Section 7.7. Solutions Fast Track

7.7. Solutions Fast Track

7.7.1.

7.7.1.1. Quality Overview

Quality and grade are two components of a user's experience or perception of quality.

Most quality management systems include four major components: User satisfaction, prevention versus correction, continuous improvement, and management commitment.

Your quality plan should be a component of your overall project plan and should be incorporated into the plan review and approval process.

7.7.1.2. Planning Quality

User requirements are the basis of defining and delivering quality in a project. User requirements must be balanced against the cost of delivering the required/desired level of quality.

Functional specifications define what the product or deliverable should do. Technical specifications define how the product or deliverable should achieve that functionality. Technical requirements are developed from the functional requirements.

Acceptance criteria are used to gain agreement between the project team and the user/customer as to what constitutes fulfillment of requirements.

Quality metrics are specific measurements to determine if the project's deliverables meet requirements.

A quality checklist can be developed (detailed or high-level) to use throughout the life of the project to ensure project quality is maintained. Some people use the terms quality checklist and completion criteria interchangeably.

7.7.1.3. Monitoring Quality

A quality management plan defines all the elements that will drive quality in the project including those in the planning, monitoring, and testing phases. It defines activities that will occur during the project work phase to ensure quality results.

Quality metrics provide measurable ways of determining if a project deliverable has met requirements.

Processes and procedures help drive quality during the work phase of the project. The processes and procedures defined throughout this book help ensure quality results by providing a framework for consistent effort and evaluation.

Status reporting and issue tracking are part of the quality monitoring process during the work phase of the project.

Change management helps ensure quality results by closely monitoring and managing any and all requested changes to the project's work (scope, time, budget, quality, tasks, etc.). Poor change management typically results in poor project quality.

7.7.1.4. Testing Quality

Prevention is the process of planning quality into the project. Inspection is the process of verifying the planned quality is being achieved. Testing is the third component of quality in an IT project used to verify the quality of results.

Defined quality testing procedures may exist for your IT project, based on the type and nature of the project. Some IT projects use a dedicated quality control (testing) team to test the results of the project at each step or phase and to test/verify the overall/final quality of the project.

Sampling can be a good method of testing project results without having to spend time or money to test every single component. Testing a random sampling can generate almost the same accuracy as testing every single component, but at a fraction of the cost/effort.

Analyzing project results as you go can also help increase quality and reduce the cost of the project. Determining the source or cause of a problem can help you avoid that same problem later in the project.

Issue resolution can be helpful to look at during quality testing because it may point you to methods to improve quality in other areas of the project based on the resolution taken for a specific issue. On the other hand, the steps taken to resolve an issue may create a potential quality problem, so resolutions must be tested before being implemented.