8 : Project Quality Management

IT4306– IT Project Management

Level II - Semester 4

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC

 Intended Learning Outcomes

• At the end of this lesson, you will be able to;

• Appreciate the importance of project quality

management for information technology products and
services
• Define project quality management and describe its
main three processes
• Describe given tools and techniques for quality control
(Pareto Analysis, Statistical sampling, testing)
• Summarize major contributions to the modern quality
management
• Describe major cost categories related to information
technology project quality

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 2

 8.1. Importance of Project Quality Management

• Many people joke about the poor quality of IT products.

• People seem to accept systems being down occasionally or
needing to reboot their PCs.
• But quality is very important in many IT projects.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 3

 What Went Wrong?

• In 1981, a small timing difference caused by a computer

program caused a launch abort.*
• In 1986, two hospital patients died after receiving fatal
doses of radiation from a Therac 25 machine after a
software problem caused the machine to ignore calibration
data.**
• Britain’s Coast Guard was unable to use its computers for
several hours in May 2004 after being hit by the Sasser
virus, which knocked out the electronic mapping systems,
e-mail, and other computer functions, forcing workers to
revert to pen, paper, and radios.***

*Design News (February 1988).

**Datamation (May 1987).
***Fleming, Nic, “Virus sends coastguard computers off course” (http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/
main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/05/ncoast05.xml) (May 15, 2004).

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 4

 What Is Quality?

• The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

defines quality as “the degree to which a set of inherent
characteristics fulfils requirements” (ISO9000:2000).

• Other experts define quality based on:

• Conformance to requirements: The project’s processes
and products meet written specifications.
• Fitness for use: A product can be used as it was
intended.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 5

 8.2. What is Project Quality Management

• Project quality management ensures that the project will

satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
• Processes include:
• Quality planning: Identifying which quality standards
are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them.
• Quality assurance: Periodically evaluating overall project
performance to ensure the project will satisfy the
relevant quality standards.
• Quality control: Monitoring specific project results to
ensure that they comply with the relevant quality
standards.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 6

 8.3. Planning Quality Management

• Implies the ability to anticipate situations and prepare

actions to bring about the desired outcome.

• Important to prevent defects by:

• Selecting proper materials.
• Training and indoctrinating people in quality.
• Planning a process that ensures the appropriate
outcome.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 7

 Design of Experiments

• Design of experiments is a quality planning technique that

helps identify which variables have the most influence on
the overall outcome of a process.

• Also applies to project management issues, such as cost

and schedule trade-offs.

• Involves documenting important factors that directly

contribute to meeting customer requirements.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 8

 Scope Aspects of IT Projects

• Functionality is the degree to which a system performs its

intended function.
• Features are the system’s special characteristics that appeal
to users.
• System outputs are the screens and reports the system
generates.
• Performance addresses how well a product or service
performs the customer’s intended use.
• Reliability is the ability of a product or service to perform
as expected under normal conditions.
• Maintainability addresses the ease of performing
maintenance on a product.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 9

 Who’s Responsible for the Quality of Projects?

• Project managers are ultimately responsible for quality

management on their projects.

• Several organizations and references can help project

managers and their teams understand quality.

• International Organization for Standardization

(www.iso.org)
• IEEE (www.ieee.org)

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 10

 8.4. Quality Assurance

• Quality assurance includes all the activities related to

satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project.
• Another goal of quality assurance is continuous quality
improvement.
• Benchmarking generates ideas for quality improvements
by comparing specific project practices or product
characteristics to those of other projects or products within
or outside the performing organization.
• A quality audit is a structured review of specific quality
management activities that help identify lessons learned
that could improve performance on current or future
projects.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 11

 Table of Contents for a Quality Assurance Plan*

1. Draft Quality Assurance Plan 1. Quality Assurance Procedures

2. Introduction 2. Walkthrough Procedure
3. Purpose 3. Review Process
4. Policy Statement 1. Review Procedures
5. Scope 3. Audit Process
6. Management 1. Audit Procedures
7. Organizational Structure 4. Evaluation Process
8. Roles and Responsibilities 5. Process Improvement
1. Technical 1. Problem Reporting Procedures
Monitor/Senior 2. Noncompliance Reporting
Management Procedures
2. Task Leader 6.0 Quality Assurance
3. Quality Assurance Team Metrics Appendix
4.Technical Staff Quality Assurance Checklist Forms
3.0 Required Documentation
*U.S. Department of Energy
© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 12
 8.5. Controlling Quality

• The main outputs of quality control are:

• Acceptance decisions
• Rework
• Process adjustments

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 13

 8.6. Tools and Techniques for Quality Control

• Some tools and techniques include:

• Pareto analysis
• Statistical sampling
• Six Sigma
• Quality control charts

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 14

 Pareto Analysis

• Pareto analysis involves identifying the vital few

contributors that account for the most quality problems in a
system.

• Also called the 80-20 rule, meaning that 80 percent of

problems are often due to 20 percent of the causes.

• Pareto diagrams are histograms, or column charts

representing a frequency distribution, that help identify and
prioritize problem areas.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 15

Sample Pareto Diagram

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 16

 Statistical Sampling and Standard Deviation

• Statistical sampling involves choosing part of a population

of interest for inspection.
• The size of a sample depends on how representative you
want the sample to be.
• Sample size formula:
Sample size = .25 X (certainty factor/acceptable error)2
• Be sure to consult with an expert when using statistical
analysis.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 17

 Statistical Sampling and Standard Deviation

• Statistical sampling involves choosing part of a population

of interest for inspection.
• The size of a sample depends on how representative you
want the sample to be.
• Sample size formula:
Sample size = .25 X (certainty factor/acceptable error)2
• Be sure to consult with an expert when using statistical
analysis.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 18

 Testing

• Many IT professionals think of testing as a stage that comes

near the end of IT product development.

• Testing should be done during almost every phase of the IT

product development life cycle.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 19

Testing Tasks in the Software Development Life Cycle

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 20

 Types of Tests

• Unit testing tests each individual component (often a

program) to ensure it is as defect-free as possible.

• Integration testing occurs between unit and system

testing to test functionally grouped components.

• System testing tests the entire system as one entity.

• User acceptance testing is an independent test performed

by end users prior to accepting the delivered system.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 21

Gantt Chart for Building Testing into a Systems
Development Project Plan

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 22

 Testing Alone Is Not Enough

• Watts S. Humphrey, a renowned expert on software quality,

defines a software defect as anything that must be
changed before delivery of the program.
• Testing does not sufficiently prevent software defects
because:
• The number of ways to test a complex system is huge.
• Users will continue to invent new ways to use a system
that its developers never considered.
• Humphrey suggests that people rethink the software
development process to provide no potential defects when
you enter system testing; developers must be responsible
for providing error-free code at each stage of testing.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 23

 8.7. Modern Quality Management

• Modern quality management:

• Requires customer satisfaction.

• Prefers prevention to inspection.

• Recognizes management responsibility for quality.

• Noteworthy quality experts include Deming, Juran, Crosby,

Ishikawa, Taguchi, and Feigenbaum.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 24

 Quality Experts

• Deming was famous for his work in rebuilding Japan and

his 14 Points for Management.
• Juran wrote the Quality Control Handbook and ten steps to
quality improvement.
• Crosby wrote Quality is Free and suggested that
organizations strive for zero defects.
• Ishikawa developed the concepts of quality circles and
fishbone diagrams.
• Taguchi developed methods for optimizing the process of
engineering experimentation.
• Feigenbaum developed the concept of total quality control.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 25

 ISO Standards

• ISO 9000 is a quality system standard that:

• Is a three-part, continuous cycle of planning, controlling,
and documenting quality in an organization.
• Provides minimum requirements needed for an
organization to meet its quality certification standards.
• Helps organizations around the world reduce costs and
improve customer satisfaction.

• ISO 15504, sometimes known as SPICE (Software Process

Improvement and Capability dEtermination), is a framework
for the assessment of software processes.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 26

 8.8. Improving IT Project Quality

• Several suggestions for improving quality for IT projects

include:

• Establish leadership that promotes quality.

• Understand the cost of quality.
• Focus on organizational influences and workplace
factors that affect quality.
• Follow maturity models.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 27

 The Cost of Quality

• The cost of quality is the cost of conformance plus the cost

of nonconformance.

• Conformance means delivering products that meet

requirements and fitness for use.
• Cost of nonconformance means taking responsibility
for failures or not meeting quality expectations.

• A 2002 study reported that software bugs cost the U.S.

economy $59.6 billion each year and that one third of the
bugs could be eliminated by an improved testing
infrastructure.*
*RTI International, “Software Bugs Cost U.S. Economy $59.6 Billion Annually, RTI Study
Finds,” July 1, 2002.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 28

 Costs Per Hour of Downtime Caused by Software
Defects

Business Cost per Hour Downtime

Automated teller machines (medium-sized bank) $14,500
Package shipping service $28,250
Telephone ticket sales $69,000
Catalog sales center $90,000
Airline reservation center (small airline) $89,500

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 29

 Five Cost Categories Related to Quality

• Prevention cost: Cost of planning and executing a project

so it is error-free or within an acceptable error range.
• Appraisal cost: Cost of evaluating processes and their
outputs to ensure quality.
• Internal failure cost: Cost incurred to correct an identified
defect before the customer receives the product.
• External failure cost: Cost that relates to all errors not
detected and corrected before delivery to the customer.
• Measurement and test equipment costs: Capital cost of
equipment used to perform prevention and appraisal
activities.

*RTI International, “Software Bugs Cost U.S. Economy $59.6 Billion Annually, RTI Study
Finds,” July 1, 2002.

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 30

 Media Snapshot*

• A 2004 study by Nucleus Research Inc. estimates that spam

will cost large companies nearly $2,000 per employee in lost
productivity in 2004 alone, despite investments in software
to block spam. Spam currently accounts for more than 70
percent of total e-mail volume worldwide.
• In just one month (August 2003), at least 50 new Internet
viruses surfaced, and losses related to computer viruses
cost North American companies about $3.5 billion.
Businesses have suffered at least $65 billion in lost
productivity because of computer viruses since 1997.

*McGuire, David, “Report: Spam Costs Are Rising at Work,” Washington Post (June 7, 2004).

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 31

 Summary

• Project quality management ensures that the project will

satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.

• Main processes include:

• Quality planning

• Quality assurance

• Quality control

© e-Learning Centre, UCSC 32