For PMPs looking to maintain their certification, good PMI PDU courses on quality management will discuss quality assurance in detail. PMP PDU courses in quality management should contain a section on quality assurance such as the below example. Quality assurance ensures the implementation of the planned quality metrics and standards. The quality assurance process takes the metrics defined in the planning stages and compares them to the control measurements in the control phase discussed later in this course. Quality assurance could be seen as a redundant process, but this is not the case. This process is valuable because it is a dedicated task monitoring the quality system. If this process is marginalized and neglected, the project could end up producing a substandard product, which will need reworking, costing the project more time and money.
What Goes into the Quality Assurance Process?
The inputs here are comprised of information from both the quality planning stage and from other stages in the project cycle. PMI PDU courses should contain examples of the inputs. PMBOK lists the inputs below as the ones needed for executing quality assurance. They are:
- Quality Management Plan
This describes how the quality assurance process will proceed in the project
- Process Improvement Plan
This describes how the project processes are monitored for effectiveness and efficiency and was discussed in the previously
- Quality Control Metrics
This lists the numerical requirements that the project must achieve in terms of quality
- Project Performance Data
This information includes the standard project performance data like project deliverables status, schedule adherence, and cost incurred. This information is incorporated into the quality assurance process.
- Measurement Data
These are measurements taken during the quality control phase.
The purpose of these quality inputs is to guide the project team on what to examine when assessing how well the quality standards are being kept. Well-written
PMI PDU courses will contain exercises related to quality assurance inputs. Quality assurance is different from quality control. Quality assurance deals with the quality system itself while quality control focuses on the actual quality of the project and product. For example, a quality metric could state that the testing of a component of a product be subject to 100 pounds of pressure; however, during the quality assurance audit, it was discovered that the gauge on the testing apparatus was off by 20 pounds. This discrepancy could lead to malfunctions and lawsuits. The quality assurance component of the quality management process ensures that the quality system is doing what it is supposed to do.
PMP PDU courses would contain additonal examples.
