Chapter 8

Who wrote Quality Is Free in 1979 and is best known for suggesting that organizations strive for zero defects? - Juran - Ishikawa - Crosby - Deming

Crosby

DeMarco and Lister's study on organizations and productivity found direct correlations between productivity and programming language, years of experience, and salary True False

False

Frameworks for helping organizations improve their processes and systems are called Six Sigma charts. True False

False

Gantt charts cannot be used to aid project quality management. True False

False

_____ are groups of nonsupervisors and work leaders in a single company department who volunteer to conduct group studies on how to improve the effectiveness of work in their department.

Quality circles

_____ is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions.

Reliability

Genichi Taguchi's _____ methods focus on eliminating defects by substituting scientific inquiry for trial-and-error methods.

Robust Design

Change requests and verified deliverables are the outputs of the controlling quality process. True False

True

Customer requirements are an important aspect of the quality planning process. True False

True

In TQC, product quality is more important than production rates, and workers are allowed to stop production whenever a quality problem occurs. True False

True

Managing quality includes all of the quality assurance activities plus product design and process improvements. True False

True

Products that are accepted by project stakeholders are considered to be validated deliverables. True False

True

Project managers are ultimately responsible for quality management on their projects. True False

True

The Six Sigma approach works best for a project where a quality problem is identified between the current and desired performance. True False

True

Using Six Sigma principles is an organization-wide commitment and all employees must embrace its principles. True False

True

The _____ means taking responsibility for failures or not meeting quality expectations.

cost of non-conformance

Performing quality assurance is a subprocess of which project quality management stage? - initiating - closing - benchmarking - managing

managing

_____ correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality control measurements.

Process adjustments

The _____ model focuses on defining user requirements and planning software projects.

SQFD Software Quality Function Deployment Software Quality Function Deployment (SQFD) SQFD (Software Quality Function Deployment)

During which phase of the DMAIC process is the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram used? - define - measure - analyze - improve

analyze

What cost is the price of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure that a project is error-free or within an acceptable error range? - prevention cost - appraisal cost - internal failure cost - external failure cost

appraisal cost

Which term is used for a standard of measurement in quality management? - milestone - metric - merge - matrix

metric

What term is used for a bell-shaped curve that is symmetrical regarding the average value of the population (the data being analyzed)? - skewed distribution - normal distribution - bimodal distribution - degenerate distribution

normal distribution

The term _____ means a product can be used as it was intended.

fitness for use

Which chart helps users identify the vital few contributors that account for most quality problems in a system? - Gantt - pareto - control - tracking Gantt

pareto

Which addresses how well a product or service performs the customer's intended use? - reliability - performance - maintainability - functionality

performance

Which process correct(s) or prevent(s) quality problems based on quality control measurements? - process adjustments. - rework - acceptance decisions - decomposition

process adjustments.

Which process is an action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or specifications or other stakeholder expectations? - process adjustment - rework - acceptance decision - validation

rework

Which test is done to test each individual component (often a program) to ensure that it is as defect-free as possible? - integration - unit - user acceptance - system

unit

Which testing involves an independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered system? - integration - unit - user acceptance - system

user acceptance

The main outputs of which process are a quality management plan, quality metrics, project management plan updates, and project documents updates? - controlling quality - planning quality management - quality certification - performing quality assurance

planning quality management

A(n)_____ is a structured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects.

quality audit

Which phase of the DMAIC process includes tools such as a project charter, a description of customer requirements, process maps, and Voice of the Customer (VOC) data? - define - measure - analyze - improve

define

Which technique helps identify variables that have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process? - design of experiments - backward pass - activity-on-arrow - crashing

design of experiments

Which term is used for a cost that relates to all errors not detected and not corrected before delivery to the customer? - prevention cost - appraisal cost - internal failure cost - external failure cost

external failure cost

The purpose of _____ is to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.

project quality management

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines _____ as "the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs."

quality

In a(n) _____, the closer data points are to a diagonal line, the more closely the two variables are related.

scatter diagram

72. Watts S. Humphrey defines a(n) _____ as anything that must be changed before delivery of the program.

software defect

The _____ represents the number of units handled correctly through the process steps.

yield

_____ diagrams trace complaints about quality problems back to the responsible production operations.

Cause-and-effect Fishbone Ishikawa

_____ involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they are complete, correct, and meet customer expectations.

Controlling quality

Which five-phase improvement process do projects that use Six Sigma principles for quality control normally follow? - DMAIC. - weighted scoring model - configuration management - use case modeling

DMAIC

What are the system's special characteristics that appeal to users? - features - outputs - yields - metrics

Features

Which term is used for the degree to which a system performs its intended function? - reliability - validity - maintainability - functionality

Functionality

Which statement is one of Juran's ten steps to quality improvement? - An organization should minimize top management involvement in the achievement of individual employee goals. - An organization should entrust improvement to individual employees rather than appointing teams or facilitators. - An organization should build awareness of the need and opportunity for improvement. - An organization should avoid "keeping score" in order to achieve an overall atmosphere of quality improvement.

An organization should build awareness of the need and opportunity for improvement.

The term sigma means median. True False

False

Which is a measure of quality control equal to one fault in one million opportunities problems? - ISO 9000 - six 9s of quality rule - seven run rule - Six Sigma rule

six 9s of quality rule

Which process involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection? - statistical sampling - conformance - system testing - fitness for use

statistical sampling

Six Sigma's target for perfection is the achievement of no more than _____ defects, errors, or mistakes per million opportunities. - 1.34 - 3.4 - 34 - 13.4

3.4

Which process is often associated with the technical tools and techniques of quality management, such as Pareto charts, quality control charts, and statistical sampling? - quality planning - quality certification - quality assurance - quality control

quality control

Which process helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes? - SQFD - MTBI - OPM3 - CMMI

CMMI

Which statement is one of Deming's 14 Points for Management? - An organization should increase dependence on inspection to achieve quality. - Award business based on price tag alone rather than on other considerations. - Minimize total cost by working with multiple suppliers rather than a single supplier. - Eliminate the annual rating or merit system.

Eliminate the annual rating or merit system.

A run chart is a bar graph that depicts data points and their order of occurrence. True False

False

Testing as a stage is important only at the end of an information technology product development. True False

False

The design of experiments technique cannot be applied to project management issues such as cost and schedule trade-offs. True False

False

Reliability is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under unusual conditions. True False

False

Integration testing involves testing of each individual component to ensure that it is as defect-free as possible. True False

False

Only in-house auditors can perform quality audits. True False

False

What process is used to generate 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? - prototyping - systems thinking - mind mapping - benchmarking

benchmarking

What term is used for the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions? - reliability - performance - maintainability - functionality

reliability

Which term is used for the ability of a product to be used as it was intended? - conformance to requirements - fitness for use - critical chain scheduling - free slack

fitness for use

Which addresses the ease of performing maintenance on a product? - reliability - performance - maintainability - functionality

maintainability

_____ are the screens and reports the system generates.

System outputs

What are the three main outcomes of quality control? Briefly describe each.

Acceptance decisions determine if the products or services produced as part of the project will be accepted or rejected. If they are accepted, they are considered to be validated deliverables. If project stakeholders reject some of the products or services produced as part of the project, there must be rework. Rework is action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or specifications or other stakeholder expectations. Rework often results in requested changes and validated defect repair, resulting from recommended defect repair or corrective or preventive actions. Rework can be very expensive, so the project manager must strive to do a good job of quality planning and quality assurance to avoid this need. Process adjustments correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality control measurements. Process adjustments are often found by using quality control measurements, and they often result in updates to the quality baseline, organization process assets, and the project management plan.

Describe the relationship between Six Sigma and statistics. What statistical concepts are involved in the Six Sigma philosophy?

An important concept in Six Sigma is improving quality by reducing variation. The term sigma means standard deviation. Standard deviation measures how much variation exists in a distribution of data. A small standard deviation means that data clusters closely around the middle of a distribution and there is little variability among the data. A large standard deviation means that data is spread out around the middle of the distribution and there is relatively greater variability. A normal distribution is a bell-shaped curve that is symmetrical regarding the mean or average value of the population (the data being analyzed). In any normal distribution, 68.3 percent of the population is within one standard deviation (1sigma) of the mean, 95.5 percent of the population is within two standard deviations (2sigma), and 99.7 percent of the population is within three standard deviations (3sigma) of the mean. Standard deviation is a key factor in determining the acceptable number of defective units found in a population. A plus or minus six sigma in pure statistical terms means only two defective units per billion. However, the target for Six Sigma programs is 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Based on Motorola's original work on Six Sigma in the 1980s, the convention used for Six Sigma is a scoring system that accounts for more variation in a process than you would typically find in a few weeks or months of data gathering. In other words, time is an important factor in determining process variations.

What are the five phases in the DMAIC process? Briefly describe each one.

Define: Define the problem/opportunity, process, and customer requirements. Important tools used in this phase include a project charter, a description of customer requirements, process maps, and Voice of the Customer (VOC) data. Examples of VOC data include complaints, surveys, comments, and market research that represent the views and needs of the organization's customers.Measure: Define measures, then collect, compile, and display data. Measures are defined in terms of defects per opportunity. Analyze: Scrutinize process details to find improvement opportunities. A project team working on a Six Sigma project, normally referred to as a Six Sigma team, investigates and verifies data to prove the suspected root causes of quality problems and substantiates the problem statement. An important tool in this phase is the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram. Improve: Generate solutions and ideas for improving the problem. A final solution is verified with the project sponsor, and the Six Sigma team develops a plan to pilot test the solution. The Six Sigma team reviews the results of the pilot test to refine the solution, if needed, and then implements the solution where appropriate. Control: Track and verify the stability of the improvements and the predictability of the solution. Control charts are one tool used in the control phase.

_____ is a measure of quality control equal to 1 fault in 1 million opportunities.

Six 9s of qualitySix nines of quality

What are the five major cost categories related to quality? Briefly describe each category.

Prevention cost: The cost of planning and executing a project so that it is error-free or within an acceptable error range. Preventive actions such as training, detailed studies related to quality, and quality surveys of suppliers and subcontractors fall under this category. Detecting defects in information systems during the early phases of the systems development life cycle is much less expensive than during the later phases. One hundred dollars spent refining user requirements could save millions by finding a defect before implementing a large system. The Year 2000 (Y2K) issue provides a good example of these costs. If organizations had decided during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s that all dates would need four characters to represent the year instead of two characters, they would have saved billions of dollars. Appraisal cost: The cost of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure that a project is error-free or within an acceptable error range. Activities such as inspection and testing of products, maintenance of inspection and test equipment, and processing and reporting inspection data all contribute to appraisal costs of quality. Internal failure cost: A cost incurred to correct an identified defect before the customer receives the product. Items such as scrap and rework, charges related to late payment of bills, inventory costs that are a direct result of defects, costs of engineering changes related to correcting a design error, premature failure of products, and correcting documentation all contribute to internal failure cost. External failure cost: A cost that relates to all errors not detected and not corrected before delivery to the customer. Items such as warranty cost, field service personnel training cost, product liability suits, complaint handling, and future business losses are examples of external failure costs. Measurement and test equipment costs: The capital cost of equipment used to perform prevention and appraisal activities.

List and briefly describe the three project quality management processes.

1. Planning quality management includes identifying which quality requirements and standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them. Incorporating quality standards into project design is a key part of quality planning. For an IT project, quality standards might include allowing for system growth, planning a reasonable response time for a system, or ensuring that the system produces consistent and accurate information. Quality standards can also apply to IT services. For example, you can set standards for how long it should take to get a reply from a help desk or how long it should take to ship a replacement part for a hardware item under warranty. The main outputs of planning quality management are a quality management plan, quality metrics, project management plan updates, and project documents updates. A metric is a standard of measurement. Examples of common metrics include failure rates of products, availability of goods and services, and customer satisfaction ratings. 2. Managing quality involves translating the quality management plan into executable quality activities. These activities must adhere to the organization's quality policies. The main outputs of this process are quality reports, test and evaluation documents, change requests, project management plan updates, and project documents updates. 3. Controlling quality involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they are complete, correct, and meet customer expectations. This process is often associated with the technical tools and techniques of quality management, such as Pareto charts, quality control charts, and statistical sampling. You will learn more about these tools and techniques later in this chapter. The main outputs of quality control include quality control measurements, verified deliverables, work performance information, change requests, project management plan updates, and project documents updates.

_____ is a quality planning technique that helps identify which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process.

Design of experiments

Which system involves a three-part, continuous cycle of planning, controlling, and documenting quality in an organization? - Seven run rule - ISO 9000 - Six Sigma - ASQ

ISO 9000

_____ measures how much variation exists in a distribution of data.

Standard deviation

_____ involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.

Statistical sampling

Complete the formula: sample size = 0.25 * ( _____ /acceptable error)2

certainty factor

Which term is used when the project's processes and products meet written specifications? - conformance to requirements - fitness for use - project feasibility - benchmarking

conformance to requirements

In the DMAIC process, the letter "C" stands for _____.

control

Which graphic display of data illustrates the results of a process over time? - statistical sampling chart - Pareto chart - Six Sigma chart - control chart

control chart

Validated changes and validated deliverables are the outputs of the ____ subprocess of project quality management. initiating. closing controlling executing

controlling

The _____ ultimately decides if quality is acceptable.

customer

What term is used for any instance where the product or service fails to meet customer requirements? - defect - yield - deliverable - variance

defect