Quality Management Processes: Quality Planning, Quality Assurance, and Quality Control

This article is intended to augment Chapter 5 – Quality Management of the CHOP with examples of operations management and project management of quality management processes.

A Brief History:

The field of quality management has its foundations in the birth of management science in the 19th century. Rebuilding national economies following World War II resulted in the rapid development of management systems including quality management. The focus of quality management was first concerned with creating reliable manufactured products efficiently and effectively. Concepts and processes of quality management systems (QMS), continuous quality improvement (CQI), quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC), cost of poor quality (CoPQ), and Six Sigma are common in industrial, health care, financial, supply chain, and information-based sectors.

The concept underpinning quality management was identifying and defining requirements (quality planning), measuring the variation from those requirements during production (quality control), then verifying that the stated requirements were met (quality assurance). Quality assurance and quality control are concurrent processes. The Project Management Institute in its 7th edition of “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge” has updated the process names to “plan quality”, “manage quality” and “control quality”.

Operations vs. Projects:

Architectural practices, both small and large, should have both operations management and project management systems that are explicitly defined.
Operations management includes the management of routine business processes that neither create a unique outcome nor have a defined end point, as in project management. Operational management includes such processes as accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, human resource management, and in many cases, quality management.

Quality management was developed extensively in operational management settings of manufacturing. Mass production of goods meant that meaningful quantitative analysis of deliverables could be achieved. Applying quantitative analysis allowed slight unintended variations from requirements in processes, materials, and performance to be corrected. Many of the tools developed for quality management support operational settings where large sets of measurable quantitative data could be collected, such as the dimensions of components, the time required to complete financial transactions, or the satisfaction levels of customers following purchases. Operational environments lend themselves to repeated quantitative measurements.

Quality management applies to both operational and project management systems. Each system uses different tools and techniques with different outcomes. Project management systems are those that plan, execute, monitor, and control the work, schedule, cost, risk, resources, and communications of individual projects. Project environments do not lend themselves to quantitative measurements of quality.

The purpose of undertaking a project is to create a unique outcome within a finite time frame. That unique outcome may be a new building or changing an existing process to improve performance. The finite time frame means that a project does not go on indefinitely, as would a manufacturing assembly line, but ends when the unique outcome is achieved. Unique designs, changes, and innovation mean that projects seldom have repeating outcomes through which quantitative measures of quality can be gathered and analyzed. Quality management in project environments, such as architectural design, requires different approaches to achieve measures of quality. However, whether in operations or projects, there is a single driver behind quality management:

“It is always cheaper to do the job right the first time.”
Phil Crosby

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
John Wooden

Quality Management in the Operational Management Context

Operational systems include financial, human resources, and information systems. They are largely monitored and controlled by organizational policies and procedures. Operational processes are developed through maintaining consistency and limiting variation. An example is the accounts receivable process of work reporting, invoice creation, invoice delivery, dispute resolution, and receiving revenue.

In an operational context, measurable data of quality management for the creation of the invoice would include:

● Timely, consistent and regular entry of time sheets based on the established project work breakdown structures
● Regular entry of expenses into the financial management system
● Receiving subconsultant invoices on a consistent basis 

Quantitative measurements of quality in this operational example could include whether the invoice was created within the targeted time-frame and the number of times information had to be requested before all data to complete the invoice was received. 

Describing this operational process in quality management process terms:

● Quality planning: 
o Identifying the information needed to create complete invoices
o Identifying those responsible for collecting and approving time sheets, expense reports, and subconsultant invoices
o Determining the schedule for invoicing
o Determining an acceptable level of effort (person hours) needed to create an invoice
o Create new or revise existing policies and procedures for creation and delivery of invoices 

● Quality control:
o Measuring the variation between the targeted time and effort for invoice completion and delivery from the actual
o Measuring the number of times that additional information had to be requested to create a complete invoice.

● Quality assurance:
o Analyze the results of quality control measurements and identify the source(s) of delays or excessive additional information requests 
o Propose actions to correct variations in the invoicing process
o Identify process improvements 
o Audit the invoicing process to verify that policies and procedures are being followed. 

Quality Management in the Project Management Context

Quality management in the project management context is not dissimilar to that in the operational management context with the exception that quantitative measures of quality are impractical when creating unique project deliverables. 

Quality planning is the process of identifying and analyzing the requirements of any project process, be it gathering, analyzing, and validating user requirements or the development of construction documents. Each client requires an individual approach to the delivery of design services. A firm’s value proposition is built on how the firm understands a client’s requirements and interprets those requirements into a plan of service delivery, including the quality of delivery. The quality plan outlines the actions and tasks that will be undertaken to meet client requirements in service delivery.

Although an architectural practice may develop a general quality plan intended for all projects, it should be considered a customizable template that needs to be adapted for each client and project. 

Quality assurance (QA) is the process of auditing the results of quality control reviews or inspections, such as construction document coordination review, that ensures that the requirements of deliverables and services conform to the quality plan. QA guards against deviation from the quality management processes that underpin the practice’s value proposition and commitment to deliver the design. When done correctly, quality assurance validates that services rendered are consistent with requirements. QA may also lead to process improvement. 

An example of quality assurance is providing the project team with checklists that define “complete” following drawing and specification coordination review. The project team would use these QA tools to verify completion of their own work. Review of the checklists is an audit procedure to validate quality of the work. 

An example of process improvement though quality assurance is the establishing of a regular protocol that identifies the opportunity to develop standard construction details.
Quality control (QC) is the process of doing the tasks described in the quality plan that focus on review, analysis, and evaluation of deliverables to verify the work is consistent with established design and construction standards and client requirements. Quality control activities may involve independent verification of user requirements such as bringing in another set of eyes to review deliverables. Those other eyes are identifying deviations to quality and the associated risks, resolving problems, spotting incomplete work, and conflicts. 

A senior staff person not involved with the project may review communications between client and holder, validate user requirements, or review construction documents before a project milestone. 

As project leaders, our emphasis should be on articulating the value of the quality assurance process to the project team and reinforcing the need for the verification of the completeness and accuracy of their work. The quality control exercise should become an integrated routine peer review resulting in few comments rather than a separate time-consuming audit. A strategic development of quality planning templates, a distinct and well-performed quality assurance process combined with quality control tasks support a high level of quality in service delivery. 

Quality Management and the Delivery of Design Services

The holder is solely responsible for the quality of design services delivered by the practice. Although a client may want services delivered at the lowest possible cost and direct the architect to forego certain tasks associated with appropriate service delivery, the holder must decide what service is required and the level of quality needed, at a minimum, to satisfy contractual and regulatory obligations, and protect the interests of the public. 

Sophisticated Clients

Clients, such as universities, hospitals, and government agencies, operate within comprehensive organizational systems. Institutional, experienced, and sophisticated clients may expect to receive reports and detailed updates from holders on work progress, schedule, risk management, and quality assurance. A Project management information system (PMIS) is comprised of processes, hardware, and software for the gathering, analysis, and distribution of project data and information. It is often used for the tracking, monitoring, and control of project activities and resource management. Practices which develop a PMIS and structured quality assurance processes are more likely to be selected for projects by these demanding clients and to deliver services in a way that is consistent with the way in which the client organization operates themselves. 

References:

Additional information about this topic may be found in:

The Canadian Handbook of Practice for Architects 3rd Edition, Chapter 5.4 – Quality Management. 

Additional information on quality management in projects is available from Project Management Institute (2021). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge 7th Edition and the Standard for Project Management ANSI/PMI 99-001-2021. 

These commentaries do not represent OAA policy or guidance but rather are based on the opinions and experiences of members of the OAA and are prepared for the benefit of the profession at large.