Chapter 8

Information Technology Project
Management, Seventh Edition
Note: See the text itself for full citations.

Understand the importance of project quality
management for information technology (IT)
products and services.
Define project quality management and understand
how quality relates to various aspects of IT projects
Describe quality management planning and how
quality and scope management are related
Discuss the importance of quality assurance
Explain the main outputs of the quality control
process

Management, Seventh Edition Copyright 2014 2
Understand the tools and techniques for quality
control, such as the Seven Basic Tools of Quality,
statistical sampling, Six Sigma, and testing
Summarize the contributions of noteworthy quality
experts to modern quality management
Describe how leadership, the cost of quality,
organizational influences, expectations, cultural
differences, and maturity models relate to improving
quality in IT projects
Discuss how software can assist in project quality
management
Bill Gates, the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation,
stated:
If General Motors had kept up with technology like the computer
industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles
to the gallon.
In response to Gates comments, General Motors issued a press
release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we
would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day.
Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a
new car.
Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, reliable, five
times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five
percent of the roads.
The airbag system would say Are you sure? before going off.

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

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 projects processes
and products meet written specifications
Fitness for use: A product can be used as it was intended

Project quality management involves three main processes:
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

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

Functionality is the degree to which a system performs its intended function
Features are the systems special characteristics that appeal to users.
(Mandatory such as user interface with icons, menus, and online help or
Optional)
System outputs are the screens and reports the system generates (an users
get all of the reports they need in a suitable form)
Performance addresses how well a product or service performs the
customers intended use. (unsatisfied with the response time, generating
inconsistent result)
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
(uploading new data into the system or performing maintenance procedures on the system hardware
and software. Should reliability tests be based on 100 people accessing the system at once and
running simple queries)

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)

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. (Design of experiments, as described under quality
planning, can also help ensure and improve product quality.)
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

The main outputs of quality control are:
Acceptance decisions
determine if the products or services produced as part of the
project will be accepted or rejected.
Rework
is action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with
product requirements, specifications, or other stakeholder
expectations
Process adjustments
correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality
control measurements

Quality control includes many general tools and
techniques. The Seven Basic Tools of Quality,
statistical sampling, and Six Sigmaand
discusses how they can be applied to IT
projects.
There are Seven Basic Tools of Quality that
help in performing quality control

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

Using 5 whys, you could first ask why the users cannot
get into the system, then
why they keep forgetting their passwords,
why they did not reset their passwords, and
why they did not check a box to save a password.
The root cause of the problem would have a significant
impact on the actions taken to solve the problem. If
many users could not get into the system because their
computers did not have enough memory, the solution
might be to upgrade memory for those computers. If
many users could not get into the system because they
forgot their passwords, there might be a much quicker,
less expensive solution.

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
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

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

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.
Example:
Scatter diagram that Scott Daniels might create to
compare user satisfaction ratings of the EIS system to
the age of respondents to see if there is a relationship.
Scott might find that younger users are less satisfied
with the system, for example, and make decisions based
on that finding.

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.
For example,
Scott Daniels might ask the Help Desk to create a
histogram to show how many total complaints they
received each week about the EIS system.

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.
For example,
Suppose there was a detailed history of user complaints
about the EIS. The project team could create a Pareto
chart based on that data,

The first complaint accounts for 55 percent of the total complaints. The first
and second complaints together account for almost 80 percent of the total
complaints. Therefore, the company should focus on making it easier to
log in to the system to improve quality, because most complaints fall under
that category. inaccurate reports are a problem that is rarely mentioned,
the project manager should investigate who made this complaint before
spending a lot of effort on addressing the problem

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

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.
For example,
trend analysis can help you analyze how many defects have been
identified over time and see if there are trends.

A sample run chart of the number of defects each month for three
different types of defects. You can easily see the patterns of Defect 1
increasing over time, Defect 2 decreasing the first several months
and then holding steady, and Defect 3 fluctuating each month.

Statistical sampling :
key concept in project quality management. Members of a project team
who focus on quality control must have a strong understanding of
statistics,
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
The certainty factor denotes how certain you want to be that the
sampled data does not include variations that do not naturally exist
in the population.
Be sure to consult with an expert when using statistical analysis

For example, suppose that a company wants to develop an
electronic data interchange (EDI) system for handling invoice data
from all of its suppliers. Assume also that in the past year, the
company received 50,000 invoices from 200 different suppliers. It
would be very time consuming and expensive to review every
invoice to determine data requirements for the new system.
Even if the system developers did review all 200 invoice forms from
the different suppliers, the data might be entered differently on every
form. It is impractical to study every member of a population, such
as all 50,000 invoices, so statisticians have developed techniques to
help determine an appropriate sample size.
If the system developers used statistical techniques, they might find
that they could study only 100 invoices and have a good sample of
the type of data they needed to design the system.

suppose that the developers of the EDI system described earlier
would accept a 95 percent certainty that a sample of invoices would
contain no variation unless it was present in the population of total
invoices.

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.

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

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: examine 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

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

Joseph M. Juran stated, All improvement takes place
project by project, and in no other way*
Its important to select projects carefully and apply higher
quality where it makes sense; companies that use Six
Sigma do not always boost their stock values.
As Mikel Harry puts it, I could genetically engineer a Six
Sigma goat, but if a rodeo is the marketplace, people are
still going to buy a Four Sigma horse.**
Six Sigma projects must focus on a quality problem or gap
between the current and desired performance and not
have a clearly understood problem or a predetermined
solution.
*What You Need to Know About Six Sigma, Productivity Digest (December 2001), p. 38.
**Clifford, Lee, Why You Can Safely Ignore Six Sigma, Fortune (January 22, 2001), p.
140.

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

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

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

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

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

Find Software Bugs Early
Facilitates Change
Simplifies Integration
Provides Documentation

System Integration testing includes a number of techniques like
Incremental, Top- down, Bottom Up, Sandwich and Big Bang
Integration techniques.

.

Watts S. Humphrey, a well-known 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.
Modern quality management:
Requires customer satisfaction
Prefers prevention to inspection
Recognizes management responsibility for quality
Noteworthy quality experts include Deming, Juran,

Crosby, Ishikawa, Taguchi, and Feigenbaum

Deming was famous for his work in rebuilding
Japan and his 14 Points for Management
Juran wrote the Quality Control Handbook and ten
steps to quality improvement
Crosby wrote Quality is Free and suggested that
organizations strive for zero defects
Ishikawa developed the concepts of quality circles
and fishbone diagrams
Taguchi developed methods for optimizing the
process of engineering experimentation
Feigenbaum developed the concept of total quality
control

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
originated in 1987 to recognize companies that have
achieved a level of world-class competition through
quality management
Given by the President of the United States to U.S.
businesses
Three awards each year in different categories:
Manufacturing
Service
Small business
Education and health care

ISO 9000 is a quality system standard that:
Is a three-part, continuous cycle of planning, controlling,
and documenting quality in an organization
Provides minimum requirements needed for an

organization to meet its quality certification standards
Helps organizations around the world reduce costs and

improve customer satisfaction
See www.iso.org for more information

Many car manufacturers are proud to show and
sell their electric cars (Audi, Cadillac, Chevrolet,
etc.), but many people might wonder if these cars
are safe
Fortunately, ISO has updated a standard on safety
features in electric and hybrid cars to prevent
electricity-related injuries
ISO 6469-3:2011, Electrically propelled road
vehicles protection of persons against electric
shock, will help the global market for electric cars

Several suggestions for improving quality for IT
projects include:
Establish leadership that promotes quality
Understand the cost of quality
Focus on organizational influences and workplace factors

that affect quality
Follow maturity models

As Joseph M. Juran said in 1945, It is most
important that top management be quality-minded.
In the absence of sincere manifestation of interest
at the top, little will happen below*
A large percentage of quality problems are
associated with management, not technical
issues.
*American Society for Quality (ASQ), (www.asqc.org/about/history/juran.html).

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

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

A 2007 study by Nucleus Research Inc. estimated that spam
management costs U.S. businesses more than $71 billion annually
in lost productivity or $712 per employee
One e-mail security firm estimated that spam accounts for 95
percent of total e-mail volume worldwide.
In 2008, Reuters reported that spyware and phishing cost
consumers $7.1 billion in 2007, up from $2 billion the previous year
A 2011 report estimated that 10% of Americans have had their
identities stolen, and on average, each of those individuals lost around
$5,000. The cost to businesses worldwide adds up to a staggering
$221 billion each year.

Study by DeMarco and Lister showed that organizational
issues had a much greater influence on programmer
productivity than the technical environment or
programming languages.
Programmer productivity varied by a factor of one to ten
across organizations, but only by 21 percent within the
same organization
Study found no correlation between productivity and
programming language, years of experience, or
salary.
A dedicated workspace and a quiet work environment
were key factors to improving programmer productivity

Project managers must understand and manage
stakeholder expectations.
Expectations also vary by:
Organizations culture
Geographic regions

Maturity models are frameworks for helping
organizations improve their processes and systems
The Software Quality Function Deployment Model

focuses on defining user requirements and planning
software projects
The Software Engineering Institutes Capability Maturity

Model Integration is a process improvement approach
that provides organizations with the essential elements of
effective processes

CMMI levels, from lowest to highest, are:
Incomplete
Performed
Managed
Defined
Quantitatively Managed
Optimizing
Companies may not get to bid on government projects
unless they have a CMMI Level 3

PMI released the Organizational Project Management
Maturity Model (OPM3) in December 2003
Model is based on market research surveys sent to

more than 30,000 project management professionals
and incorporates 180 best practices and more than
2,400 capabilities, outcomes, and key performance
indicators
Addresses standards for excellence in project,

program, and portfolio management best practices
and explains the capabilities necessary to achieve
those best practices
OPM3 provides the following example to illustrate a best
practice, capability, outcome, and key performance
indicator:
Best practice: Establish internal project management
communities
Capability: Facilitate project management activities
Outcome: Local initiatives, meaning the organization
develops pockets of consensus around areas of special
interest
Key performance indicator: Community addresses local
issues

Spreadsheet and charting software helps create
Pareto diagrams, fishbone diagrams, and so on
Statistical software packages help perform
statistical analysis
Specialized software products help manage Six
Sigma projects or create quality control charts
Project management software helps create Gantt
charts and other tools to help plan and track work
related to quality management
Project quality management ensures that the
project will satisfy the needs for which it was
undertaken
Main processes include:
Plan quality
Perform quality assurance
Perform quality control


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Information Technology Project

Management, Seventh Edition

Note: See the text itself for full citations.

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

People seem to accept systems being down

But quality is very important in many IT projects

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Important to prevent defects by:

Selecting proper materials.

Training and indoctrinating people in quality

Planning a process that ensures the appropriate

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Several organizations and references can help project

International Organization for Standardization (www.iso.org)

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

The seven run rule states that if seven data

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Pareto analysis is also called the 80-20 rule,

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

The size of a sample depends on how representative you want the

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

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

Information Technology Project

The principles can apply to a wide variety of

Six Sigma projects normally follow a five-phase

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

For example, Six Sigma projects often use business

Six Sigma projects are done in teams; the project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project

Testing should be done during almost every phase

Information Technology Project

Integration testing occurs between unit and system

System testing tests the entire system as one entity

User acceptance testing is an independent test

Information Technology Project

Information Technology Project