Quality Management System

C. Bhavani Manager, Quality ITC Infotech India Ltd.

ITC Infotech India Ltd

Table of contents
What is Quality? ....................................................................................... 3 What Constitutes High Quality? ..................................................................... 4 Quality Concepts ...................................................................................... 4 Zero Defects......................................................................................... 4 The Customer is the Next Person in the Process ............................................... 5 Do the Right Thing Right the First Time (DTRTRTFT).......................................... 5 Continuous Improvement Process ................................................................ 6 Process Capability .................................................................................. 7 Software Quality Requirements: ................................................................. 8 Software Quality Factors: ............................................................................ 9 Quality Assurance & Quality Control ............................................................... 9 Quality Assurance:.................................................................................. 9 Quality Control:..................................................................................... 9 Demings Quality Cycle .......................................................................... 10 Cost of Quality .................................................................................... 11 Process & Product Quality ......................................................................... 12 Planning for Quality in Projects ................................................................... 12 Planning............................................................................................ 12 Software Quality Assurance........................................................................ 13 Statistical Concepts and Quality Tools ........................................................... 14 Quality and People in Project Management ..................................................... 15 Achieving Project Quality .......................................................................... 15

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What is Quality?
Quality has been defined from many different perspectives and has taken on meanings based on the private industry or government agency using the term. In its purest form:

"Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs."
The term "quality" is not used to express a degree of excellence in a comparative sense nor is it used in a quantitative sense for technical evaluations. The more precise term is "relative quality" for the comparison or ranking of products. In the quantitative sense, "quality level" or "quality measure" is used during technical evaluations. In some industries, government agencies, and educational institutions, quality is described as "fitness for use," "fitness for purpose," "customer satisfaction," or "conformance to the requirements." These terms are the goals of quality programs, not the definition of quality. Fitness for use: Used to describe the product or service when it is provided to the customer. If a product or service is capable of being used, it is assumed that it will provide the customer the economic satisfaction desired. Fitness for purpose: Similar to fitness for use in that the product or service will meet its intended purpose in all respects and provide the customer economic satisfaction. Customer satisfaction. Describes the customer's feelings about a product or service. When the product or service meets the customer's expectations and provides the belief that the product or service has economic value. Conformance to the requirements: Used to describe the condition of the product or service in relation to the customer's requirements. If the product conforms to the customer's requirements, it is assumed to be precisely what the customer desires. The modern concepts of quality focus heavily on customer satisfaction and conformance to the (customer's) requirements more than fitness for use or purpose. This is not to say any of the concepts should be totally discarded, but that the terms may be used to convey different meanings during the total cycle of product and service development, fabrication, testing, operation and maintenance, and disposal stages. Conformance to the customer's requirements is the best term to be used in a concept of building or operating a product because it focuses attention on elements of work to be

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accomplished to meet requirements or specifications. In modern quality concepts, fitness for use or purpose does not describe the intention of bringing customer satisfaction or of conforming to the customer's requirements and, therefore, has little relationship to current quality trends.

What Constitutes High Quality?

Zero defects is High Quality to users whose work gets affected to managers who are criticised Having lot of features is high Quality to users whose work improves, when they use these features to marketers who believe that features sell products Elegant coding is High Quality to developers who place high value on this to maintainers who need to carry on with the system High performance is High Quality to users whose work stretches their machine to sales person who needs benchmarks Low development cost is High Quality to users who wish to buy 1000's of copies to project managers who are on tight budgets User friendliness is High Quality to users who sits in front of the system all day to users who cannot remember interface details from one use to another.

Quality Concepts Zero Defects

"Zero defects" states that there is no tolerance for errors within the system. The goal of all processes is to avoid defects in the product or service. In the initial development of quality concepts, it was assumed that any system or process would produce errors or defects because that was a fact of life. Management, therefore, set an allowable number of defects for any process or procedure. This was usually in the range of two or three percent, but could often be significantly more.

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More recently, zero defect programs have been re-established as goals for a defect-free environment. This is currently translated to mean "the goal is to provide products or services free of all defects" and there is no allowance for error in any process or procedure.

The Customer is the Next Person in the Process

This concept is based on providing the internal organization a system that ensures the product or service is transferred to the next person in the process in a complete and correct manner. The product or service being built is transferred to another internal party only after it meets all the specifications and all actions at a work station are complete. The next person in the process is entitled to receive a partial product or service upon which he can perform his operation or procedure. This avoids incorrectly assembled components and poor workmanship. It is a subset of "conformance to the requirements" and "customer satisfaction" when the next person in the process is considered the customer. This approach avoids a situation such as in the assembly of missiles where the wires were installed and twisted, but not soldered before the cover was installed by another person. The poor wire connections were not discovered under static testing, but failure occurred most of the time during actual firings

Do the Right Thing Right the First Time (DTRTRTFT)

DTRTRTFT states that it is easier and less costly to do the work right the first time than it is to do it a second time. This concept entails the training of personnel to ensure they know how to correctly do the work and that they have the skills and tools to correctly complete the work. Moreover, people must be motivated to properly perform the work. During a visit to Hughes Aircraft Company in California, a manager explained the concept being used in a job shop environment. There were nearly 100 percent rejects on sophisticated sighting devices being built for the U.S. Army. The rework effort was extremely expensive because of the disassembly of the devices for inspection and testing as well as replacement of defective parts. The decision was made to establish a process whereby all the parts were tested for defects after each integration to ensure the device was in working order at the completion of each operation. This gave the operators time to assemble the parts correctly and the testing gave the confidence that they were doing it right the first time.

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Continuous Improvement Process

The continuous improvement process (CIP) is a concept which recognizes that the world is constantly changing and any process that is satisfactory today may well be unsatisfactory tomorrow. The rapid changes to technology over the past forty years and the potential for more dramatic changes in the next ten years show the need to manage the change of processes to meet competition and excel in a dynamic environment. Projects as well as manufacturing need to recognize the situation as an opportunity to be the most competitive in a world marketplace. The CIP is sustained, gradual change to improve the situation and, unlike innovation, does not make a sudden jump to a plateau where it matures over time. Innovation's giant leaps forward are like stair steps with the step surface being the maturation period. The CIP is the constancy of purpose whereby the technology is transformed to achieve maturity along with continual improvement. CIP is a holistic approach to an organization that focuses on eleven principles while making the process improvements. These principles are: (1) constancy of purpose, (2) commitment to quality, (3) customer focus and involvement, (4) process orientation, (5) continuous improvement, (6) system-centered management, (7) investment in knowledge, (8) teamwork, (9) conservation of human resources, (10) total involvement, and (11) perpetual commitment. These principles are viewed as being compatible and mutually supportive for any organization to implement the CIP. The most important change for project personnel and decision makers who influence the project is thinking of a project as a process. Rather than manage the output of a project, management is focused on the total process and sub-processes. In this manner, the process is held constant after it has been proven capable of the work and the product will naturally meet the requirements. A simple example of managing a process is baking a cake. The recipe is followed by measuring and mixing all ingredients to the proper consistency. There are no substitutions or incorrect measurements. The proper mixing subprocess is used for the specified duration to meet a stated consistency. A cake pan is coated with cooking oil and filled with the mixture. The oven, heated to the proper temperature, receives the cake mixture for baking for a stated period of time. The next step is to remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool before extracting it from the pan. To finish the process, there is a subprocess called icing the cake. Icing is prepared and uniformly distributed over the cake. If the recipe (process) is followed, the oven is heated to the correct temperature during the warm-up period and for the cooking subprocess, and the icing procedures (subprocess) are followed, it is reasonable to assume the cake will conform to the texture, taste, size, and aroma specified in the recipe. This procedure replicated several times while the process is

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held constant should give similar end products (cakes). If the process varies, say for example the temperature decreases, the cake will not conform to the specification (recipe). In a continuous improvement process, our example serves to show that we may want to change the texture and flavor to meet a customer's changing taste. Therefore, we modify the process (recipe) by changing the input subprocess (i.e., replacement or new ingredients). The baking process (temperature and bake duration) may also be adjusted to change the texture. This change to transform an existing process into a new process is the method of creating a new product. We do not, in this situation, think in terms of changing the inputs (ingredients, duration for baking, temperature), but focus on baking a cake as a process that controls the resultant end product. The CIP is a concept that is applicable to projects because it supports the quality goals by making gradual improvements in the processes and sub-processes. When the project is viewed and managed as a process, the numerous subprocesses tend to repeat themselves over several projects, or often within a project. The procedure for this is as follows:

Define and standardize (sub)processes. Document current understanding; maintain

and update formal standards; measure performance against current standards.

Assess (sub)process performance. Measure process; assess performance against

goals and customer needs; select improvement targets.

Improve (sub)processes. Use teams for shared processes; pursue individual

improvement; follow improvement cycle of standardize-do-check-act. The standardize-docheck-act procedure is similar to the Deming Wheel of Plan-Do-Check-Act.

Measure progress. Measure performance against goals and standards; evaluate

customer satisfaction; evaluate method and document results; continuously improve. The post-project evaluation is an excellent opportunity to identify the processes that need improvement and standardize them for future use and evaluation. The standard can serve as a guide to the project manager and team members during the planning and execution of the project as well as reduce nonconformance resulting from deviation from proven work practices.

Process Capability
In evaluating the processes, which will be used to produce a system (product or service), it is essential that the process be capable of performing the required functions to achieve the desire outcome. Processes must have the capability to produce the specified item, component, material, or assembly. Following are examples of process capabilities.

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Software Quality Requirements:

EXPLICIT

IMPLICIT Ease of use Pleasant UI

FUNCTIONAL What the system has to do Features required Input-Output Business Logic

NON-FUNCTIONAL Security Reliability Maintainability Reusability Performance

DOCUMENTATION STANDARDS Defined by the customer Defined by the project Defined by the technology

Every program does something right, it just may not be the thing that we want it to do Software Quality is defined as Conformance to explicitly stated functional and performance requirements, explicitly documented development standards and implicit characteristics that are expected of all professionally developed software. The above definition emphasizes three important points: 1. Software requirements are the foundation from which quality is measured. Lack of conformance to requirements is lack of quality. 2. Specified standards define a set of development criteria that guide the manner in which software is engineered. If the criteria are not followed ,lack of quality will almost surely result. 3. There is a set of implicit requirements that often goes unmentioned. If software conforms to its explicit requirements but fails to meet implicit requirement, software quality is suspect.

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Software Quality Factors:

F U R P S

Functionality Usability Reliability

Is assesses by evaluating the feature set and capabilities of the program, the generality of the functions that are delivered and the security of the overall system. Is assessed by considering human factors , overall aesthetics , consistency and documentation. Is assessed by considering the frequency and severity of failure, the accuracy of output results, the man time between failures , the ability to recover from failure and the predictability of the program Is measured by processing speed , response time , resource consumption, throughput and efficiency. Combines the ability to extend the program (extensibility), adaptability and serviceability, as well as testability ,compatibility, configurability, the ease with which a system can be installed , and the ease with which problems can be localized.

Performance Supportability

The FURPS quality factors and attributes described above can be used to establish quality metrics for each activity in the software process.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control Quality Assurance:

Consists of the auditing and reporting functions of management. The goal of quality assurance is to provide management with the data necessary to be informed about product quality , thereby gaining insight and confidence that product quality is meeting its goals .

Quality Control:
Is the series of inspections, reviews and tests used throughout the development cycle to ensure that each work product meets the requirements placed upon it. Quality Control includes a feedback loop to the process that created the work product. The combination of measurements and feedback allows us to tune the process when the work products created fail to meet their specifications. Quality Control activities may be fully automated, entirely manual or a combination of automated tools and human interaction. A key concept of quality control is that all work products have defined and measurable specifications to which we may compare the output of each process. The feedback loop is essential to minimize the defects produced.

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Quality Assurance
Establishes and evaluates the processes which produce the Products Is oriented towards preventing defects from occurring Responsible for managing quality Is performed by specialists with the knowledge and understanding Standards/Models/Processes

Quality Control
Verifies the product meets standards Is designed primarily to detect and correct defects Focuses on inspections, testing, removal of defects before shipment of products Is performed by the Group responsible for the development of the product as well as specialists

Demings Quality Cycle

ACT

PLAN

CHECK

DO

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Cost of Quality
Cost of Quality includes all costs incurred in the pursuit of quality or in performing quality related activities . Cost of quality studies are conducted to provide a baseline for the current cost of quality, to identify opportunities for reducing the cost of quality and to provide a normalized basis of comparison. The basis of normalization is almost always dollars. Once we have normalized quality costs on a dollar basis, we have the necessary data to evaluate where the opportunities lie to improve our processes. Further more we can evaluate the affect of change in dollar-based terms. Cost of Quality may be divided into the following categories: Prevention Costs- this includes: Quality planning Formal technical reviews Test equipment Training Appraisal Costs include activities to gain insight into product condition the first time through each process. Examples of appraisal costs are: In-process and inter-process inspection Equipment calibration & maintenance Testing

Failure Costs are costs that would disappear if no defects appeared before shipping a product to customers. Failure costs may be sub divided into internal failure costs and external failure costs. Internal failure costs are the costs incurred when we detect an error in our product prior to the shipment. Internal failure costs include: Rework Repair Failure mode analysis External failure costs are the costs associated with defects found after the product has been shipped to the customer. Examples of external failure costs are:

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Complaint resolution Product return & replacement Help line support Warranty work

Process & Product Quality Input Process Output (Product)

Product is a result of process. If there is no quality in process, the quality of the product
could get affected. So we should ensure both process and product quality. Process Quality is focused on building the product right whereas Product Quality concentrates on building the right product.

Planning for Quality in Projects

Planning a project requires an understanding of the needs of individuals, elements of a project plan, supporting plans, test requirements, and the project as a process. Viewing and planning a project as a process gives new insight into techniques to achieve a quality orientation during the early stage of a project. A review of some lessons learned in planning and difficulty in implementing plans promotes understanding of the requirements and areas to avoid.

Planning
Planning implies the ability to anticipate situations and prepare actions that will bring about the desired outcome. This is typically accomplished through the development of broad objectives, which are divided in a tree-like fashion to develop lower level goals. These lower level goals are translated into actions within an operational framework and the proper resources are assigned in a plan to perform the actions. Project managers, of course, have the responsibility to ensure these actions are planned, documented, and implemented in the sequence which will bring about customer satisfaction by meeting the customer's requirements and expectations. Planning also entails communicating the correct actions in a form which is understandable and complete. Because the requirements for quality must be integrated into the project

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plan, it is necessary to examine the project as it is defined and the product which it is to deliver. Both planning knowledge and planning skills are essential to the development of a comprehensive project plan that ensures the customer is satisfied with the end result.

Software Quality Assurance

Software Quality Assurance (SQA ) is an umbrella activity that is applied throughout the software process. SQA encompasses: A quality management approach Effective software engineering technology(methods & tools) A formal technical review that are applied throughout the software process A multi layererd testing strategy Control of software documentation and the changes made to it A procedure to assure compliance with software development standards Measurement and reporting mechanism

All organizations want to minimize the difference between the predicted resources needed to complete a project and the actual resources used, including staffing , HW/SW resources and calendar time . In general we would like to make sure our testing program covers a known percentage of the software from one release to another. Not only do we want to minimize the number of defects that are released to the filed, but we would also like to ensure that the variance in the number of bugs is also minimized from one release to another. We would like to minimize the differences in speed and accuracy of our support responses to customer problems. The list goes on and on. Quality refers to measurable characteristics of a product or a process. Two kinks of quality may be encountered: quality of deign and quality of conformance. Quality of design refers to the characteristics that designers specify for an item. The grade of resources, tolerances and performance specifications all contribute to the quality of design. As higher graded resources are used and tighter tolerances and greater level of performance are specified, the design quality of the product increases, if the product is developed according to the specifications.

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Quality of conformance is the degree to which the design specifications are followed during the development. The greater the degree conformance, the higher the level of quality of conformance. In software development, quality of design encompasses requirements specifications and the design of the system. Quality of conformance is focused primarily on implementation. If the Implementation follows the design and the resulting system meets its requirements and performance goals, conformance quality is high.

Statistical Concepts and Quality Tools

The use of statistical methods and quality tools facilitates early identification and resolution of problems that affect project effectiveness. The methods and tools, derived from the manufacturing area, are valid and pertinent to the project's work. Using proven processes in a proactive manner will increase the probability of success for the project.
Many projects, because of their short-term and unique product character, do not directly use statistical concepts in the implementation phase. Products and services, however, from vendors, suppliers, and subcontractors are a part of the quality inherent in the project. These second tier participants can affect the outcome of the end product through actions that contribute to or detract from the quality aspects desired by the customer. Project managers need knowledge of the statistical concepts, practices, and procedures used in building assemblies, components, and parts to ensure that second tier project providers are meeting the requirements of the customer. Although project managers may not have detailed knowledge of the statistical concepts, they should have a general understanding of the practices and procedures used to meet project standards. The tools of modern quality management and their applications are important to any program of continuous quality improvement. Project managers knowledgeable of the tools can more effectively conduct continuous improvement programs to ensure that quality aspects of a project are in a constant state of improvement. Familiarity with these tools will assist the project manager in highlighting information, providing a structure for assessing information, and showing relationships among data for analysis.

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Quality and People in Project Management

The most important resource requiring effective management for the best project results is people. Project people and their individual and collective needs are key to managing this resource group to meet the quality aspects of the project. The identification of individuals or groups of individuals who are components of the project's quality team assists in meeting their needs as "partners" in the project.
People, more than any other resource, make the difference in quality for a project. The combination and diversity of knowledge, skills, and abilities in the project's participants can affect the planning, implementation, and operation of the product to a greater degree than any other resource. The recruiting, hiring, training, and supervising of individuals and team building for a project are the most crucial aspects of project management.

Achieving Project Quality

Infusing quality into projects is achievable through a dedicated effort of setting standards for the work, understanding the customer's requirements, and implementing the requirements in all documentation and actions. Quality is achieved through planning, directing, and implementing actions that are consistent with the concept of do the right thing right the first time. Using the tools of modern quality management to monitor, evaluate, and assess the processes while conducting continuous improvement in the processes is the foundation for achieving quality. The initial efforts are focused on understanding the customer's requirements and achieving a mutual understanding of the technical approach to meeting these requirements. The project manager is the prime mover in bringing about this mutual understanding through analysis of the customer's stated and implied requirements to develop the implementation plan. The customer's expectations are set by the project implementation plan and any initial briefings provided by the project manager. Some organizations conduct a mutual understanding conference for projects prior to signing the contract. The conference provides the opportunity for questions, answers, and clarifications of the proposed contract. Any clarifications are incorporated into the contractual documents prior to contract award. This may delay the start of the project while statements of work, specifications, terms and conditions, and other aspects are amended. The final contract, however, is less subject to change during the implementation phase and the project team will have a better definition of the requirements for planning.

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Preparing well-structured plans for the project, based on the customer's requirements, permits anticipation of the course of work and the degree of difficulty involved in implementing each major part of the project. The identification and allocation of resources appropriate to meeting the requirements well in advance of the implementation allows time to schedule and position them prior to their need. The plans also form a baseline which can be reviewed as guidance for the project and the basis for making changes when necessary. During implementation, the project may be an extension of an organization or it may be the company in its entirety. The policies and procedures for quality must flow down from the parent organization as they apply to projects. The human resources can be expected to respond to quality on a project the same as they would in the parent organization. Weaknesses in corporate quality programs can be expected to migrate into projects. Therefore, projects, as temporary efforts, must rely on the parent organization to instill many of the quality practices in the assigned individuals prior to project initiation. The project manager has a major responsibility to maintain contact with the customer to monitor the need for change as well as keeping the customer informed of progress. Periodic meetings for briefing the customer and receiving feedback on the customer's concurrence or non-concurrence with the report of progress are important considerations in managing the direction of the project. The customer's confidence in the project manager is often directly related to how well the customer is kept informed and the project manager's ability to adjust the flow of work to meet the customer's expectations. Quality is the combination of meeting the customer's requirements for the end product of the project, keeping the customer informed of the progress, and being able to change the course of work to meet emerging requirements. The project manager must be proactive in managing the relationship with the customer through establishing a working relationship that facilitates the exchange of information and permits latitude in implementation of project work while meeting the technical specifications.

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