Project Management System

There is no doubt that project quality assurance is paramount to any project or endeavor. Without putting appropriate procedures in place, project deliverables can be compromised resulting in costly and time consuming rework. In most cases, the project quality system is a set of directives that are built into the overall project management system to contain and manage risk. These are usually scoped and bounded and designed in such a way that business processes are carried out and organized to minimize risk. This article will discuss some important factors that are considered as part of overall project quality management.

The term 'quality' is perhaps best dealt with by delineating two separate but important considerations. Quality can be applied to the project deliverables but also applies to the project quality system. When you are referring to procedures and processes that contribute to quality, you need to be able to assess their importance and assign appropriate value. An initiative may well contribute to the overall quality of project procedures but if the cost of doing so, measured by time or monetary commitment, exceeds the value of the derived benefit, there is little reason to embrace the quality initiative.

An example of this would be the creation of a communication standard that requires email communication delivered according to an appropriate font and size. The extra time in crafting correspondence confers little benefit in terms of the extra time is takes to complete the task. A project quality system, therefore, must consider practical tradeoffs and limit initiatives to procedures and processes that improve the overall business workflow or deliverables without consuming additional time or absorbing a cost that exceeds the measured or derived benefit.

The importance of Project Quality System Metrics

Projects that are run to schedule usually involve the completion of key deliverables. These deliverables also have variables that affect the outcome and can be measured. Project quality metrics provide a way for the organization to assess benchmarks, track progress and assess fitness for purpose. Engineered procedures may be well designed and produce the desired outcome but may fall short in other areas. If the solution is too costly or lacks scalability then managers are forced to come up with a solution that produce that same end result at a cheaper cost and with future scalability. This is an example of overall quality improvement initiatives at work that confer benefits to business processes.

Therefore, a project quality system must define quality and develop a quality process to confer meaningful benefit to the overall project management approach or the project deliverables.

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