STANMORE PM QUALITY MANAGEMENT PM620 IP#5

Project Management Quality Management

Phase 5 Individual Project 5
James L Stanmore, Jr.
Colorado Technical University
PM620-1303B-01Professor Brett Gordon

September 23, 2013

STANMORE PM QUALITY MANAGEMENT PM620 IP#5

Project Management Quality Management

Phase 5 Individual Project 5
During the last successful project a large amount of effort was effectively applied to keep the
project on time and on budget. There is the third element in the project management iron
triangle on which I would like to suggest we increase our focus for the next project: being on
target. By that, I mean a focus on quality. Our deliverables have met expectations, but there was
no formal Quality Management Plan. The Quality Management Plan actually addresses two
categories of quality: quality control and quality assurance (Mochal, 2007).
Quality management methodologies
The two ways of improving quality, quality control and quality assurance, are often confused.
Mochal provides clear explanations of each: quality control is focused on examining the actual
deliverable, while quality assurance evaluates the process used to create the deliverable. An
effective Quality Management Plan addresses both aspects. Each of the quality management
methodologies we will be discussing includes both quality control and quality assurance.
Selected quality management methodologies background
Six Sigma. Six Sigma was developed by Motorola in the 1980s and is widely used across
several industries. Six Sigma is defined as 3.4 defects for every million products (DeMerceau).
This requirement is considered one of the advantages of Six Sigma and DeMerceau also states
that the methodology addresses all aspects of the processes required to produce a product or
service. He also states that it is proactive rather than reactive and seeks aspects of the deliverable
that can be improved before an issue occurs.
DeMerceau identifies one of Six Sigmas strengths can also be a weakness in that the
involvement in all aspects of the production process results in added administration

STANMORE PM QUALITY MANAGEMENT PM620 IP#5

requirements. He further adds that the customer focus of Six Sigma can also be a liability
because it can cause an organization to make a decision based on achieving Six Sigma customer
satisfaction in lieu of making a sound business decision.
ISO9000. ISO9000 is another widely used quality management methodology. ISO
certification is an international standard that is administered by standards organizations in each
country (ANSI in the United States). Many government contracts require ISO certification and
the certification is considered an objective measure of quality.
ISO 9000 is actually a group of standards designed to ensure that products and services are
delivered at a certain standard of quality (Business Link, 2013). Other business advantages
include adoption by 90 countries, requirement for doing business in Europe, and an objective
third party evaluation of quality.
ISO9000 does have a major disadvantage in that it is costly to implement. This makes it
difficult for smaller organizations to achieve. The certification process is also time consuming
and requires 12 18 months to accomplish.
Application of quality management research
Six Sigma, ISO900, and other quality management systems (QMS) have been extensively
monitored and evaluated for a number of years. This body of research has identified the
strengths and weaknesses of each of the QMS. This data can allow us to select the most
effective methodology for our next project based on the project parameters.
Quality management standards
As we move forward towards our next project and important question is, how will we
implement a QMS? An allied question is, what impact will a QMS have on staffing and
efficiency? It may seem that what has been done in the past worked well why change it? The

STANMORE PM QUALITY MANAGEMENT PM620 IP#5

answer to this third question is based on the research discussed earlier: QMS increase quality and
reduce errors, which reduces costs. Whatever success we have had in the past will be enhanced
by the implementation of a QMS.
Our QMS will be implemented through a Quality Management Plan that will be developed
during the project planning phase. The main elements of this plan will include deliverable
quality standards, process quality standards, stakeholder expectations, quality control activities,
and quality assurance activities. The standards will be developed during the planning phase and
implemented through the control and assurance processes throughout the execution phase.
Implementing a QMS will require additional people hours. In order to supply these additional
hours there will either have to be additional personnel assigned to the project or organization
quality management resources will have to be allocated to the project. Once again, referring to
the research will allow us to decide what level of QMS activities will provide the best balance of
resource use and project benefits.
Conclusion
This has been a very brief introduction and overview of Quality Management Systems (QMS)
and the advantages we can gain from implementing a formal system. I believe that we should
select ISO 9000 for our quality standard. This would not only benefit the project, but it will also
provide an opportunity to certify the entire organization. This will provide significant new
business opportunities and will be discussed in the next report (Lister).
We have developed a very successful project management system and the addition of a QMS
can only improve our efficiency to an even higher level. I look forward to discussing this with
you at our next meeting.

STANMORE PM QUALITY MANAGEMENT PM620 IP#5

References
Business Link. (2013). What is ISO 9000? Government of Alberta, Canada. Government. Retrieved
from http://www.canadabusiness.ab.ca/index.php/operations/62-what-is-iso-9000
DeMerceau, J. (n.d.). Advantages & disadvantages of six sigma. Chron. Journal. Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-amp-disadvantages-six-sigma-43963.html
Lister, J. (n.d.). The Advantages of Six Sigma & ISO 9000 in Small Firms | Chron.com. Chron Small
Business. Journal. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-six-sigma-iso9000-small-firms-14196.html
Mochal, T. (2007, June 8). Manage quality through both quality control and quality assurance
techniques. TechRepublic. Information. Retrieved from
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/manage-quality-through-both-quality-control-and-qualityassurance-techniques/
Staff. (n.d.). Project quality management plan | standard for information technology project
management. Information Technology, Virginia Tech. Academic. Retrieved from
http://www.itplanning.org.vt.edu/pm/qualitymgmtplan.html