Quality assurance is sandwiched between Plan Quality Management and Control Quality. In reality, the flow is different. The PMP Certification Exam will directly address your understanding of project quality assurance.
First, you plan the quality processes, policies, techniques, methods, and metrics. Then, using the tools in quality control, you measure the results by using the identified tools, techniques, and methods to see whether they comply with the identified metrics. In quality assurance, you’re identifying whether the process is working — and if there are ways to improve it.
| Plan Quality Management | Control Quality | Perform Quality Assurance |
|---|---|---|
| Identifies the policies and procedures used on the project | Are you using those policies and procedures? Are they appropriate? | |
| Identifies the quality processes used on the project | Are you using those processes? Are they appropriate? | |
| Identifies the tools and techniques used to measure quality | Measure using the identified tools and techniques. | Are these the right tools and techniques? |
| Identifies the metrics and measurements for the product and project | Compare the measurements with the metrics. | Are the metrics appropriate? If there are variances, what is the cause? |
| Identify gaps in planned versus actual measurements. | Can you improve your policies, procedures, tools, techniques, or methods? | |
| Develop corrective action plans for problem areas. | ||
| Communicate areas that work. |
Perform Quality Assurance. Auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements to ensure that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used.
Quality assurance is predominately concerned with improving processes, which will lead to improved results.
The intent of performing quality assurance is to provide confidence that the processes, products, deliverables, and data are sound and will meet the documented requirements and specifications.
Perform Quality Assurance: Inputs
Inputs for the Perform Quality Assurance process come from the project management plan, the Plan Quality Management, and the Control Quality processes. Here are brief descriptions of the inputs:
Quality management plan: Describes the quality assurance approach, including processes, procedures, methods, and tools that will be used for quality assurance.
Process improvement plan: The Perform Quality Assurance process is the umbrella for improving processes for the organization and the project.
Quality metrics: The specific measurements that a project, product, service, or result needs to meet to be considered in compliance. Metrics can also describe the measurement process or tool used to measure the outcome.
Quality control measurements: The outcomes from the measurements taken in the Control Quality process.
Perform Quality Assurance: Outputs
The intended outcome of quality audit and process improvement activities is to reduce the cost of quality and/or to increase customer satisfaction. Any corrective actions identified in quality audit, as well as any opportunities to improve processes, will go through the Integrated Change Control process. Change requests can take the form of
Changing a policy
Changing a procedure
Changing a process
Corrective action
Preventive action
Changing the quality management plan
Depending on the results of the Perform Quality Assurance process, you may also need updates to the project management plan, project documents, and the organizational process assets.