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Plan Quality Management

5 minutes 5 Questions

Plan Quality Management is the process of identifying quality requirements and establishing the necessary quality standards for a project. This ensures that project deliverables meet the needs and expectations of stakeholders. In this process, the project team develops a quality management plan that outlines the approach, objectives, and criteria for quality control and continuous improvement. This plan should be aligned with the overall project management plan and might include specific quality policies, procedures, tools, techniques, and performance indicators. Plan Quality Management typically includes documentation reviews, process analysis, benchmarking, brainstorming, and risk analysis to identify potential quality issues and determine their impact.

Guide: Plan Quality Management based on PMBOK Guide Seventh Edition

The Plan Quality Management process is a critical component of project management as per the PMBOK Guide Seventh Edition. The reason for its importance lies in the goal of maintaining the quality of the processes involved in the project and the output.

It constitutes identifying quality requirements, establishing the project and product standards, documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance, and tailoring considerations for the project.

The operative part of the Plan Quality Management process includes: Developing a quality management plan, quality metrics, quality checklists, and process improvement plans.

For answering questions on Plan Quality Management in PMP exam, remember the following tips:
- Understand the intent of quality management which is 'fitness for use'
- Pay attention to phrases asking for inputs, tools, techniques, or outputs of Plan Quality Management
- Do not equate more quality with more cost. Quality can reduce costs in the long run.
- Remember that quality is planned, designed, and built in — not inspected in.
- Quality audits are not negative, they are for finding good and bad practices.

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PMP - Quality Management Example Questions

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Question 1

During the Plan Quality Management process, the project team is trying to determine what quality standards seem most relevant to their project. They decide to use a well-known industry framework as a guide. Which of the following might the team be considering for this purpose?

Correct Answer: ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is the most relevant standard for the team to consider as a guide for determining quality standards for their project. ISO 9001 is a widely recognized and internationally accepted standard that provides a framework for a quality management system. It outlines requirements for consistently delivering products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. Many organizations use ISO 9001 to demonstrate their ability to provide quality products and services. The other ISO standards mentioned are not as directly applicable: - ISO 9002 has been incorporated into ISO 9001 and no longer exists as a separate standard. - ISO 10002 focuses specifically on customer satisfaction and complaints handling, which is a narrower scope than overall quality management. - ISO 9004 provides guidelines for enhancing an organization's overall performance and achieving sustained success, but it is not a requirements standard like ISO 9001.

Question 2

During the Plan Quality Management process, you discover that a control chart indicates a stable process with random variations. What does this mean for your project?

Correct Answer: The process is predictable and operates within acceptable limits

A stable process with random variations shows that the process is predictable and operates within acceptable limits. This means that the process is under control and the variations are due to common causes that are inherent in the process. This is the reason why the first answer is correct. The others are incorrect because: a process does not need immediate corrective actions if it is stable and variations are random (second answer); stopping a process until variations are reduced is unnecessary when variations are random and within limits (third answer); and the control chart is correct if it illustrates a stable process with random variations (fourth answer).

Question 3

You are managing a project for building a new mobile app. During the Plan Quality Management process, you need to prioritize which quality standards to focus on. How should you proceed?

Correct Answer: Use a cost-benefit analysis to identify critical quality standards.

In the Plan Quality Management process, the best way to prioritize which quality standards to focus on is to use a cost-benefit analysis. This approach allows one to identify critical quality standards by understanding the return on investment that each standard provides. This balance of cost and quality helps to ensure efficient use of resources. The second answer suggests putting equal focus on all quality standards, which is not a good strategy as it doesn't take cost implications into account. Focusing solely on the quality standards suggested by the project sponsor, as given in the third answer, may not necessarily align with the best interests of the project or its stakeholders. The fourth answer advice to neglect less important quality standards for cost-saving may lead to issues in product quality and customer satisfaction down the line.

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