PROJECT MILESTONE TWO 1

Project Milestone Two

Ashley Wilson, Jay Baggs, Brianda Bombela, Shelly Bethard, Amanda Piotrowski

OGL 422: Project Quality Management

Dr. Margaret Allen

July 31, 2022

Outline

Introduction:

Project Quality Management incorporates an organization's quality policy

concerning planning, managing, and controlling project and product quality

requirements, in order to meet the stakeholder’s expectations. (PMBOK Guide, 2018).

As a project management consultant company hired by the Evergreen Organization, our

team is going to develop a series of training modules on project quality management for

mid-level managers. We are aware that Evergreen has had some problems with product

failures, and we want to bring focus to these quality issues.

Overview:

Our team is going to create a comprehensive training plan for the management at

Evergreen Organization to improve the overall project quality management and set the

new standard for the future. Our presentation for this training is going to be set up as a

power point for a simple-t- read and efficient use of information explaining the

importance of quality management and what to focus on for Evergreen. Our goal is to

provide leaders the tools to lead projects sustainably through the lens of quality

management. After this training course leaders will have the resources to help the

business develop and grow.

Key Elements/attributes of Quality Management:

1. Key attribute: Quality Planning

Quality planning is an essential first step in the project management process to

ensure all quality aspects are captured. According to the Project Management Body of

Knowledge, quality planning is “the process of identifying quality requirements and/or

standards for the project and its deliverables and documenting how the project will

demonstrate compliance with quality requirements and/or standards” (PMBOK, 2017).

While in the planning phase, project managers must assess risks associated with each

deliverable to ensure quality is still at the forefront of decision making.

2. Key attribute: Quality Analysis

Project managers should understand that Quality Analysis is an important

methodology which can be used to evaluate organizational specific areas. Quality

Analysis “...is necessary to determine the system interaction aspects of the process and

cause-effect relationships” (Rose, 2014, p. 115). There are many tools to choose from

that can be used, such as graphs, brainstorming, and diagrams. Each of these tools

requires a team to analyze a specific category of information.

When it comes to Quality Analysis, this is the time when the project manager and

whatever other resources are available will decide what data can be analyzed and how it

will be collected. In order to do this, the project manager must first determine the

purpose of the analysis. The purpose may be reducing certain requirements or

eliminating defects from a system, addressing this purpose clearly ahead of time will

bring into focus the what, where, when, why and how of the data analysis to be

performed. The project manager or team should create templates and examples for the

resources responsible for creating or collecting the data and ensure that they understand

the importance of maintaining accurate information.

3. Key Attribute: Quality Improvement

Quality improvement is defined by Juran as, “breakthrough… the organized

creation of beneficial change and the attainment of unprecedented levels of

performance” (Rose, 2014, p. 85). There are many benefits that can come from effective

quality improvement control through the collection of data that include reducing

deficiencies, being able to produce better products and/or systems, potential to reduce

cost and time while focusing on the dynamic customer needs, and allowing your

organization to gain a competitive edge within its current economy and on a global

economic scale too (Rose, 2014, p. 86).

It is important to not disregard the potential that can come from effective quality

improvement within your organization. We also must acknowledge the potential

obstacles that can also come with quality improvement process integrations within your

organization. To overcome these barriers it’s important to look forward and not get

stuck looking at past failures that resulted without the quality improvement process as

well as look beyond past history that maybe didn’t produce the results we wanted then.

This will require each individual to face change to some degree, but we can successfully

do that by leveraging the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach.

With this approach, start by choosing the best process with the highest payback

for your organization and then analyze and plan the execution of that process so it is the

easiest integration (Rose, 2014, p. 87). Following this, there needs to be a test run on a

small scale to make sure it is feasible. After testing, review and analyze the data. Are the

observations easy to understand and have identifiable results across the team? Finally,

put that plan into action if the results support it, remembering to support each other

through the implementation and not leaving anyone behind (Rose, 2014, p. 87).
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4. Key Attribute: Quality Assurance:

Quality assurance is described as the efforts taken to ensure that the products

delivered to customers have met with clients standards and have passed the quality

control and approval of the criteria testing. The purpose of quality assurance is to ensure

and prevent mistakes, defective products to pass through the manufacturing process

and avoiding delays from production to delivering to customers. The quality assurance

system is meant to increase customer confidence alongside the company's credibility, it

connects back to the quality control and warranty example to keep clients satisfied with

products being offered or life time use of the product.

5. Key Attribute: Quality Control:

Quality control is a huge part of the element that measures quality in products.

All determined by the customers' wants and how much they are willing to pay for, to

achieve and determine the quality in return. The set of procedures ensure that the

products or services provided meet a set of criteria and they meet the requirements that

the client wanted. There is a level of testing that can be done and that is measured on

data that is collected between units that fail to meet the criteria, are defective and lead to

having to be corrected. Products then become either repaired or replaced and the service

is provided at no charge until the customer is satisfied, like how many products vary

from having on average 30 days to a year or even a lifetime warranty on their products

to keep customers fully satisfied and leads to the success of their products. Usually when

there is any amount of warranty given on products, consumers are happy with this

service being offered and it used.

Quality Management Tools:

There are many tools that project managers use to ensure quality throughout a

project. What each project manager uses depends on the situation. Some managers need

a tool to collect data while others need a tool to understand data or processes. Some

might need to analyze processes or simply solve a problem. There's a tool for everything,

but I’m going to focus on two of the most popular tools in this presentation.

The first tool is a check sheet which is used to collect data. According to Kenneth

Rose in his book Project Quality Management, a check sheet is “used to compile and

record data from contemporaneous observations or historical data, nothing more”(Rose,

2014). A check sheet requires four steps, which include defining the data, deciding what

data will be collected and by who, designing the sheet, and collecting the data. A great

example of a check sheet would be pulling status reports for errors and making a tick

mark in the category it falls under. For example, for each data error, you’ll put a tally in

that box, or for attachment errors, you’ll put a tally in that box. Once all the data is

collected, you’re able to assess where the main source of errors is coming from.

Another tool that project managers use is the graph, which is used for

understanding data. Graphs are used to “organize, summarize, and display data, usually

over time” (Rose, 2014). Although there are many variations of a graph, including bar,

line, and circle graphs, there are four steps in preparing a graph. Similar to collecting

data with a check sheet, the four steps include defining the data, designing the graph,

collecting the data, and entering the data. A graph is a fantastic visual representation to

show patterns or outliers in your data.

Role of Management:
PROJECT MILESTONE TWO 7

Effective project quality management ensures that your team consistently

delivers quality products and services. Your customers will take notice, and continue to

rely on you for efficient and quality work. It is the manager's responsibility to assign

resources for total quality management, allocate time for various training programs, and

admire employees who come up with various improvement ideas and strategies to help

the organization deliver more advanced quality products. While most project managers

intend on creating and developing the best product or service, educated teams with the

most advanced skill set and tools may fail due to a lack of leadership within the project

management plan.

Project Quality management must be monitored and planned in the project from

the beginning throughout the project processes. The role of management within a

project is to “…include all the activities of the performing organization that determines

quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the needs

for which it was undertaken” (Rose, 2014, p. 41). In terms of time, cost, and scope, this

description defines the role of a successful project manager linked to successful quality

planning, analysis, assurance, improvement, and control. The obligational duties and

responsibilities of the project manager define set goals for a project and organizational

objectives.

Conclusion/Wrap-up:

Thank you for the time you have invested in today’s training. We hope you leave

this training feeling empowered looking towards EverGreen’s future with the new and

improved quality management process as our consulting team has recommended. As we

mention at the very beginning of your training, our goal is to provide leaders the tools to

lead projects sustainably through the lens of quality management.

As you look forward, remember that past results and poor work quality were due

to EverGreen’s opportunity to elevate the standard of what quality management is to the

organization. Again, we hope you leave here feeling optimistic about the future of

EverGreen and wish you all the best as you gain your competitive edge by integrating a

strong quality management process going forward.

Team Member Assignments:

Ashley: Quality Planning/Quality Management Tools

Jay: Quality Analysis/Role of Management

Brianda: Quality Control/Quality Assurance

Shelly: Quality Improvement / Conclusion & Wrap up

Amanda: Introduction/ Overview

References:

Project Management Institute (2017). A guide to the project management body of

knowledge (PMBOK guide) (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Project Management

Institute. [ISBN 978-1-62825-184-5]

Rose, K.H. (2014) Project Quality Management, Second Edition: Why, What and How

(2nd Ed.) Fl: J Ross Publishing. ISBN: 13: 978-1-60427-102-7