Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition

Note: See the text itself for full citations.

  Many people joke about the poor quality of IT
products

 People seem to accept systems being down

occasionally or needing to reboot their PCs

 But quality is very important in many IT projects

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 2
  The International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) defines quality as “the degree to which a set
of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements”
(ISO9000:2000)
 Other experts define quality based on:
◦ Conformance to requirements: The project’s processes
and products meet written specifications
◦ Fitness for use: A product can be used as it was intended

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 3
  Project quality management ensures that the project
will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken
 Processes include:
◦ Planning quality management: Identifying which quality
standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them;
a metric is a standard of measurement
◦ Performing quality assurance: Periodically evaluating overall
project performance to ensure the project will satisfy the
relevant quality standards
◦ Performing quality control: Monitoring specific project
results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality
standards

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 4
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 5
  Implies the ability to anticipate situations and
prepare actions to bring about the desired
outcome

 Important to prevent defects by:

◦ Selecting proper materials

◦ Training and indoctrinating people in quality

◦ Planning a process that ensures the appropriate

outcome

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 6
  Functionality is the degree to which a system performs
its intended function
 Features are the system’s special characteristics that
appeal to users
 System outputs are the screens and reports the system
generates
 Performance addresses how well a product or service
performs the customer’s intended use
 Reliability is the ability of a product or service to perform
as expected under normal conditions
 Maintainability addresses the ease of performing
maintenance on a product
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 7
  Project managers are ultimately responsible for
quality management on their projects

 Several organizations and references can help project

managers and their teams understand quality

◦ International Organization for Standardization (www.iso.org)

◦ IEEE (www.ieee.org)

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 8
  Quality assurance includes all the activities related to
satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project
 Another goal of quality assurance is continuous quality
improvement
 Benchmarking generates ideas for quality
improvements by comparing specific project practices
or product characteristics to those of other projects or
products within or outside the performing organization
 A quality audit is a structured review of specific quality
management activities that help identify lessons
learned that could improve performance on current or
future projects
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 9
  The main outputs of quality control are:
◦ Acceptance decisions
◦ Rework
◦ Process adjustments
 There are Seven Basic Tools of Quality that help
in performing quality control

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 10
  Cause-and-effect diagrams trace complaints
about quality problems back to the responsible
production operations
 They help you find the root cause of a problem
 Also known as fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams
 Can also use the 5 whys technique where you
repeated ask the question “Why” (five is a good
rule of thumb) to peel away the layers of
symptoms that can lead to the root cause

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 11
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 12
  A control chart is a graphic display of data that illustrates
the results of a process over time
 The main use of control charts is to prevent defects, rather
than to detect or reject them
 Quality control charts allow you to determine whether a
process is in control or out of control
◦ When a process is in control, any variations in the results of
the process are created by random events; processes that
are in control do not need to be adjusted
◦ When a process is out of control, variations in the results of
the process are caused by non-random events; you need to
identify the causes of those non-random events and adjust
the process to correct or eliminate them
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 13
  You can use quality control charts and the seven
run rule to look for patterns in data

 The seven run rule states that if seven data

points in a row are all below the mean, above the
mean, or are all increasing or decreasing, then the
process needs to be examined for non-random
problems

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 14
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 15
  A checksheet is used to collect and analyze data
 It is sometimes called a tally sheet or checklist,
depending on its format
 In the example in Figure 8-4, most complaints
arrive via text message, and there are more
complaints on Monday and Tuesday than on other
days of the week
 This information might be useful in improving the
process for handling complaints

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 16
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 17
  A scatter diagram helps to show if there is a
relationship between two variables
 The closer data points are to a diagonal line, the
more closely the two variables are related

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 18
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 19
  A histogram is a bar graph of a distribution of
variables
 Each bar represents an attribute or characteristic
of a problem or situation, and the height of the bar
represents its frequency

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 20
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 21
  A Pareto chart is a histogram that can help you
identify and prioritize problem areas

 Pareto analysis is also called the 80-20 rule,

meaning that 80 percent of problems are often
due to 20 percent of the causes

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 22
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 23
  Flowcharts are graphic displays of the logic and
flow of processes that help you analyze how
problems occur and how processes can be
improved
 They show activities, decision points, and the
order of how information is processed

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 24
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 25
  In addition to flowcharts, run charts are also used
for stratification, a technique that shows data from
a variety of sources to see if a pattern emerges
 A run chart displays the history and pattern of
variation of a process over time.
 You can use run charts to perform trend analysis
and forecast future outcomes based on historical
results

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 26
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 27
  Statistical sampling involves choosing part of a
population of interest for inspection
 The size of a sample depends on how
representative you want the sample to be
 Sample size formula:
Sample size = .25 X (certainty factor/acceptable error)2

 Be sure to consult with an expert when using

statistical analysis
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 28
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 29
  Six Sigma is “a comprehensive and flexible system
for achieving, sustaining, and maximizing business
success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close
understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of
facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent
attention to managing, improving, and reinventing
business processes”*

*Pande, Peter S., Robert P. Neuman, and Roland R. Cavanagh, The

Six Sigma Way, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000, p. xi.

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 30
  The target for perfection is the achievement of no
more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities

 The principles can apply to a wide variety of

processes

 Six Sigma projects normally follow a five-phase

improvement process called DMAIC

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 31
  DMAIC is a systematic, closed-loop process for
continued improvement that is scientific and fact based
 DMAIC stands for:
◦ Define: Define the problem/opportunity, process, and
customer requirements
◦ Measure: Define measures, then collect, compile, and
display data
◦ Analyze: Scrutinize process details to find improvement
opportunities
◦ Improve: Generate solutions and ideas for improving the
problem
◦ Control: Track and verify the stability of the improvements
and the predictability of the solution

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 32
  It requires an organization-wide commitment.
 Training follows the “Belt” system
 Six Sigma organizations have the ability and
willingness to adopt contrary objectives, such as
reducing errors and getting things done faster
 It is an operating philosophy that is customer
focused and strives to drive out waste, raise levels
of quality, and improve financial performance at
breakthrough levels

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 33
  The training for Six Sigma includes many project
management concepts, tools, and techniques

 For example, Six Sigma projects often use business

cases, project charters, schedules, budgets, and so on

 Six Sigma projects are done in teams; the project

manager is often called the team leader, and the
sponsor is called the champion

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 34
  The term sigma means standard deviation
 Standard deviation measures how much
variation exists in a distribution of data
 Standard deviation is a key factor in determining
the acceptable number of defective units found in
a population
 Six Sigma projects strive for no more than 3.4
defects per million opportunities, yet this number
is confusing to many statisticians

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 35
  Using a normal curve, if a process is at six sigma,
there would be no more than two defective units per
billion produced
 Six Sigma uses a scoring system that accounts for
time, an important factor in determining process
variations
 Yield represents the number of units handled
correctly through the process steps
 A defect is any instance where the product or service
fails to meet customer requirements
 There can be several opportunities to have a defect

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 36
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 37
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 38
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 39
  Six 9s of quality is a measure of quality control
equal to 1 fault in 1 million opportunities

 In the telecommunications industry, it means

99.9999 percent service availability or 30 seconds
of down time a year

 This level of quality has also been stated as the

target goal for the number of errors in a
communications circuit, system failures, or errors
in lines of code
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 40
  Many IT professionals think of testing as a stage
that comes near the end of IT product
development

 Testing should be done during almost every phase

of the IT product development life cycle

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 41
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 42
  Unit testing tests each individual component (often
a program) to ensure it is as defect-free as possible

 Integration testing occurs between unit and system

testing to test functionally grouped components

 System testing tests the entire system as one entity

 User acceptance testing is an independent test

performed by end users prior to accepting the
delivered system

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 43
  Watts S. Humphrey, a renowned expert on software
quality, defines a software defect as anything that must
be changed before delivery of the program

 Testing does not sufficiently prevent software defects

because:
◦ The number of ways to test a complex system is huge

◦ Users will continue to invent new ways to use a system that

its developers never considered

 Humphrey suggests that people rethink the software

development process to provide no potential defects when
you enter system testing; developers must be responsible
for providing error-free code at each stage of testing
Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 44
  The cost of quality is the cost of conformance
plus the cost of nonconformance
◦ Conformance means delivering products that meet
requirements and fitness for use
◦ Cost of nonconformance means taking responsibility
for failures or not meeting quality expectations
 A study reported that software bugs cost the U.S.
economy $59.6 billion each year and that one third
of the bugs could be eliminated by an improved
testing infrastructure

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 45
  Prevention cost: Cost of planning and executing a project
so it is error-free or within an acceptable error range
 Appraisal cost: Cost of evaluating processes and their
outputs to ensure quality
 Internal failure cost: Cost incurred to correct an identified
defect before the customer receives the product
 External failure cost: Cost that relates to all errors not
detected and corrected before delivery to the customer
 Measurement and test equipment costs: Capital cost of
equipment used to perform prevention and appraisal
activities

Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 46