8. Quality assurance of an IT project

Lecture

The goal of quality planning is to make project management processes predictable. Quality planning needs to start in the early stages of project planning, since it is important to determine the quality requirements at the very beginning and take them into account when developing the plan. At the planning stage, a system of measures to ensure the quality of the project is formed and documented.

Planning the quality of a project begins with the identification of objects whose quality is necessary to ensure. In tab. 8.1 a description of the processes affecting the project quality assurance process, the impact of which should be considered when developing a project quality management plan.

8.1. Developing a quality plan

The quality assurance plan describes how the project management team will implement the implementing organization’s quality policy. Depending on the needs of the project, this plan can be very detailed or generalized. The plan contains a list of work that must be performed in the field of project quality management, as well as the time (schedule) of work. Quality assurance activities should be developed at the very beginning of the project and should be carried out on the basis of independent expert assessments [11]. The plan allows you to highlight exactly the work and the time of their implementation, which are necessary for quality project management.

8.2. Regulation on quality management in the project

To develop a quality management policy for information system implementation projects, it is necessary to define a list of procedure procedures.

One of the main components of project management is to prevent the loss of value of products or services by reducing their quality. Accordingly, companies providing information systems implementation services accumulate knowledge about emerging problems and losses on implementation projects and then try to prevent these losses.

Table 8.1. Analysis of quality management processes

Title	Description	Consequences of not doing	Consequences when doing	Process evaluation	Owner	Comments
Quality management planning	Quality management planning is based on standards and is intended to be a guide through which the quality of the project being carried out will be assessed. This process ensures that the customer receives a project that meets their requirements. Quality management planning should be considered in conjunction with the capacity management process, as quality planning is part of this process.	If you do not make a project management plan, it will be difficult to track the quality of the tasks performed by the project and the deviation of results from customer requirements.	The results will meet customer requirements.	Critical	Customer Manager and Project Manager	It is proposed to consider without breaking into subprocesses.
Analysis of factors external and internal environment of the enterprise	Identify the conditions that may affect the progress of the project, taking into account the quality policy adopted at the enterprise, procedures, regulations and accumulated knowledge from previous projects	The emergence of a contradiction with the legislation or with the policy in the field of quality, existing in the enterprise	Execution of the project in accordance with the conditions and obtaining the desired results	Is important	Project Manager	Recommended for execution
Quality management plan	Drawing up a document on the basis of which the quality of the project and the results obtained will be assessed	Getting results that do not meet customer requirements	Execution of the project in accordance with the conditions and obtaining the desired results	Critical	Project Manager	Required for execution
Quality assurance	Adoption of planned systematic measures (external and internal) that ensure the implementation of all envisaged processes necessary to meet the quality requirements	Getting results that do not meet customer requirements	Execution of the project in accordance with the conditions and obtaining the desired results	Is important	Project manager or project team	Recommended for execution
Execution of the project plan	Carrying out measures to ensure the implementation of the quality management plan	Deviation of project results from customer expectations	Getting the expected results on time	Is important	Project Manager / Project Team	Recommended for execution
Time, content and cost management	Approval of measures to ensure the implementation of the quality management plan, cost accounting and sufficient resources for their implementation	Unjustified increase in the cost of the project and the timing of its implementation	Cost optimization for project quality assurance	Critical	Project Manager	Required for performance
Quality control	Monitoring project results to establish compliance with quality standards. Identification and elimination of causes causing deviations	Deviation from expected results, the cause of which cannot be established and corrected	Timely elimination of deviations from expected results	Is important	Project Team / Project Manager	Recommended for execution

Table 8.2. Project Quality Assurance Plan

Project Quality Assurance Events

Execution Schedule (weeks)

one

four

five

eight

ten

eleven

sixteen

nineteen

1. Analysis of the requirements of the project results

2. Selection and approval of project implementation standards

3. Development and approval of a project risk management plan

4. Quality Assurance Tasks

4.1. Development and approval of the procedure for managing problems (deviations) in the project

4.2. Monitoring the status of risks and problems of the project

4.3. Project working group meetings (weekly)

4.4. Review and approval of project documents submitted to the Customer

4.4.1. Review and approval of technical specifications

4.4.2. Review and approval of technical design

4.4.3. Review and approval of other documents

4.5. Meeting on the analysis of the results of the project phase

5. Tasks of the organization and testing of tests

5.1. Development and approval of test methods and testing of IP

5.2. Development and approval of test plan

5.3. Development and approval of the report on the results of testing and testing

5.4. Preparation and approval of the certificate of acceptance of IP

b. Internal and external project audits

6.1. Internal audits

6.1.1. Audit of the project initiation phase (in accordance with the project management company standard)

6.1.2. Audit of the project implementation phase (in accordance with the project management company standard)

6.1.3. Audit of the project completion phase (in accordance with the project management company standard)

6.2. External audits

6.2.1. Audit by an IP supplier on the implementation of an IP implementation methodology

6.2.2. Audit of the project implementation by the Customer’s representatives

7. Preparation and approval of a report on a completed project or project phase

The causes of loss of quality are very diverse: violations of technology, inadequate quality of resources, human factor, imperfect management system. Essential is the fact that all these quality losses occur when performing individual processes and operations. In this regard, modern quality management has come to understand that it is not the quality of products or services that should be managed, but the quality of process execution. In particular, this circumstance is reflected in international standards ISO 9000, which have already been mentioned. Based on this theory, we define the necessary procedures for quality management on the implementation project. So, first we define the processes at which losses are possible, and the quality losses themselves (Table 8.2).

Examples of quality planning procedures

1. Documentation Procedure

This procedure is intended to control the documentation in the project.

Functional team leaders and employees submit current versions of project documents, reports on work for the current period, and other project documents to the person responsible for coordination and organizational support. Responsible for coordination and organizational support the employee places the received documents in the project library

2. Procedure for approving project documents

Preparation of documents is carried out by the working groups of the project. In the course of the discussion, the participants of the working groups may consult on the issues under discussion with other members of the ETS project team.

The document, which is ready for approval, is transmitted to the team leader, who conducts the incoming quality control of the document.

For the approval procedure, employees are assigned responsible for the approval.

The staff responsible for coordination, in accordance with the approval scheme and the approval list of each document, determine the list of officials with whom documents are to be agreed, and within one day after notification of the readiness of the documents send them for approval.

The coordinating official analyzes the document and within 3 days sends its comments to the coordinator.

The person responsible for coordination on the same day sends his comments to the group leaders and to the working groups for processing.

Table 8.3. Defining a list of procedures for quality management

Stages	Project Works	Possible loss of quality	Procedures
Project planning	Project planning	Errors in determining the complexity of development, resource allocation, budget development	Procedure for creating a quality plan, creating a quality assurance program
	Definition and description of discrepancy solutions	When analyzing and documenting the key business requirements and criteria for their success, a misunderstanding of customer requirements is possible.	Customer Requirements Management Procedure
	High-level business process analysis
	High-level interface description
	Detailed analysis of individual business processes
	Documenting Individual Interfaces
	Assessment of the project framework	With inadequate documentation of the project scope	Project Document Control Procedure
	Detailed analysis of business processes	When describing business processes, misunderstanding of requirements, in assessing the coverage of customer requirements with system functionality, important tasks may be missed.	Customer Requirements Management Procedure
	Development and harmonization of functional requirements	When approving and approving documents, problems are possible due to the absence of the person responsible for this work, or the procedure for conducting this work.	Procedure for approval and approval of documents
	Development and harmonization of functional requirements	The developed document may not meet the requirements for it.	Project Document Control Procedure
	Approval of infrastructure analysis results	When approving and approving documents, problems are possible due to the absence of the person responsible for this work, or the procedure for conducting this work.	Procedure for approval and approval of documents
	Creating a learning environment
	Develop training for key users
	Key user training
Design	Creation of design specifications	When making changes at the design stage, problems and inconsistencies with the originally designed system are possible.	Problem and Change Management Procedure
Design	Creation of technical specifications	When describing system improvements, some important features of the processes and functions may not be provided.	Quality assurance procedure as per plan
	Definition of integration methods and modifications
	Definition of testing criteria
	Identify additional training requirements
	Configuration setting
	Setting up the development environment
	Test environment setup
	Development of functional characteristics	When making changes at the development stage	Problem and change management procedure. Quality assurance procedure as per plan
	Testing parameters / functions	Errors during testing, inadequate test cases	The quality control procedure of the project results. Test Case Development Procedure
	Process testing	Errors during testing, inadequate test cases	Project quality control procedure
	General testing	Errors during testing, inadequate test cases	Project quality control procedure
	Creation of technical and user documentation	Creating Inappropriate Instructions	Project Document Control Procedure
Setup and implementation	Setting up the working environment
	Configuration Setup (for system testing )
	Infrastructure setup, system testing
	Perform a system and user test	Errors during testing, inadequate test cases	Project quality control procedure
	Installation of the working environment
	Run a run test
	Preparation and conduct of training for end users
Operation and support	Formation of documentation	Creation of inappropriate documents, problems in the approval and approval of the system of reception and transmission system	Documentation procedure. The procedure for approval of the act of reception and transmission system
Operation and support	Extra education

The working groups analyze the comments and prepare a revised version of the document within 3 days. The corrected document and the report is sent to the coordinating person to express their assessment of the correctness of the corrections made within 3 days. For each of the comments, it is necessary to impose a resolution “accept” or “reject” (with explanation of the reasons). If necessary, group leaders discuss comments and possible solutions with the authors of the comments. If it is impossible to adopt a resolution at the group level, the team leader escalates decision making on the comment to the level of the project managers. Project leaders make decisions on comments not agreed at the group level.

Approval Procedure

After the final preparation of the document, an e-mail notification is sent about the time the document was submitted for approval and its location in the project library.

A package of documents is formed, consisting of two electronic copies of documents on a CD and sheets that are signed (cover and approval sheet for each document to be approved). Two identical packages of documents are intended for the customer and the performer.

The next day, at the agreed time, a package of documents is delivered to the office of the approver. Documents approved by the Criminal Code are printed in full (not just subscription lists).

Approvers after receiving the notice, get acquainted with the package of documents in detail. After review and approval, the approver signs the document.

After that, the document is approved. Signed sheets and the corresponding electronic versions of the documents are approved versions of the project.

8.3. Quality Management Organization

Quality assurance is the process of carrying out planned systematic quality operations that ensure the fulfillment of all the stipulated processes necessary for the project to meet the established quality requirements [23]. The quality assurance function can be performed by the project team , the executive organization’s management, the customer or the sponsor, other project participants. To control the quality of the project, audits are carried out, the purpose of which is to determine whether the quality of the project complies with the standards established in the quality plan.

The quality assurance process includes methods for continually improving the quality of future projects. The knowledge and experience in quality assurance accumulated in the current project should be used in the preparation of quality plans for subsequent projects.

To ensure the quality assessment process of a project, at the planning stage, quality checklists are developed - tables with instructions for the reviewer. Checklist items should be significant enough, because if the checklist is overloaded, it will not be used (see Table 8.4). Quality checklists are quality metrics that are defined for each project phase based on customer expectations; these metrics are assigned their status: critical, serious, important. The inclusion of unimportant metrics in the quality checklists is undesirable, since otherwise this list will not be used. The advantage of its use is simplicity; even in small projects, this tool does not require large expenditures of resources and time, while using the quality checklist you can track down at the work execution stage, which was not fulfilled according to customer requirements [11].

Table 8.4. Sample quality checklists

Project stage	Expected Result	Type of	Yes	Not
Adjustment Settings	The percentage of settings that correspond to the description in the documentation (permissible error of 3%)	Critical
Determining environmental requirements	List of requirements	Critical
Infrastructure setup	Settings List	Critical
Development of functional characteristics	Number of errors encountered during operation. Percentage of errors during operation	Critical
Определение параметров разработки и плана тестирования	Список параметров разработ-ки.План тестирования.Про- цент исходов, не учтенных в плане тестирования	Критичный
Анализ проекта	Наличие протоколов по анализу результатов каждой фазы проекта	Серьезный
Управление изменениями	Документирование всех запро-сов на изменение в соответствии с принятой формой и их сохранение в единой базе	Критичный

Пояснения к заполнению формы контрольных списков

Этап проекта - процесс, для которого необходимо прописать ожидаемый результат.
Ожидаемый результат - метрика качества, которую необходимо достичь.
Тип - присвоенный тип данной метрики, может быть критический, серьезный, желательный.
Да/Нет - достигнут ли ожидаемый результат. Заполняется на этапе контроля и обеспечения качества проекта.

Данные о результатах контроля передаются исполняющей организации для использования в процессе обеспечения качества, для повторной оценки и анализа стандартов качества на последующих фазах ЖЦ ИС. Пример формы представления результатов контроля качества приведен в табл. 8.5.

Table 8.5. Форма представления результатов контроля качества

№ п.п.	Объект контроля качества	Дата замечания	Замечание	Автор замечания

На рис.8.1 приведено графическое изображение процедуры разработки контрольных списков качества.

8. Quality assurance of an IT project

Fig. 8.1. Процедура разработки контрольных списков (графическое изображение)

Для выполнения операций по обеспечению (оценке) качества используют аудит . Аудит качества - независимая экспертная оценка, определяющая, насколько операции проекта соответствуют установленным в рамках проекта или организации правилам, процессам и процедурам. Целью аудита качества является выявление неэффективных и экономически не оправданных правил, процессов и процедур, используемых в проекте. Количество и сроки плановых проектных аудитов могут определяться основными этапами проекта или ключевыми событиями. Внеплановые аудиты проводятся по запросам заказчика, руководителей департаментов и отделов. Аудиты качества проводятся на основе критериев, каждый из которых является следствием требований нормативной документации системы менеджмента качества (требование ISO 9000 ) и системы управления проектами (PMBOK). Схема проведения внутреннего аудита качества проекта может выглядеть следующим образом:

анализ исправления замечаний предыдущей проверки;
проведение проверки проекта в соответствии с контрольными списками ;
оформление отчета о контроле качества;
информирование команды проекта о появлении новых отчетных документов.

Ниже приведен шаблон для регистрации списка отклонений и описание процедуры обеспечения качества (табл. 8.6).

Table 8.6. Шаблон регистрации отклонений

№отклонения	Дата выявления	Название работы	Описаниеотклонения	Статус отклонения	Предпринятые действия
[номер по порядку в таблице]	[дата совещания, на котором выявлено отклонение]	[название работы, в которой выявлено отклонение результатов от требований заказчика]	[описание возникшего отклонения]	[незначит .- работа будет принята несмотря на выявленное отклонение	[отложено - работа будет принята несмотря на выявленное отклонение, поэтому нет необходимости предпринимать какие-либо действия
				серьезное - отклонение необходимо устранить, чтобы качество проекта соответствовало заданному уровню	в работе - отклонение передано в рассмотрение в процедуре управления проблемами, ответ ожидается
				критическое - работа полностью не соответствует требованиям заказчика]	исправлено - отклонение исправлено и работы завершены]

8. Quality assurance of an IT project

Fig. 8.2. Графическое описание процедуры управления качеством

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8. Quality assurance of an IT project

8.1. Developing a quality plan

8.2. Regulation on quality management in the project

8.3. Quality Management Organization

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software project management

Terms: software project management