QA/QC Management
QA/QC is the combination of Quality Assurance, the process or set of processes used to measure and assure the quality of a product, and Quality Control, the process of meeting products and services to consumer expectations. Quality Assurance is process oriented and focuses on defect prevention, while quality control is product oriented and focuses on defect identification.
At PMI International, our goal is to ensure both Quality Control and Quality Assurance are monitored and controlled.
Monitoring and controlling Quality consists of those processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the execution of the project. The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances by doing the following:
At PMI International, our goal is to ensure both Quality Control and Quality Assurance are monitored and controlled.
Monitoring and controlling Quality consists of those processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the execution of the project. The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances by doing the following:
- Measuring the ongoing project activities ('where we are');
- Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be);
- Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again);
- Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented.
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Quality Control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "A part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements".
Controls include product inspection, where every product is examined visually, and often using a microscope for fine detail (ie: glazing) before the product is sold into the external market. Inspectors will be provided with lists and descriptions of unacceptable product defects. Quality control emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects and reporting to management who make the decision to allow or deny product release, whereas quality assurance attempts to improve and stabilize production to avoid, or at least minimize, issues which led to the defect(s) in the first place. |
Quality Assurance (QA) is a way of preventing mistakes or defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering solutions or services to customers; which ISO 9000 defines as "part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled". This defect prevention in quality assurance differs subtly from defect detection and rejection in quality control, and has been referred to as a shift left as it focuses on quality earlier in the process.
QA is applied to physical products in pre-production to verify what will be made meets specifications and requirements, and during manufacturing production runs by validating lot samples meet specified quality controls. QA is also applied to software to verify that features and functionality meet business objectives, and that code is relatively bug free prior to shipping or releasing new software products and versions. |
