Lec#2Project Quality Management

Ghazala Amin

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What Went Wrong?• In 1981, a small timing difference caused by a computer

program caused a launch abort.*• In 1986, two hospital patients died after receiving fatal

doses of radiation from a Therac 25 machine after a software problem caused the machine to ignore calibration data.**

• Britain’s Coast Guard was unable to use its computers for several hours in May 2004 after being hit by the Sasser virus, which knocked out the electronic mapping systems, e-mail, and other computer functions, forcing workers to revert to pen, paper, and radios.***

*Design News (February 1988).**Datamation (May 1987).***Fleming, Nic, “Virus sends coastguard computers off course” (http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/05/ncoast05.xml) (May 15, 2004).

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Why Quality?

Requirements

CostScheduleQuality

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Why Quality ?

A good definition of project success is getting the project completed;

•Within time•Within time and cost•Within time, cost and technical performance requirements•Within time, cost, performance and accepted by the customer/user.

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The Quality Movement• Quality is defined by the customer

• Quality is linked with profitability

• Quality has become a competitive weapon

• Quality is now an integral part of strategic planning process

• Quality requires an organization-wide commitment

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What is Quality?• Quality is:

– the totality of characteristics of an entity which bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs-ISO 9000 definition.

• Quality is not:– Excellence, Luxury, Prestige, or Grade

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

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What is Quality?

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

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Difference between Quality and Grade?

• Grade is a category or rank given to entities having the same functional use but different technical characteristics.

• Low quality is always a problem; low grade may not be.

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Difference between Quality and Grade?• For example:

– A software product may be of high quality (very few defects, a readable user’s manual etc.) but of low grade meaning it has a limited number of features.

– Or, a software product may be of low quality but of high grade meaning it has many defects but lots of customer features.

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• Operation

• Reliability & durability

• Conformance

• Serviceability

• Appearance

• Perceived quality

Quality

Dimensions of Quality for Goods

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Under-standing

Tangibles

Reliability

CommunicationCredibility

Security

Responsiveness

Competence

Courtesy

Access

© 1995 Corel Corp.

Service Quality Attributes

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Importance of Quality

• Costs & market share

• Company’s reputation

• Product liability

• International implications

IncreasedProfits

Lower CostsProductivityRework/ScrapWarranty

Market GainsReputationVolumePrice

ImprovedQuality

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Defining Quality “-ities”• Salability: the balance between quality and cost

• What makes for salability? "Find a need and fill it" is no longer enough. "Build a need and fill it." It's like the Internet where you can download free plug-ins and free browsers to get you ever deeper into the cyber-addiction.

• http://www.maxwideman.com/guests/cult/salability.htm

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Salability: Other Definitionsthe quality of being salable or marketable

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn • Saleability (also called profitability) is a technical analysis term used to

compare performances of different trading systems or different investments within one system. Note, it is not simply another word for profit. ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salability

• The extent to which something can easily be solden.wiktionary.org/wiki/salability

• salable - capable of being sold; fit for sale; "saleable at a low price" wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

• salable - Alternative spelling of saleableen.wiktionary.org/wiki/salable

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Defining Quality “-ities”• Produce ability: the ability to produce the product with

available technology and workers, and at an acceptable cost

• Social acceptability: the degree of conflict between the product or process and the values of society (i.e., safety, environment)

• Operability: the degree to which a product can be operated safely

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Defining Quality “-ities”

• Flexibility: The ability of a product to be used for different purposes at different capacities and under different conditions.

• Availability: the probability that the product, when used under given conditions, will perform satisfactorily when called upon

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Defining Quality “-ities”

• Reliability: the probability of the product performing without failure under given conditions and for a set period of time. – (MTBF-Mean-Time-Between-Failure)

• Maintainability: the ability of the product to be retained in or restored to a performance level when prescribed maintenance is performed – (MTTR-Mean-Time-To-Repair).