Implement quality assurance processes for business solutions

AXUM POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

under

Ethiopian TVET-System
Information Technology Service
Management Level v
LEARNING GUIDE # 9
Unit of Competence: Implement quality
assurance processes for business solutions
Module Title: Implement quality assurance
processes for business solutions
LG Code: ICT ITM5 M07 1114
TTLM Code: ICT ITM5 TTLM07 1114

LO1: Plan business quality assurance process

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WHAT IS QUALITY?
According to the American Society for Quality, “quality” can be defined in the following
ways:
 Based on customer’s perceptions of a product/service’s design and how well the
design matches the original specifications.
 The ability of a product/service to satisfy stated or implied needs.
 Achieved by conforming to established requirements within an organization.
What Is a Quality Management System?
“A set of co-ordinated activities to direct and control an organization in order to
Continually improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its performance.”

Quality Control: The process by which product quality is compared with applicable
standards and actions taken when non-conformances are detected. Quality control is the
responsibility of the worker.

Quality Assurance:A planned and systematic set of activities necessary to provide adequate
confidence that requirements are properly established and products or services conform
to specific requirements. It is sometimes called quality control over quality control
because it evaluates whether quality control is working. It is a management
responsibility.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control are two independent and interrelated functions.
First, Quality Assurance will be defined as a system of general programmatic activities
implemented to ensure Quality Control is performing adequately. Whereas, Quality
Control is defined as a series of specific activities performed to provide a reproducible
quality product. Consequently, quality assurance serves as a “quality control” for the
quality control function..
QA Plans consist of primarily two functions:
(1) The QA function which is the assessment of the quality of the data (accuracy and
precision) and,
(2) The QC functions which are the activities that maintain or improve data quality.

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These two functions combined form a control loop. For instance, when accuracy or
precision (a QA function) is unacceptable, QC functions must increase until the quality of
the data is acceptable.
Quality Assurance involves meeting programmatic requirements but on occasion requires
the implementation of external checks on data quality. These external checks may
include independent system audits, third party sample and analysis for accuracy and
precision, comparison to know calibration standards or - audits.
Conversely, Quality Control functions are usually a series of frequent (daily, weekly,
monthly) routine internal checks, such as system inspections, periodic calibrations, and
routine maintenance. A complete Quality Assurance Plan encompasses both QA and QC
functions and strives to identify which function is addressed by a specific activity.
The Project QA/Test Plan is an umbrella plan that encompasses the entire testing required
for a project. It is the highest level testing plan that documents the testing strategy for the
project, describes the general approach that will be adopted in testing , provides the
overall structure and philosophy for any other required testing documents, and defines
what will be tested to assure the requirements of the product, service, or system (i.e., the
deliverables) are met.
Based on the size, complexity, and type of project, subsequent test plans may be created
and used during the testing process to verify that the deliverable works correctly, is
understandable, and is connected logically. These test plans include the following
categories and types. Testing areas/coordinators would have templates specific to these
plans.
Types of quality assurance planning include:
 Process QA plans document how the project is meeting quality and compliance
standards ensuring the right documentation exists to guide project delivery and
corrective actions, and
 Requirements/application test plans document how the product, service or system
meets stated business and technical requirements, and how it will work within the
defined operational/business processes and work flow.

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SAMPLE QUALITY ASSURANCE TEST PLAN APPLICATION SOFTWARE

INTRODUCTION

Scope
The overall purpose of testing is to ensure the {name of application} application meets all
of its technical, functional and business requirements. The purpose of this document is to
describe the overall test plan and strategy for testing the {name of application}
application. The approach described in this document provides the framework for all
testing related to this application.

Test Objectives
The quality objectives of testing the {name of application} application are to ensure
complete validation of the business and software requirements:

 Verify software requirements are complete and accurate

 Perform detailed test planning
 Identify testing standards and procedures that will be used on the project
 Prepare and document test scenarios and test cases
 Regression testing to validate that unchanged functionality has not been affected
by changes
 Manage defect tracking process
 Provide test metrics/testing summary reports

Testing Goals
The goals in testing this application include validating the quality, usability, reliability
and performance of the application based on the stated standard or benchmark. Testing
will be performed from a black-box approach, not based on any knowledge of internal
design or code. Tests will be designed around requirements and functionality.
NB. Benchmark: A standard or point of reference in measuring or judging the current
value
Or success of your company in order to determine your future business plans

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Another goal is to make the tests repeatable for use in regression testing during the
project lifecycle, and for future application upgrades. A part of the approach in testing
will be to initially perform a ‘Smoke Test’ upon delivery of the application for testing.
Smoke Testing is typically an initial testing effort to determine if a new software version
is performing well enough to accept it for a major testing effort. For example, if the new
software is crashing frequently, or corrupting databases, the software is not in a stable
enough condition to warrant further testing in its current state. This testing will be
performed first. After acceptance of the build delivered for system testing, functions will
be tested based upon the designated priority (critical, high, medium, low).

Quality
Quality software is reasonably bug-free, meets requirements and/or expectations, and is
maintainable. Testing the quality of the application will be a two-step process of
independent verification and validation. First, a verification process will be undertaken
involving reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, requirements, and
specifications to ensure that the end result of the application is testable, and that
requirements are covered. The overall goal is to ensure that the requirements are clear,
complete, detailed, cohesive, attainable, and testable. In addition, this helps to ensure that
requirements are agreed to by all stakeholders.

Second, actual testing will be performed to ensure that the requirements are met. The
standard by which the application meets quality expectations will be based upon the
requirements test matrix, use cases and test cases to ensure test case coverage of the
requirements. This testing process will also help to ensure the utility of the application –
i.e., the design’s functionality and “does the application do what the users need?”

Reliability
Reliability is both the consistency and repeatability of the application. A large part of
testing an application involves validating its reliability in its functions, data, and system
availability. To ensure reliability, the test approach will include positive and negative
(break-it) functional tests. In addition, to ensure reliability throughout the iterative

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software development cycle, regression tests will be performed on all iterations of the
application.

TEST METHODOLOGY

Entrance Criteria
 All business requirements are documented and approved by the business users.
 All design specifications have been reviewed and approved.
 Unit testing has been completed by the development team, including vendors.
 All hardware needed for the test environment is available.
 The application delivered to the test environment is of reliable quality.
 Initial smoke test of the delivered functionality is approved by the testing team.
 Code changes made to the test site will go through a change control process.

Exit Criteria
 All test scenarios have been completed successfully.
 All issues prioritized and priority 1 issues resolved.
 All outstanding defects are documented in a test summary with a priority and
severity status.
 Go/No-go meeting is held to determine acceptability of product.

Test Execution
The test execution phase is the process of running test cases against the software build to
verify that the actual results meet the expected results.

These following testing phases shall be completed (if applicable):

Unit Testing
Unit testing is performed by the report developers at U Services IT and OIT in their
development environment. The developers know and will be testing the internal logical
structure of each software component. A description of the unit testing should be
provided to the project team.

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Functional Testing
Functional testing focuses on the functional requirements of the software and is
performed to confirm that the application operates accurately according to the
documented specifications and requirements, and to ensure that interfaces to external
systems are properly working.

Regression Testing
Regression testing shall be performed to verify that previously tested features and
functions do not have any new defects introduced, while correcting other problems or
adding and modifying other features.

Integration Testing
Integration testing is the phase of software testing in which individual software modules
are combined and tested as a group. In its simplest form, two units that have already been
tested are combined into a component and the interface between them is tested. In a
realistic scenario, many units are combined into components, which are in turn
aggregated into even larger parts of the program. The idea is to test combinations of
pieces and eventually expand the process to test your modules with those of other groups.
Eventually all the modules making up a process are tested together.

Interface Testing
This testing follows a transaction through all of the product processes that interact with it
and tests the product in its entirety. Interface testing shall be performed to ensure that the
product actually works in the way a typical user would interact with it.

Destructive Testing
Destructive testing focuses on the error detection and error prevention areas of the
product. This testing is exercised in an attempt to anticipate conditions where a user may
encounter errors. Destructive testing is less structured than other testing phases and is
determined by individual testers.

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Testing Requirements
 Testing will take place in {insert location}. Some testers may choose to perform
some testing from their regular workstations where it is possible. Test results must
still be coordinated with others.
 UAT will take place beginning on {insert date}.
 Identified testing participants will receive instructions prior to the start of testing.
 Identified testing participants will perform the equivalent of their normal business
function in the upgraded environment.
 Test scripts/cases and scenarios will be prepared prior to the start of UAT.
 Test participants will conduct the tests and document results.
 Defects will be entered into Test Director and tracked by the Test Lead.

Testers/Participants
Testing participants should include representatives from all areas involved in the
application. There are benefits to including representatives from across all areas to
validate the systems functions before the upgrade goes live in production.
The best candidates for UAT are:
 Staff directly impacted by the upcoming system and business process changes.
 Frequent users of the application and functions planned in test scripts/cases.
 Individuals with a sound understanding of business processes in the areas they
represent.
 Individuals with the necessary time to commit to this endeavor.
 Willing to experiment (to try various methods to see what works and what doesn’t
work).
 Patient and have a tolerance for ambiguity.

Tester Name Department/Area Representing Area of Testing Focus

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Testing Schedule
All upgraded functionality and test data will be migrated to the test environment prior to
the start of user acceptance testing.

Activity Lead Responsibility Date

Identify and select testers for UAT
Develop test scenarios and scripts/cases
Validate participants availability for
testing
Review scenarios/scripts for accuracy,
completeness and sequence (confirm test
data is correct)
Ensure UAT Lab desktops configured for
testing
UAT environment validation
Testing by UAT participants

ASSUMPTIONS AND RISKS

Assumptions
 The Business team has reviewed and accepted functionality identified in the
business requirements and software requirements documents.
 Project change control process in place to manage requirements.
 Code walkthroughs/reviews will be completed by the development team.
 Unit testing will be completed by the development team prior to release to the test
team.
 Testers will test what is documented in the requirements.
 The test team will have a separate test environment to perform testing.
 All changes to requirements will be communicated to the test team.
 Resources identified in this plan are available to test the application and resolve
defects and address issues as they are raised by the test team.

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 That the delivery of the product to production contains all setup, etc., that is
necessary for optimum performance in the production site.
 Project sponsors, business and technical, will provide actionable guidance on
defect prioritization and resolution.
 The UAT environment will be available and desktops will be available to perform
testing.

Risks
 Scope creep (last minute addition of new requirements) impacts deadlines for
development team and test team.
 Aggressive target date increases the risk of defects being migrated to production.
If development timelines are not met, this will directly impact the testing
timelines.
 Key resources have completing priorities making availability less than scheduled.
 Any downtime of the test system will significantly impact the testing cycle.
 Load testing is not being completed on a consistent basis; true performance of the
application may not be known until release to production.

Example of quality standards for business software requirements

The application enables the organization to achieve its business strategy.

The application meets the user’s business requirements.

The application is easy to use.

The application is stable and reliable.

The application offer reasonable performance at peak times.

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the application is security sufficient

The application is easy to maintain.

Self-check
Give short precise answer for the following questions
1. What is quality?

2. What are the components of QA test plan?

3. ________________________ is set of co-ordinated activities to direct and

control an organization in order to continually improve the effectiveness and efficiency of
its performance.
4. _________________________is the process by which product quality is
compared with applicable standards and actions taken when non-conformances are
detected. Quality control is the responsibility of the worker.
5. _________________________is a planned and systematic set of activities
necessary to provide adequate confidence that requirements are properly established and
products or services conform to specific requirements.

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LO2: Implement quality policies and plans

We have gone through the process of quality planning – as described in LO1 of this
competency we then move on to the act of implementing a quality policy for the
organization.

Because planning is iterative, the quality planning sessions may need, and often require,
several revisits to the quality planning processes. On longer projects, there may need to
be scheduled quality planning sessions to compare the performance of the project in
relation to the quality that was planned.

Creating the Quality Management Plan

One of the major outputs of quality planning is the quality management plan. This
document describes how the project manager and the project team will fulfill the quality
policy.

The quality management plan addresses three things about the project and the project
work:

Quality control. Work results are monitored to see if they meet relevant quality
standards. If the results do not meet the quality standards, the project manager applies
root cause analysis to determine the cause of the poor performance and then eliminates
the cause. Quality control is inspection orientated.

Quality assurance. The overall performance is evaluated to ensure the project meets the
relevant quality standards. Quality assurance maps to an organization’s quality policy and
is typically a managerial process. Quality assurance is generally considered the work of
applying the quality plan.

In project management terms, quality assurance, or QA, is the sum of the planning and
the implementations of the plans the project manager, the project team, and management
does to ensure the project meets the demands of quality. The project manager must
ensure that the proper QA processes and tasks are built into the project schedule using a
PM software tool and viewer like Seavus’ Project Viewer. Keep in mind that quality
assurance is not something that is done only at the end of the project, but before and
during the project.

In some organizations, the Quality Assurance department or another entity will complete
the QA activities. Quality assurance is interested in finding the defects and then fixing the
problems. There are many different approaches to quality assurance, depending on the
quality system the organization or project team has adapted.

There are really just two general types of quality assurance

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Internal QA. Assurance provided to management and the project team

External QA. Assurance provide to the external customers of the project

Preparing for Quality Assurance

There are three inputs the project manager and the project team will need to prepare for
QA:

The quality management plan. This plan defines how the project team will
implement and fulfill the quality policy of the performing organization.
Results of quality control measurements. Quality control tests will provide these
measurements. The values must be quantifiable so results may be measured,
compared, and analyzed. In other words, “pretty close to on track” is not
adequate; “95 percent pass rate” is more acceptable.
Operational definitions. The metrics that define the project processes, their
attributes, and units of measure are needed for QA.
Applying Quality Assurance

The QA department, management, or in some instances, even the project manager can
complete the requirements for QA. Quality assurance can be accomplished using the
same tools used for project planning:

Benefit cost analysis

Benchmarking
Flowcharting
Design of experiments
Cost of quality
Completing a Quality Audit
Quality audits are about learning. The idea of a quality audit is to identify the lessons
learned on the current project to determine how to make things better for this project –
and other projects within the organization. The idea is that one project manager can learn
from the implementations of another project manager and vice versa.

Quality audits are formal reviews of what’s been completed within a project, what’s
worked, and what didn’t work. The end result of the audit is to improve performance for
the current project, other projects, or the entire organization.

Quality audits can be scheduled at key intervals within a project or they can come
without warning, depending on your organization’s own internal policies or possibly the
requirements of whatever contract you might be working on (i.e., government contract).
And the audit process can vary depending on who is completing the audit: internal
auditors or hired, third party experts. Improving the Project

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NB. The lone output of quality assurance is quality improvement.

Quality improvement requires action to improve the project’s effectiveness. The actions
to improve the effectiveness may have to be routed through the change control system,
which means change requests, analysis of the costs and risks, and involvement from the
Change Control Board – if one exists in your organization or on your program or project.

Information or this article was derived, in part, from Phillips’ book entitled, “PMP
Project Management Professional Study Guide.”

During the Quality Assurance phase, the project’s quality is reviewed and hopefully
approved and the project is moved toward official release. Keep in mind this document
describes a very structured QC or QA review with specific responsibilities prior to
official rollout. How much of this pertains to all projects or any projects really depends
on several things including the size and budget of the project, the structure of your
organization, and the customer’s wishes.

The people responsible for quality assurance receive the finished project from IT. They
then install and test the project using the documentation created for it to ensure that the
project meets the Design Document specifications created by IT, and that the
documentation meets end-user.

Separately, the person(s) responsible for corporate communications and business

development may create an official Project Announcement Plan. This plan includes all of
the deliverables necessary to announce a project including due dates and projection dates.
If applicable, an advertising plan, press release plan, and press tour is scheduled. This all,
of course, depends on the project. Business Development identifies, contacts, and signs
up beta sites. The Project Manager creates a plan detailing how the project will be
released to users. The role of each project team involved in the Quality Assurance phase
is listed below.

IT: IT is the functional area responsible for programming, managing, and

integrating the project’s hardware and software. They are also responsible for
defining, designing, and developing a project, as well as for conducting its initial
testing and fixing any errors before it is released. IT is the key member on the

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project team and needs to be available to provide technical information both

written and verbal to all members of the team.
Communications: Communications is the functional area responsible for all
communications inside and outside of the company. Smaller companies do not
need a separate communications person for internal projects; the Project Manager
will handle all the internal corporate communication. Larger companies with
offices scattered around the country or around the globe will need a person to
provide communications to end-users. If the project being developed will be made
available to people outside the company, the person responsible for corporate
communications will need to interact with the company’s public relations agency,
advertising agency, industry analysts, and other outside agencies.

Business Development: The Business Development person is responsible for

directing and driving the project, for analyzing the industry and the competition,
and for understanding the user. Business Development works with all areas of the
company to make sure the project is focused on the user and is presented in the
best possible light.
Project Manager: The Project Manager’s responsibility is to make sure each
member of the team understands his or her interdependencies. The Project
Manager facilitates communications among departments, as well as manages
processes and confirms that the deliverables within each stage of the project life
cycle have been met. When deliverables slip, it is the responsibility of the Project
Manager to escalate this information and to facilitate resolution. In smaller
companies, the Project Manager’s duties usually incorporate those of Business
Development and Communications. The Project Manager creates the Release
Plan. The Release Plan outlines the procedures needed to get the project out the
door.
Quality Assurance: Quality Assurance (QA) is responsible for defining,
designing, developing, and implementing a test plan. QA tests the project to
confirm that it meets the design specifications outlined in the Design Document.
QA uses the manuals and helps files developed by Documentation to ensure that
they correctly explain how to install and use the project and identify how errors
are to be handled. QA is responsible for managing the user test procedures and for
confirming that bugs have been fixed.
Help Desk: Help Desk is responsible for defining, designing, and developing a
detailed plan that articulates how the company will support a project after it is
released. The Support Plan defines how Help Desk personnel are trained, how
users will access help, how bugs will be tracked and fixed after release, what
training will be available to end users, and how updates and fixes will be sent to
users.

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Documentation: Documentation is responsible for defining, designing, and

developing all the documentation required to install, support, and answer any
questions a user may have regarding a project. Documentation defines what
publications will be produced in the Doc Plan; these may include online help, E-
Learning courses, or manuals. Documentation works closely with IT to develop
these documents and works closely with QA to ensure that documents are
appropriate for end users.
Users: Although not on the team, users are so important to the success of the
project that they must be mentioned as a fringe team member. Users are the
people who will use what the team is developing. If the final solution doesn’t
match well with the end user’s needs, the project will ultimately be considered a
failure.

Self-check

1. What are three inputs the project manager and the project team will need to
prepare for QA?

2. What are the Ways to Improve Quality, Productivity & Process Time?

3. What are the factors used to improve productivity?

4. What is PDCA cycle?

5. State and define the steps of PDCA cycle?

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LO3: Control quality assurance processes

Quality improvement. The project performance is measured and evaluated, and
corrective actions are applied to improve the product and the project. The improvements
can be large or small depending on the condition and the quality philosophy of the
performing organization.

Identifying the Operational Definitions

Operational definitions, also known as metrics, are the quantifiable terms and values to
measure a process, activity, or work result. An example of an operational definition could
be an expected value for the required torque to tighten a bolt on a piece of equipment. By
testing and measuring the torque, the operational definition would prove or disprove the
quality of the product. Other examples can include hours of labor to complete a work
package, required safety measures, cost per unit, and so on.

Operational definitions are clear, concise measurements. Designating that 95% of all
customer service calls should be answered by a live person within 30 seconds is a metric.
A statement that all calls should be answered in a timely manner is not.

Applying Checklists

Checklists are approaches to ensure work is completed according to the quality policy.
It’s usually a list of activities that project team members or department workers will
check off to ensure each task has been completed. Checklists can be quick instructions of
what needs to be done to test a piece of code, create a document, or build a piece of
equipment. Or it can be questions that remind the developer to complete a task: “Did you
test to verify that all output on the test report was accurate?” Examples see the following
check list.

Office/workstation environment safety inspection checklist

Evaluation criteria Score 1-5

1 2 3 4 5
1. LAYOUT
1.1 Area is tidy and well kept
1.2 Adequate storage area
1.3 Floor is free of obstructions
1.4 Floor coverings in good condition
Average score :
2. ENVIRONMENT

2.1 Temperature is comfortable

2.2 Lighting is adequate

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2.3 Area is free from odors

2.4 Noise level is acceptable
2.4 Noise level is acceptable
2.5 Ventilation is adequate
Average score :
3. EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
3.1 Written procedures posted and regularly updated
3.2 Staff are aware of procedures and know emergency
personnel
3.3 Staff are inducted and records kept
3.4 Extinguisher of appropriate type is close by; ie within
20 M
3.5 Extinguisher is checked 6 monthly
3.6 Extinguisher is mounted within 1.2 M of the floor
3.7 Alarm can be heard in the area
3.8 Escape routes are in good order
3.9 Emergency and hazard signage is clearly visible
3.10 Has an evacuation drill been held in the last 12
months
3.11 Are emergency phone numbers displayed on
telephones
Average score :
4. FIRST AID FACILITIES
4.1 Location of kits is known to staff
4.2 Kits accessible within 5 minutes
4.3 Kits are checked regularly
4.4 Qualified first aiders available
4.5 Staff know first aid personnel
Average score :
5. WORKSTATION ERGONOMIC
5.1 Workstation assessed using the Keyboard
Workstation Assessment Checklist
Average score :
6. GENERAL FACILITIES
6.1 Washing facilities are adequate
6.2 Lockers available for staff
6.3 Cleaning of area is adequate

7. MANUAL HANDLING
7.1 Operations are assessed using the Manual Handling
Checklist
7.2 Often used items are within easy access, between

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knee and shoulder

7.3 Heavy items stored at waist height
7.4 Step –ladders or -stools are used to access items
stored on high shelves
7.5 Repetitive operations minimized
7.6 Regular rest breaks are taken
7.7 Trolleys are available and used to Transport items
7.8 Book trolleys are labeled to prevent use of lower shelf
Average score :
8. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
8.1 Use of energy sources minimized, Electricity, Gas and
Water
8.2 Bins provided for paper recycling
8.3 Electronic mail used when possible
8.4 Toner Cartridges re-cycled
8.5 Double sided photocopying and Printing used
8.6 Glass and other materials are being recycled where
possible
Average score :
9. ELECTRICAL SAFETY
9.1 Equipment is in good condition
9.2 Extension leads are used only for Temporary power
supply
9.3 Power boards used, not adaptors
9.4 Power leads kept clear of floor
Average score :
10. OTHER COMMENTS

11. RECOMMENDATIONS

Signature of person responsible: _________________________

Date of next review: ____________________________________

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LO4: IMPROVE QUALITY

Ways to Improve Quality, Productivity & Process Time

Achieving high productivity in small businesses typically involves getting the most out of
limited resources, such as manpower or equipment. A challenge to business owners is to
discover ways to increase productivity while maintaining high levels of quality. A variety
of methods are available to accomplish this, including motivating and empowering your
workers and streamlining production processes, or even changing them if necessary

Empower Workers

Your workers are the ones who are immersed in your production processes on a daily
basis, so empower them to develop ideas for improvement. Let your workers detail their
work activities and perform an analysis. Once they take a closer look at how they spend
their time, they can recommend ways to perform a process faster and eliminate waste.

Eliminate Valueless Processes

One-third to two-thirds of employee tasks may be unnecessary or add little or no value.

Some workers may perform overlapping or repetitive tasks, which decreases overall
productivity. Analyze your work processes to eliminate needless tasks like redoing, re-
entering or re-testing.

Improve Training

Poor training may be the cause of substandard quality of your products and can also
adversely affect production time. Investing in proper training for new hires can eliminate
costly mistakes and ensure that the work is done right the first time. This can also reduce
the need for quality control procedures and improve the overall speed of your production
process. Consider designating one person as a trainer, preferably someone with
experience and expertise in your production process.

Establish Goals

Establish productivity and quality goals and tie them to incentives. Goals can help your
workers stay focused, which can increase speed or eliminate errors. Goals should be
specific and measurable, such as increasing worker production by five units per day while
maintaining a 98-percent quality standard. Incentives for reaching the goals could include
money, time off or recognition.

Implement Gradual Changes

If you need to make changes in your production processes, implement them gradually,
such as changing one aspect of the process at a time. Rapid wholesale changes may

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frustrate your employees or cause them to fear that they won't be able to adapt. An abrupt
change can also significantly reduce productivity because of the effect of the "learning
curve."

Factors to Improve Productivity

Increasing employee productivity is a key component in growing company revenue.

Management can take several steps to help increase productivity for the long-term. When
a company takes the time to understand and implement the factors that improve
productivity in the workplace, it is making a positive investment in the organization's
future.

Proactive Employees: According to the management training experts at the ACA

Group, a productive workforce is one that understands their jobs and is given the
freedom to reach their goals. Micro-managing employees can decrease
productivity. By offering comprehensive training and an efficient monitoring
system in place, employees can learn to be more proactive in the execution of
their duties. When management is not standing in the way of employees, then the
employees are better able to do their jobs.
Positive Management: In the workplace, a positive attitude breeds increased
productivity. According to the American Management Association, a
management team that maintains a positive approach and reinforces positive
behavior will get positive results. Spend time emphasizing employee
accomplishments by recognizing them in public. Employees will begin to
associate a strong work ethic with being recognized for positive results. This will
increase productivity. It also reduces the need to dwell on negative performance
aspects. When employees see the benefits of productive work, they tend to want
to emulate that rather than experiment with the possibility of negative results.
Encourage Communication: One of the things that can slow productivity is
when a mistake is made, but that mistake is not communicated to the responsible
parties. If the mistake is not brought to management's attention, it will keep on
being made. When the mistake is finally caught, all of the work that was done
incorrectly will need to be re-done. Encourage open communication within the
company to help increase productivity. Reward employees for vigilance in
reporting potential problems. Rewards can be simple things, such as an extended
lunch hour. Make sure employees and management have an open line of
communication to help reduce errors and increase productivity. Communication
between the managers of various departments is also critical in maintaining
positive results.
Get Results: In a productive workplace, employees are more concerned with
getting results rather than talking about results. Communication is important for a
productive workplace, but doing the job is what gets the results. Create

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performance metrics that employees need to achieve, and make the achievement
of those metrics part of the employee performance review. Avoid drawn-out
conversations about getting the job done, and insist on getting to work instead.

PDCA CYCLE

PDCA (plan–do–check–act or plan–do–check–adjust) is an iterative four-step

management method used in business for the control and continuous improvement of
processes and products.

PLAN: Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance
with the expected output (the target or goals). By establishing output expectations, the
completeness and accuracy of the spec is also a part of the targeted improvement. When
possible start on a small scale to test possible effects.

DO: Implement the plan, execute the process, and make the product. Collect data for
charting and analysis in the following "CHECK" and "ACT" steps.

CHECK: Study the actual results (measured and collected in "DO" above) and compare
against the expected results (targets or goals from the "PLAN") to ascertain any
differences. Look for deviation in implementation from the plan and also look for the
appropriateness and completeness of the plan to enable the execution, i.e., "Do". Charting
data can make this much easier to see trends over several PDCA cycles and in order to
convert the collected data into information. Information is what you need for the next
step "ACT".

ACT: Request corrective actions on significant differences between actual and planned
results. Analyze the differences to determine their root causes. Determine where to apply
changes that will include improvement of the process or product. When a pass through
these four steps does not result in the need to improve, the scope to which PDCA is
applied may be refined to plan and improve with more detail in the next iteration of the
cycle, or attention needs to be placed in a different stage of the process.

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Self-check

1. What are three inputs the project manager and the project team will need to
prepare for QA?

2. What are the Ways to Improve Quality, Productivity & Process Time?

3. What are the factors used to improve productivity?

4. What is PDCA cycle?

5. State and define the steps of PDCA cycle?

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Post assessment exam

Summative exam for implement quality assurance processes for business solutions
Name___________________________________________ Time allowed 40’
Give short and precise answer for the following questions
1. What is quality?

2. What are the components of QA test plan?

3. ________________________ is set of co-ordinated activities to direct and

control an organization in order to continually improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of its performance.
4. _________________________is the process by which product quality is
compared with applicable standards and actions taken when non-conformances
are detected. Quality control is the responsibility of the worker.
5. _________________________is a planned and systematic set of activities
necessary to provide adequate confidence that requirements are properly
established and products or services conform to specific requirements.
6. What are three inputs the project manager and the project team will need to
prepare for QA?

7. What are the Ways to Improve Quality, Productivity & Process Time?

8. What are the factors used to improve productivity?

9. What is PDCA cycle?

10. State and define the steps of PDCA cycle?

11. State the 5s in kaizen?

12. What are the seven wastes?

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