan and the project’s
overall success.
• In other words, projects cannot be considered successful if
stakeholders’ quality metrics are not met, even if the project activities
are delivered on time and within budget.
• It is imperative for project managers to make sure that the final
project delivery suits stakeholders’ expectations so that deliverables
and outcomes are beneficial for end users and the community.
• If you don’t know what quality standards your stakeholders consider
acceptable, you won’t be able to ensure that your project will fulfil
their expectations.
• That is why project managers must manage and control quality, just
as they do costs, scope, and time.
What Is A Quality Plan?
• A quality plan is;
– a document,
– or several documents,
– that together specify quality;
• standards,
• practices,
• resources,
• specifications,
• and the sequence of activities;
– relevant to a particular product, service, project, or contract.
• Quality Planning is identifying the quality goals, standards, and
procedures that will be followed to guarantee that the project produces
a high-quality result.
• This involves determining the resources, funding, and technologies
required to attain the specified quality standards.
• The PMBOK Guide defines quality planning as
®

• “…identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and

determining how to satisfy them.”
• This activity is the foundation for quality being planned in, not inspected in.
• Project managers need not, and must not, depend on inspection and
correction to achieve project quality.
• Instead, they should use conformance and prevention to achieve quality.
Project managers should, through planning, design in and build in quality.
• The key benefit of this process is that it provides guidance and direction
on how quality will be managed and verified throughout the project. This
process is performed once or at predefined points in the project.
• Quality planning concerns gathering products or services requirements,
usually collected in the initiation stage of the project life cycle (i.e., kick-
off meeting or previous meetings with clients).
• These generally identify how project managers will assess the quality
and avoid faults in the planning stage.
• Usually, organizations have a quality management system in place,
consisting of internal policy that aligns with national and international
standards (i.e., ISO 9000), that specifies how quality is assessed and
measured across the organization.
• The foundation of quality planning is to set a standard for customer
satisfaction through conformance to requirements and fitness of usage.
• The foremost is based on quantitative inspections of how much the
product or service delivered deviates from the targeted minimum
quality requirements established with stakeholders (i.e., color,
geometric tolerances, number of features embedded, etc.).
• The latter refers to how well deliverables do what they were planned to
do (practicality or comfort to consume a service or use a product
influenced by the design or hardware limitations)
• Quality plans should define:
• 1. Objectives to be attained
for example,
• characteristics or specifications,
• uniformity,
• effectiveness,
• aesthetics,
• time,
• cost,
• natural resources,
• utilization,
• yield, dependability, and so on)
• 2. Steps in the processes that constitute;
– the operating practice
– or procedures of the organization
• 3. Allocation of;
– responsibilities,
– authority,
– and resources
• during the different phases of the process or project
• 4. Specific documented;
– standards,
– practices,
– procedures,
– and instructions to be applied
• 5. Should be with;
– Suitable testing,
– inspection,
– examination,
– and audit programs at appropriate stages
• 6. A documented procedure;
– for changes and modifications to a quality plan,
– as a process is improved
• 7. A method for measuring the achievement of the quality
objectives
• 8. and other actions necessary to meet the objectives
• At the highest level,
– quality goals and plans should be integrated with;
• overall strategic plans of the organization.
• As organizational objectives and plans are;
– deployed throughout the organization,
– each function fashions its own best way for contributing
to the top-level goals and objectives.
• At lower levels,
– the quality plan assumes the role of an actionable plan.
– Such plans may take many different forms depending on
the outcome they are to produce.
 Plan Quality Management: Inputs, Tools &
Techniques, and Outputs

• As presented in the overview map of the quality management plan,

planning quality requires the following documents,
Planning, adapted from the PMBOK Guide (2021)
Project charter

• This is a formal document that provides authority to the project manager to

apply organizational resources to the project activities.
• It is based on the business case, agreements, and enterprise environmental
factors and consists of project definition identifying vision, scope, outputs and
outcome.
• It also includes the project governance which identifies roles and
responsibilities, and direct and indirect stakeholders.
• The project plan is also part of the charter and includes resources, quality and
financial aspects.
• The plan includes the schedule of major activities and tasks with dependencies
to determine the critical path. Last but not least, the project charter includes
project considerations which take into account risks, issues, assumptions and
constraints. The charter contains supporting documents (i.e., business case,
agreements, and standards).
Project management plan.
• This is the comprehensive documentation that represents the baseline
of a project with regards to the requirements, quality, risks, and
stakeholders’ management plans. It defines how project activities are
performed, monitored and controlled, and closed.
Enterprise environmental factors.
• These are internal or external constraints to the organisation which can
impact the project team and the delivery of activities. Examples of
internal factors are organizational culture, infrastructure, geographic
location and distribution of facilities, resource availability and so forth.
External conditions include, for example, government and industry
standards, targeted marketplace conditions, legal restrictions, political or
religious aspects, and exchange rates.
• Organizational process assets.
• These consist of the organizational knowledge, practices, policies,
procedures, and historical information such as lessons learned, risk
data and earned valued data.
Tools and techniques
• So far, we have introduced the artefacts of the project planning
(inputs) which are essential to generate the main output – the so-
called quality management plan.
• Project managers can develop a quality management plan using
tools, abilities, and techniques, as summarized in Figure below
Expert judgement
• The expert judgment is based on a project manager’s expertise in a specific
application, and knowledge, including quality assurance, control,
measurements, improvements, and systems.
Data gathering
• Data gathering is useful during quality planning. Information can be
collected using the following tools.
• Benchmarking: allows comparison between projects that show similarities
per industry sector or deliverables. It helps project managers to understand
how the project is progressing against its baselines or other similar project
baselines vicariously through lessons learned from previous projects.
• Brainstorming: can be used to collect data from team members of a group
or different groups who possess expertise in specific types of projects or
activities.
• Interviews: allows project professionals to acquire information about
the stakeholders’ expectations and deliverable technical
requirements. Usually, such interviews are performed in a neutral
environment to set the scene for trusted and confidential exchanges,
where stakeholders and project participants can feel encouraged to
provide an unbiased contribution.
• Data analysis
• Once quality data are collected with one or more of the methods described
above, data analysis is the next step and different techniques can be used for
this purpose.
• A cost-benefit analysis is a financial analysis tool which aims to estimate the
pros and cons of alternatives, to assess which one provides more benefits.
From a quality perspective, such a tool helps project managers to understand
if activities are planned in a cost effective manner.
• Project managers in fact compare each quality activity against the cost of the
quality and the expected benefit. For example, data collected during
interviews in meetings or brainstorming are useful for project professionals
to validate that stakeholders’ quality requirements are feasible within budget
and the expected timeline.
• Moreover, internal meetings for team members have the scope to set from
the beginning higher quality standards and productivity rates with less
rework to keep costs down and to increase the overall stakeholders’
satisfaction.
• The cost of quality of a project consists of the costs related to
preventing poor-quality outputs (prevention costs), the cost related
to measuring, auditing and testing deliverables (appraisal costs), and
the cost for nonconformances (failure costs).
• An acceptable cost of quality is one that balances prevention and
appraisal costs to avoid failures
Cost of Quality, adapted from the PMBOK
• Decision-making techniques using multicriteria decision analysis tools such as
the prioritization matrix allow us to understand which activities to prioritise
over others with regard to, for example, costs, quality, time, stakeholder
importance and so forth.
Data representation
• Once data is analyzed, project managers can share the outputs of the analysis
through different tools as follows.
• Flowcharts aid the project manager to visualize and mind-map the project’s
processes. displaying all the parallel branching or alternatives available for a
process, aiming to transform inputs into outputs. Eg. SIPOC model
• This visual tool is very helpful when controlling the quality through auditing and
inspections, where team members, leaders and project managers need to go
through a specific set of actions that can lead to multiple scenarios and
processes that help to obtain outcomes during each step of the inspection.
The SIPOC Model
• The matrix diagram or chart is a tool for planning and managing projects. It
helps you to look at the connections between different data points and
figure out what they mean. You can use these diagrams to draw
comparisons among two or more groups of items within the same group.
Matrix charts help project managers to figure out how relevant information
is related to each other and how strong those connections are.
• A matrix contains the following type of information: data, functions,
concepts, people materials, equipment and actions. The connection
between items is shown by numbers or symbols within the cell where each
element pair intersects.
• The matrix’s shape is determined by the number of elements being
compared. There are 5 common matrix diagrams: L-shaped, Y-shaped, C-
shaped, T-shaped, and X-shaped. Figures 14 and 15 provide representative
examples of these matrixes.
• Mind mapping is a visual method which helps project managers
organise key concepts around a major topic. For example, quality could
be the main topic of interest in quality planning, connected to several
other branches which represent the quality requirements, constraints,
dependencies, and relationships.
Test and inspection planning
• During this stage, project managers and the rest of the team plan how
to test and inspect project deliverables against stakeholders’
requirements and expectations. Such tests are industry-driven and may
in fact incorporate single or two-stage (alpha and beta) testing and
inspections to provide robustness to the quality process and also to
incorporate any incremental enhancements after consultation with
clients and other stakeholders.
Meetings
• When stakeholders meet with the project team and the project
manager during official project meetings, it can serve as an effective
and efficient way to have a constructive and incremental approach to
quality robustness, where quality metrics are discussed and evaluated
per activity, product or service that must be delivered.
quality planning Outputs
• The objectives of the quality planning stage are:
• Quality management plan
• Quality metrics
• Project management plan updates
• Project documents updates
Quality management plan
• As previously mentioned, the quality management plan is a key part of the
project plan, as it describes how standards, guidelines, policies, and
organizational procedures and systems are implemented to satisfy the project
quality objectives.
• This plan needs to be reviewed in the planning stage to provide a solid base
for project managers to rely upon during the decision-making process. The
benefit of reviewing is to ensure that project managers have an up-to-date
project value proposition from the beginning which can lead to a cost
reduction because of less rework.
• The way the quality project management plan is structured depends on the
type of project and its requirements, but generally it includes relevant quality
standards, quality objectives, quality roles and responsibilities, quality control
of activities, quality tools implemented in the project and any major
procedures which are of key importance for the project to deal with non-
conformances.
• The quality management plan may include but is not limited to
the following components:
• Quality standards that will be used by the project;
• Quality objectives of the project;
• Quality roles and responsibilities;
• Project deliverables and processes subject to quality review;
• Quality control and quality management activities planned for the
project;
• Quality tools that will be used for the project; and
• Major procedures relevant for the project, such as dealing with
nonconformance, corrective actions procedures, and continuous
improvement procedures.
Quality metrics
• Quality metrics are the deliverable attributes requested by clients and any
other key stakeholders involved in the project. Examples of quality metrics
include defect rates, failure rates, lead time, deployment frequencies,
mean time between failures, number of likes, number of visualisations and
so forth.
• Overall, quality planning entails establishing which quality criteria are
applicable to the project and how to meet them.
• The project quality management plan details the information essential to
properly manage project quality from planning through to delivery. It
specifies the project’s quality rules, methods, criteria and application areas,
as well as roles, duties, and authority.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATES
• Any change to the project management plan goes through the
organization’s change control process via a change request.
Components that may require a change request for the project
management plan include but are not limited to:
• Risk management plan. Decisions on the quality management
approach may require changes to the agreed-upon approach to
managing risk on the project, and these will be recorded in the
risk management plan.
• Scope baseline. The scope baseline may change as a result of this
process if specific quality management activities need to be added.
The WBS dictionary also records quality requirements, which may
need updating
• PROJECT DOCUMENTS UPDATES
Project documents that may be updated as a result of carrying out this process include but are not
limited to:
• Lessons learned register. The lessons learned register is updated with information
on challenges encountered in the quality planning process.
• Requirements traceability matrix. Where quality requirements are specified by this
process, they are recorded in the requirements traceability matrix.
• Risk register: New risks identified during this process are recorded in the risk
register and managed using the risk management processes.
• Stakeholder register. Where additional information on existing or new stakeholders
is gathered as a result of this process, it is recorded in the stakeholder register
How To Write A Quality Plan
• Quality control plans are often viewed as a set of
instructions that should be followed.
– the planning,
– implementation,
– and assessment procedures for a project,
– as well as any QA or QC activities.
• Some areas may be more detailed than others,
– based on the project,
– process,
– or organization’s needs.
• It is important to note that each plan;
– is unique,
– based on;
• the organization’s needs
• and their quality management system (QMS).
• However, quality control plans ;
– should always have a structure
• that permits improvements to the plan.
– this allows employees to offer input on how to improve efficiency and quality.
• In addition,
– the plan should be reviewed by others;
• periodically,
• including stakeholders,
• to ensure the plan is comprehensive.
The Elements of a Quality Plan
• Quality control plans generally include detailed information on:
• 1. An overview or introduction of the project or process
detailing the;
• background,
• need,
• scope,
• activities,
• and important dates or deadlines
2. The organizational structure or org chart detailing;
• the necessary team members,
• including external vendors
• 3. Each team member’s;
– responsibilities
– and qualifications necessary to fulfill stated duties
• 4. Work verification
– e.g., who is responsible for carrying out a task,
– as well as who is responsible for checking the
work.
• e.g., specify the standards the prospective suppliers must
meet before they can bid on a contract,
• such as ISO 9001:2015
 6. A list of qualified suppliers
7. Testing parameters
8. Performance standards and how performance will be documented
9. Acceptance criteria
10.Deliverables
11.A feedback mechanism for internal and/or external customer
feedback
 12. Quality control procedures
13. Audits
14. Training (e.g., overview, job-specific, or refresher training)
15. Corrective action and preventive actions, including the person(s)
responsible for CAPA
16. Suggested corrective action
17. Required notifications
18. Any references or related materials, including performance ratings
or performance reports
Quality Plan Documentation And Deployment

• Quality plans result from both deployed strategic quality

policies,
– which are linked to organizational strategic plans
– and from the specific legal regulations,
– industry standards,
– organization policies and procedures,
– internal guidelines,
– and good practices needed to meet customers’ r equirements for
2

products or services.
• Strategic-level quality plans;
– are developed and deployed through the strategic planning process.
– These broad-based quality plans,
– become the guideline for each function’s or department’s supporting
quality plan.
• Where appropriate,
– each function or department may develop and internally deploy operating-level
quality plans.
• Operating-level quality plans;
– often are the resulting document(s) from a production scheduling
function.
• As such,
• •this documentation often includes;
– blueprints/plan/ design etc,
– a copy of the customer’s order,
– references to applicable standards,
– practices,
– procedures,
– work instructions,
– and details on how to produce the specific product or service.
• When the product or service is produced,
– the planning documents may be augmented by inspection documentation,
– statistical process control (SPC) charts,
– and copies of shipping documents
– and customer-required certifications.
• In the process,
– the plans are transformed from documents to records.
• In a fully computerized system,
– the documents mentioned may well be interactive computer screens accessed;
– at operators’ workplaces and control points.
• These screens, internally,
– become records
– when operators, inspectors, shippers, and others make computer entries to the
screens.
• Documenting the quality plan(s) has multiple uses, such as:
– Ensuring conformance to customer requirements
– Ensuring conformance to external and internal standards and
procedures
– Facilitating traceability
– Providing objective evidence
– Furnishing a basis for training
– And providing a basis for evaluating the effectiveness
and efficiency of the quality management system (QMS).