Information & Training. | Quality Assurance. Quality Management.
Project Quality
Ensuring “Quality” outcomes in Projects.
There are specific elements common to virtually all projects which need to be considered when ensuring project quality in any project management or control activity.What is the specific scope of the project? What is the expected time-line from commencement to completion? What will be the anticipated cost of the entire project? What will be the quality expectations? How will the project integrate with related processes, stakeholders, etc.? Are the risks known or will the risks need to be identified? How will the procurement process be performed? How will the human resources requirements be identified and fulfilled? What level of communication will be necessary and how will it be provided?
The above elements will need to be considered upon project initiation and plans developed from the very early stages of the project for their delivery.
In every project there will be five key stages spanning project initiation, project planning, project execution, project control and project closure. Depending on the complexity, the project control stage may include critical path analysis. Also, as part of project closure, good practice will be to perform a review of the entire project to identify opportunities for improvement in future projects.
The Principles of Quality Management
The Quality Manual
Quality Standards and Specifications
The Quality Management System
Revised requirements of ISO 9001: 2015
Design Quality – Products & Processes
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
Documentation
CAPA – Corrective And Preventative Action
Calibration Certification
Change Management and Control
Quality Management Training
Product and Process Validation
Supplier Quality Assurance
Audits & Auditing
Ensuring the Quality Management System is Risk based
Etc. …. Etc. …. Etc. …
Information & Training presentation >>>
Project Initiation.
Will entail defining the problem or defining the identified need. Are there any potential alternatives? Alternative identification may be based on the outcomes of a brainstorm session(s). With the various options identified and considered, the best option will be agreed upon. At this point, there may need to be a project sponsor, this will depend on the environment within which the project is operating. A project leader will be needed and if not already appointed at the start of this initial stage, will need to be appointed based on capabilities versus the option selected. The end goal, mission or charter of the project will be clearly defined and the communication process will be initiated. From this initial stage project quality will be a key consideration. The project team will be identified and their formation will commence. As there will be a bonding and natural assimilation process associated with the team, some form of team building exercises may be beneficial.Project Planning.
Plans will need to be drafted to cover all aspects of the project. The complexity of the planning process will be dependent on the criticality and complexity of the project, the potential risks inherent in the project and the demands and expectations of the various stakeholders. As the plans get developed and approved, the project itself will proceed based on the time-lines of activities. For example, procurement of long lead materials may be initiated in anticipation of expected material requirements later in the project. Staff with specific technical skills may be recruited, etc..Project Execution.
Planned activates are implemented. During this stage, communications will be vital to positive progress. Communication will need to be a two way process, whereby updates are provided from the team out to the interested stakeholders and equally important, feedback, experiences and expectations from stakeholders are received by the team and plans and activities amended based on appropriate feedback. It is important that any planning amendments ensure that the scope is not impacted and that “scope-creep” is not allowed to arise. Scope-creep is where the original scope and objectives of the team are changed, often expanded, so that the project starts to grow and more demands are made on the team which can effectively destroy the ability of the team to deliver upon the original objectives.During this execution stage, the team will develop as the team members become more comfortable working together, the administration of the team should become more efficient.
During the execution stage, quality management will become critical to project success. The quality roles and staff responsibilities will need to be clearly understood. Quality resources will have been defined and provided. Quality expectations must be fully understood.
Control of the ongoing activities and ensuring performance to plan is critical to project success. During the control stage, it may be appropriate to utilize suitable quality analytical tools, for example, capability analysis, cause and effect, pareto analysis, brainstorming, etc.. Application of the appropriate analytical tools will ensure fact based analysis is applied. At this stage regular clear quality reporting will be necessary. For the more complex projects critical path analysis may be applied to ensure a focus is placed on those tasks with the greatest potential to positively or negatively impact the overall project success.
Project Control.
Control of the project will be measured against a project schedule. The schedule will detail the project activities to be performed. For each activity the duration, constraints, relationships will be defined. Approval requirements and steps will be highlighted as potential gates to progress.Project Closure.
Closure of the project consists to two elements. There is the administrative closure, where all the required documentation, records, approvals, notes, etc. are gathered, distributed, filed, etc.. The requirements for “hand-over” will have been pre-defined and will be performed. There will be some form of post-project surveillance to ensure any relatively minor snags are addressed, also to ensure the project upon completion continues to deliver as originally envisaged.The second aspect of the project closure, will be the overall project review, where the project team and selected stakeholders will be invited to provide feedback on the successes, failures and opportunities for improvement for future projects. These latter elements align with the “Deming” plan-do-check-act cycle for continuous improvement.
Information & Training. | Quality Assurance. Quality Management.
- The Principles of Quality Management
- The Quality Manual
- Quality Standards and Specifications
- The Quality Management System
- Revised requirements of ISO 9001: 2015
- Design Quality – Products & Processes
- Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
- Documentation
- CAPA – Corrective And Preventative Action
- Calibration Certification
- Change Management and Control
- Quality Management Training
- Product and Process Validation
- Supplier Quality Assurance
- Audits & Auditing
- Ensuring the Quality Management System is Risk based
- Etc. …. Etc. …. Etc. …
- Information & Training presentation >>>
Project Management Body of Knowledge. Project Management Institute.