Control quality refers to the process of monitoring and verifying that project deliverables meet specified quality standards. It involves reviewing the deliverables to ensure they are produced correctly and meet the required quality criteria. This process is a part of the broader quality management framework within project management. Here are some key points about control quality:
- Quality Standards: It starts with defining quality standards and criteria that need to be met for the project deliverables. These standards could be regulatory requirements, industry best practices, or specific client requirements.
- Quality Control Activities: Activities involved in control quality include inspections, reviews, and testing. These activities are carried out to verify that the deliverables meet the specified quality standards.
- Quality Assurance vs. Quality Control: Quality assurance focuses on preventing defects, while quality control focuses on identifying and correcting defects.
- Tools and Techniques: Various tools and techniques are used in control quality, such as checklists, statistical sampling, Pareto charts, and quality audits.
- Continuous Improvement: Control quality is not a one-time activity; it’s an ongoing process throughout the project lifecycle. Lessons learned from control quality activities are used to improve processes and prevent similar issues in future projects.
- Responsibility: Control quality is typically the responsibility of the project management team and may involve collaboration with stakeholders, subject matter experts, and quality assurance professionals.
- Documentation: Documentation of quality control activities, findings, and corrective actions taken is essential for tracking progress and ensuring accountability.
By effectively implementing control quality processes, project teams can minimize rework, ensure customer satisfaction, and ultimately deliver successful projects.
7 QC tools
The Seven Basic Tools of Quality, commonly known as the 7 QC (Quality Control) tools, are a set of simple yet powerful tools used for quality improvement and problem-solving in various industries. They were first introduced by Kaoru Ishikawa, a Japanese quality control expert. Here are the seven tools:
- Check Sheets (Tally Sheets):
- Check sheets are simple forms or charts used to collect data in a structured manner. They help in organizing and categorizing data to identify trends and patterns.
- Histograms:
- Histograms are graphical representations of the frequency distribution of data. They display data in a bar chart format, showing the distribution of values and identifying any outliers or abnormalities.
- Cause-and-Effect Diagrams (Ishikawa or Fishbone Diagrams):
- Cause-and-effect diagrams are visual tools used to identify and analyze the possible causes of a problem or quality issue. They organize potential causes into categories, such as people, methods, materials, machines, and environment, resembling the shape of a fishbone.
- Pareto Charts:
- Pareto charts are bar charts that prioritize problems or issues based on their frequency or impact. They help in focusing efforts on the most significant factors contributing to a problem by showing the cumulative percentage of occurrences for each category.
- Scatter Diagrams (Scatter Plots):
- Scatter diagrams are used to identify relationships between two variables. They plot data points on a graph, with one variable on the x-axis and the other on the y-axis, helping to visualize correlations or patterns.
- Control Charts:
- Control charts are statistical tools used to monitor and control a process over time. They display process data in a time-ordered sequence, with control limits indicating the expected variation. Control charts help in distinguishing between common cause variation (inherent to the process) and special cause variation (resulting from external factors or errors).
- Flowcharts:
- Flowcharts are visual representations of a process, illustrating the sequence of steps or activities involved. They help in understanding, analyzing, and improving processes by identifying inefficiencies, redundancies, and opportunities for optimization.
These seven tools are widely used in quality management and continuous improvement initiatives to identify problems, analyze root causes, and implement effective solutions.