Tools for planning quality process play a vital role in project management. So, in this article, we’ll discuss 12 tools needed for planning the quality process.
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What Is the Planning Quality Process in Project Management?
Project quality management is vital because it helps managers deliver acceptable project outcomes according to customer expectations. Typically, project quality management includes the three processes that help incorporate the organization’s quality policy regarding planning, managing, and controlling project and product quality requirements to meet stakeholder objectives. Here are the processes of project quality management.
- Planning quality management process – In this process, you should identify quality requirements or standards for the project and its deliverables. As well as you should also document how the project will demonstrate compliance with quality requirements or standards.
- Managing quality process – In this process, you should translate the quality management plan into executable quality activities that incorporate the organization’s quality policies into the project.
- Controlling quality process – In this process, you should monitor and record the results of implementing the quality management activities to assess performance and ensure the project outputs are complete according to the customer’s expectations.
These processes are crucial because they are vital to ensure project success and meet the stakeholders’ expectations. Read more: Quality management in project management. So, in this article, we’ll explore 12 tools needed for planning quality process in procurement management.
Tools for Planning Quality Process
Planning quality management process is crucial because this process helps project managers identify quality requirements or standards for the project. The following tools will help you to identify requirements or standards.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a data-gathering technique in planning the quality process. Typically, this entails comparing actual or planned project quality standards to those of comparable projects to identify best practices. Furthermore, this provides a basis for measuring project performance. However, benchmarked projects may exist within the performing organization or outside of it.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a data-gathering technique that can be used in the planning quality process in project management. By using this tool, you can gather project data creatively. Typically, this may involve project team members, subject matter experts, or the relevant parties, and they help develop the quality management plan that best fits the upcoming project.
Interviews
Interviews are another data-gathering tool that helps you identify product and project quality needs and expectations, implicit and explicit, formal or informal. Typically, this may involve the following participants.
- Project stakeholders
- Subject matter experts
- Other relevant pirates
Before starting the interview, you should ensure an environment of trust and confidentially to encourage honest and unbiased contributions.
Cost-Benefits Analysis
Cost-benefit analysis is a data analysis tool that helps you estimate the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives to determine the best alternative in terms of benefits provided. Furthermore, this tool will help determine if the planned quality is cost-effective. Here are some benefits of meeting quality requirements.
- Higher productively
- Lower costs
- Increased stakeholder satisfaction
- Less rework
- Increased profitability
Furthermore, a cost-benefit analysis for each quality task or activity compares the cost of the quality step to the expected advantage.
Cost of Quality
Cost of quality is a data analysis tool that helps you determine the appropriate balance for investing in the cost of prevention and appraisal to avoid failure costs. So, this tool allows project managers to categorize project costs such as prevention, appraisal, and failure costs.
- Prevention costs related to the prevention of poor quality in the products, deliverables, or services of the specific project
- Appraisal costs allow for evaluating, measuring, auditing, and testing the products, deliverables, or services of the specific project
- Failure costs related to non-conformance of the products, services, or deliverables to the expectations of the project stakeholders
Decision Making
Decision-making is a technique that includes multicriteria decision analysis. For example, the prioritization matrix. So, this tool helps project managers identify the key issues and suitable alternatives to be prioritized as a set of decisions for execution.
Flowcharts
Flowcharts are data representation tools that help project managers show the activities or tasks, decision points, branching loops, and the overall order of processing by mapping the operational details of procedures that exist within a horizontal value chain. By using flowcharts, you can identify where quality defects can occur or where to incorporate quality checks. On the other hand, you can use this tool to make appropriate improvements in this process.
Matrix Diagrams
Matrix diagrams are another data representation tool that will help project managers find the strength of relationships among different factors, causes, and objectives that exist between the rows and columns that form the matrix. By using this tool you can identify the key quality matrix that is crucial for the success of your project.
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a data representation that helps project managers visually organize information. A mind map can be drawn as an image in the center of a bank landscape page, to which associated representations of ideas. However, this tool will help you rapidly gather project quality requirements, constraints, dependencies, and relationships.
Test and Infection Planning
In this planning process, the project manager and team members should determine how to test or inspect the products, services, or deliverables to meet the stakeholders’ needs and expectations. Furthermore, you and your team should determine how to meet the project goals for the product’s performance and reliability. The tests and inspections are industry-dependent and can include strength tests in construction projects, alpha and beta tests in software projects, inspections in manufacturing, etc.
Meetings
The team members may hold planning meetings to develop the quality management plan. So, meetings can include the following attendees.
- Project manager
- Project sponsor
- Selected team members
- Selected stakeholders
- Other relevant parties
Related: Why team meetings are important for project collaboration
Conclusion
In planning the quality process, you can use tools to make a quality management plan as an output. Benchmarking, Brainstorming, Interviews, Cost-benefits analysis, Cost of Quality, Decision making, Flowcharts, Matrix diagrams, Mind mapping, Test and infection planning, and Meetings are tools for planning the quality management process.
