Chapter 8: Project Quality Management

TRUE/FALSE

	1.	Most people simply accept poor quality from many information technology products.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	293

	2.	The majority of people in the United States use the Internet.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	293

	3.	When an information system does not function correctly, it is generally a slight inconvenience.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	293

	4.	Quality is a lower priority than project scope, time, and cost.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	5.	The quality planning process involves taking responsibility for quality throughout the project’s life cycle.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	6.	Quality planning implies the ability to anticipate situations and prepare actions that bring about the desired outcome.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	296

	7.	Understanding which variables affect outcome is a very important part of quality planning.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	296

	8.	Design of experiments cannot be applied to project management issues such as cost and schedule trade-offs.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	296-297

	9.	Organizational policies related to quality, the particular project’s scope statement and product descriptions, and related standards and regulations are all important input to the quality assurance process.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	297

	10.	It is important to clarify what functions and features the system must perform, and what functions and features are optional.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	297

	11.	Most information technology products can reach 100 percent reliability.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	298

	12.	Project managers are ultimately responsible for quality management on their projects.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	298

	13.	Continuous quality improvement is not a goal of quality assurance.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	298

	14.	Only in-house auditors can perform quality audits.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	299

	15.	If products are accepted, they are considered to be validated deliverables.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	299

	16.	In a Pareto chart, the variables described by the histogram are ordered chronologically.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	304

	17.	To obtain valid statistics, it is important to study every member of a population.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	306

	18.	Control charts are one tool used in the analyze phase of the DMAIC process.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	308

	19.	All of the Six Sigma principles are brand new.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	308

	20.	Using Six Sigma principles is an organization-wide commitment.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	308

	21.	Minimizing defects does not matter if an organization is making a product that no one wants to buy.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	310

	22.	The term sigma means median.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	310

	23.	Testing needs to be done during almost every phase of the systems development life cycle.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	313

	24.	Integration testing replaces the other forms of testing with a single comprehensive test.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	313

	25.	Modern quality management requires customer satisfaction, prefers prevention to inspection, and recognizes management responsibility for quality.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	315

	26.	In TQC, product quality is less important than production rates, and workers are not allowed to stop production whenever a quality problem occurs.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	318

	27.	ISO 9000 provides minimum requirements needed for an organization to meet its quality certification standards.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	318

	28.	Many quality experts believe the main cause of quality problems is the lack of leadership.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	319

	29.	DeMarco and Lister found direct correlations between productivity and programming language, years of experience, and salary.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1	REF:	322

	30.	Expectations can vary based on an organization’s culture or geographic region.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1	REF:	322

MULTIPLE CHOICE

	1.	It took only ____ years for 50 million people to use the Internet compared to 25 years for 50 million people to use telephones.
a.	three	c.	seven	
b.	five	d.	nine	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	293

	2.	____ means the project’s processes and products meet written specifications.
a.	Conformance to requirements	c.	Quality conformance	
b.	Fitness for use	d.	Documentation matching	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	294

	3.	The ____ ultimately decides if quality is acceptable.
a.	project team	c.	project manager	
b.	CEO	d.	customer	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	4.	Project quality management involves ____ main processes.
a.	two	c.	four	
b.	three	d.	five	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	5.	____ includes identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy those standards.
a.	Performing quality assurance	c.	Checking quality	
b.	Performing quality control	d.	Planning quality	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	6.	The main outputs of ____ are a quality management plan, quality metrics, quality checklists, a process improvement plan, and project document updates.
a.	quality control	c.	quality assurance	
b.	quality planning	d.	quality certification	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	7.	____ involves periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.
a.	Performing quality assurance	c.	Checking quality	
b.	Performing quality control	d.	Planning quality	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	8.	____ involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards while identifying ways to improve overall quality.
a.	Performing quality assurance	c.	Checking quality	
b.	Performing quality control	d.	Planning quality	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	9.	The ____ process is often associated with the technical tools and techniques of quality management, such as Pareto charts, quality control charts, and statistical sampling.
a.	quality planning	c.	quality assurance	
b.	quality certification	d.	quality control	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	295

	10.	____ is the degree to which a system performs its intended function.
a.	Reliability	c.	Maintainability	
b.	Performance	d.	Functionality	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	297

	11.	____ are the system’s special characteristics that appeal to users.
a.	Features	c.	Properties	
b.	System outputs	d.	Functions	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	297

	12.	____ addresses how well a product or service performs the customer’s intended use.
a.	Reliability	c.	Maintainability	
b.	Performance	d.	Functionality	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	297

	13.	____ is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions.
a.	Reliability	c.	Maintainability	
b.	Performance	d.	Functionality	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	298

	14.	____ addresses the ease of performing maintenance on a product.
a.	Reliability	c.	Maintainability	
b.	Performance	d.	Functionality	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	298

	15.	____ 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.	Design of experiments	c.	Testing	
b.	Quality auditing	d.	Benchmarking	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	299

	16.	____determine(s) if the products or services produced as part of the project will be accepted or rejected.
a.	Process adjustments	c.	Acceptance decisions	
b.	Rework	d.	Auditing	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	299

	17.	____ is action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or specifications or other stakeholder expectations.
a.	A process adjustment	c.	An acceptance decision	
b.	Rework	d.	Auditing	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	300

	18.	____ correct(s) or prevent(s) further quality problems based on quality control measurements.
a.	Process adjustments	c.	Acceptance decisions	
b.	Rework	d.	Auditing	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	300

	19.	A ____ is a graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time.
a.	statistical sampling chart	c.	Six Sigma chart	
b.	Pareto chart	d.	control chart	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	301

	20.	The ____ states that if seven data points in a row are all below the mean, above the mean, or are all increasing or decreasing, then the process needs to be examined for non-random problems.
a.	ten run rule	c.	seven run rule	
b.	six 9s of quality rule	d.	Six Sigma rule	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	302

	21.	____ help(s) you identify the vital few contributors that account for most quality problems in a system.
a.	Statistical sampling	c.	Six Sigma	
b.	Pareto charts	d.	Quality control charts	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	304

	22.	____ involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.
a.	Statistical sampling	c.	Six Sigma	
b.	Pareto analysis	d.	Quality control charting	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	306

	23.	A certainty factor of 1.960 is used for ____ percent desired certainty.
a.	75	c.	96	
b.	95	d.	99	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	306

	24.	____ is a comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining and maximizing business success.
a.	Statistical sampling	c.	Six Sigma	
b.	Pareto analysis	d.	Quality control charting	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	307

	25.	Six Sigma’s target for perfection is the achievement of no more than ____ defects, errors, or mistakes per million opportunities.
a.	1.34	c.	34	
b.	3.4	d.	340	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	307

	26.	Important tools used in the ____ phase of the DMAIC process include a project charter, a description of customer requirements, process maps, and Voice of the Customer (VOC) data.
a.	define	c.	analyze	
b.	measure	d.	improve	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	307

	27.	An important tool used in the ____ phase of the DMAIC process is the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram.
a.	define	c.	analyze	
b.	measure	d.	improve	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	307

	28.	A ____ is a bell-shaped curve that is symmetrical regarding the average value of the population (the data being analyzed).
a.	skewed distribution	c.	polynomial distribution	
b.	normal distribution	d.	symmetrical distribution	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	310

	29.	In any normal distribution, ____ percent of the population is within three standard deviations of the mean.
a.	95.5	c.	99.7	
b.	99.0	d.	99.9	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	310

	30.	A(n) ____ is any instance where the product or service fails to meet customer requirements.
a.	defect	c.	error	
b.	failure	d.	recall	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	312

	31.	A(n) ____ is done to test each individual component (often a program) to ensure that it is as defect-free as possible.
a.	integration test	c.	user acceptance test	
b.	unit test	d.	system test	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	313

	32.	____ is an independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered system.
a.	Integration testing	c.	User acceptance testing	
b.	Unit testing	d.	System testing	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	313

	33.	One of ____ 14 Points for Management states that an organization should cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.
a.	Deming’s	c.	Crosby’s	
b.	Juran’s	d.	Ishikawa’s	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1	REF:	315

	34.	One of ____ ten steps states that an organization should build awareness of the need and opportunity for improvement.
a.	Deming’s	c.	Juran’s	
b.	Crosby’s	d.	Ishikawa’s	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	316

	35.	Juran’s final step to quality improvement is ____.
a.	organize to reach the goals (establish a quality council, identify problems, select projects, appoint teams, designate facilitators)	
b.	keep score	
c.	report progress	
d.	maintain momentum by making annual improvement part of the regular systems and processes of the company	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	316

	36.	____ wrote Quality Is Free in 1979 and is best known for suggesting that organizations strive for zero defects.
a.	Juran	c.	Crosby	
b.	Ishikawa	d.	Deming	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1	REF:	316

	37.	____, a quality system standard developed by the ISO, is a three-part, continuous cycle of planning, controlling, and documenting quality in an organization.
a.	IEEE 15504	c.	IEEE 9000	
b.	ISO 9000	d.	ISO 15504	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	318

	38.	____ is the cost of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure that a project is error-free or within an acceptable error range.
a.	Prevention cost	c.	Internal failure cost	
b.	Appraisal cost	d.	External failure cost	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1	REF:	320

	39.	____ is a cost that relates to all errors not detected and not corrected before delivery to the customer.
a.	Prevention cost	c.	Internal failure cost	
b.	Appraisal cost	d.	External failure cost	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	321

	40.	____ helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.
a.	SQFD	c.	SQMMI	
b.	CMM	d.	CMMI	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1	REF:	323

COMPLETION

	1.	The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines ____________________ as “the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.”

ANS:	quality

PTS:	1	REF:	294

	2.	____________________ means a product can be used as it was intended.

ANS:	Fitness for use

PTS:	1	REF:	294

	3.	The purpose of ______________________________ is to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.

ANS:	
project quality management
quality management

PTS:	1	REF:	295

	4.	Examples of common ____________________ include failure rates of products produced, availability of goods and services, and customer satisfaction ratings.

ANS:	metrics

PTS:	1	REF:	295

	5.	Performing ____________________ involves periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.

ANS:	quality assurance

PTS:	1	REF:	295

	6.	Performing ____________________ involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards while identifying ways to improve overall quality.

ANS:	quality control

PTS:	1	REF:	295

	7.	_________________________ is a quality planning technique that helps identify which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process.

ANS:	Design of experiments

PTS:	1	REF:	296

	8.	____________________ are the screens and reports the system generates.

ANS:	System outputs

PTS:	1	REF:	297

	9.	Top management and ____________________ can have the greatest impact on the quality of projects by doing a good job of quality assurance.

ANS:	project managers

PTS:	1	REF:	299

	10.	A(n) ____________________ is a structured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects.

ANS:	quality audit

PTS:	1	REF:	299

	11.	____________________ often perform quality audits by helping to design specific quality metrics for a project and then applying and analyzing the metrics throughout the project.

ANS:	Industrial engineers

PTS:	1	REF:	299

	12.	____________________ often results in requested changes and validated defect repair, resulting from recommended defect repair or corrective or preventive actions.

ANS:	Rework

PTS:	1	REF:	300

	13.	____________________ diagrams trace complaints about quality problems back to the responsible production operations.

ANS:	
Cause-and-effect
Fishbone
Ishikawa

PTS:	1	REF:	300

	14.	A(n) ____________________ is a histogram that can help you identify and prioritize problem areas.

ANS:	
Pareto chart
Pareto diagram

PTS:	1	REF:	304

	15.	Standard deviation and ____________________ are fundamental concepts for understanding quality control charts.

ANS:	variability

PTS:	1	REF:	306

	16.	Sample size = 0.25 * (____________________/acceptable error)2

ANS:	certainty factor

PTS:	1	REF:	306

	17.	Projects that use Six Sigma principles for quality control normally follow a five-phase improvement process called ____________________.

ANS:	DMAIC

PTS:	1	REF:	307

	18.	____________________ measures how much variation exists in a distribution of data.

ANS:	Standard deviation

PTS:	1	REF:	310

	19.	The ____________________ represents the number of units handled correctly through the process steps.

ANS:	yield

PTS:	1	REF:	312

	20.	____________________ is a measure of quality control equal to 1 fault in 1 million opportunities.

ANS:	
Six 9s of quality
Six nines of quality

PTS:	1	REF:	312

	21.	Watts S. Humphrey defines a(n) ____________________ as anything that must be changed before delivery of the program.

ANS:	software defect

PTS:	1	REF:	314

	22.	____________________ are groups of non-supervisors and work leaders in a single company department who volunteer to conduct group studies on how to improve the effectiveness of work in their department.

ANS:	Quality circles

PTS:	1	REF:	317

	23.	____________________ design methods focus on eliminating defects by substituting scientific inquiry for trial-and-error methods.

ANS:	Robust

PTS:	1	REF:	318

	24.	The ____________________ means taking responsibility for failures or not meeting quality expectations.

ANS:	cost of nonconformance

PTS:	1	REF:	320

	25.	The _____________________________________________ model focuses on defining user requirements and planning software projects.

ANS:	
SQFD
Software Quality Function Deployment
Software Quality Function Deployment (SQFD)
SQFD (Software Quality Function Deployment)

PTS:	1	REF:	323

ESSAY

	1.	List and briefly describe the three project quality management processes.

ANS:	
Planning quality includes identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy those standards. Incorporating quality standards into project design is a key part of quality planning. For an information technology project, quality standards might include allowing for system growth, planning a reasonable response time for a system, or ensuring that the system produces consistent and accurate information. Quality standards can also apply to information technology services. For example, you can set standards for how long it should take to get a reply from a help desk or how long it should take to ship a replacement part for a hardware item under warranty. The main outputs of quality planning are a quality management plan, quality metrics, quality checklists, a process improvement plan, and project document updates. A metric is a standard of measurement. Examples of common metrics include failure rates of products produced, availability of goods and services, and customer satisfaction ratings.

Performing quality assurance involves periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards. The quality assurance process involves taking responsibility for quality throughout the project’s life cycle. Top management must take the lead in emphasizing the roles all employees play in quality assurance, especially senior managers’ roles. The main outputs of this process are organizational process asset updates, change requests, project management plan updates, and project document updates.

Performing quality control involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards while identifying ways to improve overall quality. This process is often associated with the technical tools and techniques of quality management, such as Pareto charts, quality control charts, and statistical sampling. You will learn more about these tools and techniques later in this chapter. The main outputs of quality control include quality control measurements, validated changes, validated deliverables, organizational process asset updates, change requests, project management plan updates, and project document updates.

PTS:	1	REF:	295-296

	2.	What are the three main outcomes of quality control? Briefly describe each.

ANS:	
Acceptance decisions determine if the products or services produced as part of the project will be accepted or rejected. If they are accepted, they are considered to be validated deliverables. If project stakeholders reject some of the products or services produced as part of the project, there must be rework.

Rework is action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or specifications or other stakeholder expectations. Rework often results in requested changes and validated defect repair, resulting from recommended defect repair or corrective or preventive actions. Rework can be very expensive, so the project manager must strive to do a good job of quality planning and quality assurance to avoid this need.

Process adjustments correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality control measurements. Process adjustments are often found by using quality control measurements, and they often result in updates to the quality baseline, organization process assets, and the project management plan.

PTS:	1	REF:	299-300

	3.	What are the five phases in the DMAIC process? Briefly describe each one.

ANS:	
Define: Define the problem/opportunity, process, and customer requirements. Important tools used in this phase include a project charter, a description of customer requirements, process maps, and Voice of the Customer (VOC) data. Examples of VOC data include complaints, surveys, comments, and market research that represent the views and needs of the organization’s customers.

Measure: Define measures, then collect, compile, and display data. Measures are defined in terms of defects per opportunity.

Analyze: Scrutinize process details to find improvement opportunities. A project team working on a Six Sigma project, normally referred to as a Six Sigma team, investigates and verifies data to prove the suspected root causes of quality problems and substantiates the problem statement. An important tool in this phase is the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram.

Improve: Generate solutions and ideas for improving the problem. A final solution is verified with the project sponsor, and the Six Sigma team develops a plan to pilot test the solution. The Six Sigma team reviews the results of the pilot test to refine the solution, if needed, and then implements the solution where appropriate.

Control: Track and verify the stability of the improvements and the predictability of the solution. Control charts are one tool used in the control phase.

PTS:	1	REF:	307-308

	4.	Describe the relationship between Six Sigma and Statistics. What statistical concepts are involved in the Six Sigma philosophy?

ANS:	
An important concept in Six Sigma is improving quality by reducing variation. The term sigma means standard deviation. Standard deviation measures how much variation exists in a distribution of data. A small standard deviation means that data clusters closely around the middle of a distribution and there is little variability among the data. A large standard deviation means that data is spread out around the middle of the distribution and there is relatively greater variability. Statisticians use the Greek symbol s (sigma) to represent the standard deviation.

A normal distribution is a bell-shaped curve that is symmetrical regarding the mean or average value of the population (the data being analyzed). In any normal distribution, 68.3 percent of the population is within one standard deviation (1s) of the mean, 95.5 percent of the population is within two standard deviations (2s), and 99.7 percent of the population is within three standard deviations (3s) of the mean.

Standard deviation is a key factor in determining the acceptable number of defective units found in a population. Being plus or minus six sigma in pure statistical terms means only two defective units per billion. However, the target for Six Sigma programs is 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Based on Motorola’s original work on Six Sigma in the 1980s, the convention used for Six Sigma is a scoring system that accounts for more variation in a process than you would typically find in a few weeks or months of data gathering. In other words, time is an important factor in determining process variations.

PTS:	1	REF:	310-311

	5.	What are the five major cost categories related to quality? Briefly describe each category.

ANS:	
Prevention cost: The cost of planning and executing a project so that it is error-free or within an acceptable error range. Preventive actions such as training, detailed studies related to quality, and quality surveys of suppliers and subcontractors fall under this category. Detecting defects in information systems during the early phases of the systems development life cycle is much less expensive than during the later phases. One hundred dollars spent refining user requirements could save millions by finding a defect before implementing a large system. The Year 2000 (Y2K) issue provides a good example of these costs. If organizations had decided during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s that all dates would need four characters to represent the year instead of two characters, they would have saved billions of dollars.

Appraisal cost: The cost of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure that a project is error-free or within an acceptable error range. Activities such as inspection and testing of products, maintenance of inspection and test equipment, and processing and reporting inspection data all contribute to appraisal costs of quality.

Internal failure cost: A cost incurred to correct an identified defect before the customer receives the product. Items such as scrap and rework, charges related to late payment of bills, inventory costs that are a direct result of defects, costs of engineering changes related to correcting a design error, premature failure of products, and correcting documentation all contribute to internal failure cost.

External failure cost: A cost that relates to all errors not detected and not corrected before delivery to the customer. Items such as warranty cost, field service personnel training cost, product liability suits, complaint handling, and future business losses are examples of external failure costs.

Measurement and test equipment costs: The capital cost of equipment used to perform prevention and appraisal activities.

PTS:	1	REF:	320-321