QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PROJECTS QUALITY PLANNING

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1 QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PROJECTS QUALITY PLANNING Prof.dr.eng. Liviu Marius CÎRȚÎNĂ Assoc. Prof. Daniela CÎRȚÎNĂ Let.dr.eng. Constanța RĂDULESCU Constantin Brâncuși University of Tg Jiu, Abstract: The project is defined as an ensemble coordinated by some activities accomplished in order to reach a well determined purpose, namely the project defines a process. Quality management in projects includes the processes necessary for providing the fact that the project satisfies the necessities it had been accomplished for. The settlement of the main (strategic) objective of the project and of the lower objectives together with the establishment of the methods by means of which these objectives are reached represent the quality planning in projects. Keywords: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control, quality management. 1. INTRODUCTION The project is defined as a lot of activities working for the achievement of the same purpose, with their own management and needing an important consumption of resources [1]. Quality management represents the activities coordinated for orienting and controlling an organisation regarding the quality. The activities of orientation and control include the establishment of the policy referring to quality and of the quality objectives, of the quality planning and of the quality objectives. We should establish from the beginning that there is a major distinction between project and organisation. The project is defined as an ensemble coordinated by some activities accomplished in order to reach a well determined purpose, namely the project defines a process [2]. The organisation is defined as a group of persons and facilities with an ensemble of responsibilities, authorities and relations, namely the organisation is a structure. In conclusion, the process has an existence determined in time and, as a consequence, the project lasts for a finite and determined time. The organisation may last for a nondetermined time. Quality management in projects includes the processes necessary for providing the fact that the project satisfies the necessities it had been accomplished for. The Association for Project Management of England formulated the following definition: Quality management in projects is the subject applied for providing that both the project results and the processes by means of which the results are delivered satisfy the necessities of the interested parties [10]. Here, quality is largely defined as fitness for purpose and in a more restrained way, as the conformity degree of the results and of the process. 110

2 2. CONTENT Quality management is applied in all the project phases, from the project initiation, to the project processes, the project management, the project results and to the project finalisation. The project management is based on a cycle where the activity of planning and controlling and implementing the project consists one integrated managerial action [6], fig.1. Fig.1. Inter-conditioned processes composing the project management cycle In the framework of the projects, the quality management should necessarily include the following major processes, fig.2: A Quality planning; B Quality assurance; C Quality control; D Quality improvement. Fig.2. Major processes of QM in projects. Quality planning is the key function of quality management, whose purpose is to establish the policy, the quality objectives and the adequate strategies for accomplishing them [3]. The planning of the activities of a project represents the essential function of the project management, introducing thus relations of order and constraints in the ensemble of the activities afferent to the project. Major process of quality planning in projects: The planning activity is made in the stage of writing the project (before the physical stage of the project), but the planning activity remains present during the entire implementation of the project, finding that no project evolves according to the initial planning, so that the project targets should be provided. 111

3 Until the 80s, the activity planning rarely contained the quality planning [3]. Nowadays, the quality planning in projects is a key function of the quality management, a major process with inputs and outputs according to the fig.3. Thus, the major process of quality planning in projects has the following inputs: A 1 The quality policy; A 2 Defining the project purpose; A 3 Details, technical features and other type of features of the project activities; A 4 Standards, regulations regarding the project; The quality policy represents the general intentions and orientations of the organisation, as they are officially expressed by the management at the highest level. The project manager together with the implementation team of the project is responsible for making sure that the parties interested in the project are aware of the adopted quality policy. Fig.3. Quality planning in projects as a major process. The definition of the project purpose is documented from the major deliverables of the project, and also from the project objectives which are established in the initiation phase. Results (outputs) from the major process of quality planning in projects [11]: R.1. Quality management plan; R.2. Operational measures; R3. Control lists. The quality management plan describes the way the project management team implements the policy in the quality field, including the quality objectives. The quality plan should define the audit tests, inspections and programs adequate to the different phases of the project, and it also defines the quality requirements and the quality control process which are to be applied on the project management. The operational measurements describe the way the quality is measured in the project activities, as in the framework of the quality control process and of the project results. It is important the way the project progresses (progress reports: costs, working time, durations of the activities, etc.). 112

4 The control lists are used for checking whether this activity was accomplished. The basic process of quality planning may include [4] the following techniques and instruments: Benchmarking- The project processes are compared to the best practices of other projects in that field or in other fields, for generating improvement ideas of the processes and for supplying procedures by means of which the performances could be measured. It is usually about the project time and cost. The cause-effect diagram (Ishikawa)- It illustrates the relation between a problem, an effect and all the possible causes contributing to it. The cost-benefit analysis - The main cost of satisfying the quality requirements consists of the expenses associated to the management activities of the project quality. The rule is for the benefits (incomes) to overdraw the costs (the expenses). The planning of the experiments - The analytic method which allows the identification of the independent variables (the experiment factors) having the highest influence on the dependent variable measured during the experiment CONCLUSIONS The strategic quality objective of the project is transposed into a list of relations with concrete elements: the actions which are accomplished and by whom etc. The identification of these elements means the division of the main (strategic) quality objective of the project; The settlement of the main (strategic) objective of the project and of the lower objectives together with the establishment of the methods by means of which these objectives are reached represent the quality planning in projects; The quality planning in projects is accomplished after establishing the quality objective, an objective representing the target which is to be reached regarding the quality, and it represents a process structured before the physical initiation of the project, but this planning will be present during the entire life cycle of the project. REFERENCES 1. Bodea, Constanța-Nicoletaș.a - Project Management. INFOREC Press, Bucharest, 2000, ISBN ; 2. Curaj, A., s.a. Practica managementului proiectelor, Editura Economica, Bucuresti, 2003; 3. Juran, J.M. Planificarea Calității, Editura Teora, București, 2000; 4. Kloppenborg, Timothy J., Petrick, Joseph A.- Managing Project Quality. Management concepts. Vienna, 2002; 5. Lock, D. Management de proiect, Editura Codecs, 2000; 6. Opran, C., ș.a. Project Management. comunicare.ro Press, Bucharest, 2002, ISBN ; 7. Phillips, Joseph - Quality Control in Project Management, November Teodorescu, L., Ivan, I.- Software Quality Management. Inforec Press, Bucharest, 2001; 9. Trandafir, M., Iosifescu, M., Avram, C., Valeanu, M. Calitatea dictionar explicativ, 2005;

5 10. *** - Association for Project Management. Glossary of Project Management Terms Project Management Institute - A guide to the project management body of knowledge, 1996; 11. *** - Project Management Association of Romania Project Management: Glossary. Bucharest, Economical Press, 2002; 12. *** - PMBOK ready reckoner, Ver.1.0[1], pag,7 and 8; 13. *** - SR ISO 10006:2005. Quality Management Systems. Directing Lines for Quality Management in Projects. 114