Quality assurance (QA) in project management refers to the process that guarantees a project meets high standards of quality. The effective implementation of QA practices reduces the risk of potential failures in a project. With QA, customer satisfaction increases, while your organization’s reputation also increases.
Definition of Quality Assurance in Project Management
Quality assurance in project management is a set of activities performed throughout the lifecycle of the project to ensure that the product or service will meet the required specifications at the end. Planning, monitoring and control of such quality-related activities accompanied by taking corrections whenever necessary are basically involved.
Benefits of Quality Assurance in Project Management
There are various advantages to implementing quality assurance practices in your projects. These include:
- Less risk involved in a project: QA identifies and reduces the potential risk that may have an impact on the successful implementation of a project.
- Higher satisfaction of customers: With quality products or services, you will increase the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Improving the reputation of an organization: The good reputation associated with the delivery of quality projects is likely to help your organization obtain more business and enhance its standings within the marketplace.
- Less cost: This is because QA will prevent costly rework and errors, thereby saving an organization some time and money.
Key Aspects of Quality Assurance in Project Management
Quality assurance in project management involves several key aspects, as stated below.
- Quality planning: This means defining the quality standards and objectives of the project, coupled with identifying which quality assurance activities shall be applied.
- Quality control: This is the act of inspecting and testing the deliverables for some assurance that they meet specified quality standards.
- Quality Assurance: This will cover all the measures to check and control quality in a project, as well as that in all the quality control activity measures.
- Continuous Improvement: This will include ways to improve and changing steps so that the quality in a project can be of better quality.
Best Practices of Quality Assurance in Project Management
To ensure your quality assurance steps are followed through, make use of the following best practices:
- Involve all the team: Quality assurance is not the duty of some individuals only. All the members involved in the project should participate in ensuring that the project meets the highest quality standards.
- Use quality tools and techniques: There are varieties of tools and techniques which can be used to support quality assurance activities including Statistical process control, Six Sigma, and ISO 9001.
- Quality assurance should be an ongoing process. The quality of the project should be kept monitor and improved upon.
- Communicating: Quality assurance is not just about discussing details; it is more about acting on results. It must be smooth and effective communication between team members, ensuring that all people on the project team clearly know what quality standards and expectations entail.
Best Practices in Quality Assurance for Project Management
Best practices to ensure effectiveness of your quality assurance efforts include the following:
- Involving the entire team: Quality assurance is not a task performed exclusively by just a few members. In this respect, it should be the mandate of every member on the project team.
- Quality tools and techniques: There are various tools and techniques which are used in the context of quality assurance. There are statistical process control, Six Sigma, ISO 9001, among others.
- Continuously monitor and improve: Quality assurance is a cyclic process. Continuously monitor the quality of the project and make any required improvements.
- Be Open and Communicative: Proper quality assurance requires open and clear communication. It requires that the quality levels and expectations are communicated to each member in the project team.
Conclusion
Quality assurance is one of the crucial components of successful project management. Excellent QA practices ensure that projects undertaken result in improvement in quality, reduce the risks associated, and consequently advance the reputation of your organization. Amrepinspect provides you with quality assurance for various service types that will enable you to achieve success in a project.
FAQs
What is difference between quality control inspection and quality assurance?
Quality control is inspection and testing of individual project deliverables; quality assurance involves monitoring as well as controlling the overall quality of the project.
How would I improve the quality of my project team?
Training and development opportunities, teamwork encouragement, and a good working atmosphere all tend to improve the quality of your project team.
Which are the most general quality assurance metrics?
The common metrics are defects, rework rate, customer satisfaction, and standards on quality measure.
