Project Management v. QA

(I couldn?t nail down CCMI Level 3 certification in the web - Certificate in Computer Maintenance and Installation (CCMI)?!). My comments apply to the IT industry in general.

According to Project Mgmt Institute (www.pmi.org) PM is the applicationof knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements ? they are increasingly recognized and offer a well known certification program PMP.

Going by this definition, Quality Assurance is just one area where PM focuses. Others include Scope Mgmt, Time Mgmt, Cost Mgmt, HR Mgmt, Comm. Mgmt, Risk Mgmt etc. You could look into their website for a copy of PM Body of Knowledge (PMBoK).

Also, according to Quality Assurance Institute (www.qaiusa.com), QA is an activity which establishes and evaluates the processes which produce the products. If there is no process, there is no role for QA. You could refer to their study for Certified SW Quality Analyst (CSQA).

Regards
Rama

Quality Assurance, really Quality Managment, is one aspect of a project. One of PMI's Project Management Discipline areas is quality management, which in terms of execution (not planning) is usually broken down into quality control and quality assurance (QA).

Quality control is concerned with evaluating work products to make sure they conform to specs (eg, testing, in the software world). Quality Assurance is about making sure that the business processes that are understood to produce a goodproduct are followed -- it's focused on processes, rather than product. ISO 9000 recognizes this concept, also. If you know, for example, that peer code review improves the quality of your software products, then Quality Assurance is concerned with making sure that everyone knows how to follow the company/project standards for peer review and that they are in fact followed. Similarly, QA would be responsible for making sure the processes remain effective and recommending changes to keep them that way.

Generally, QA tasks are undertaken by line managers, team leads and, to some extent, a project manager. QA is usually overseen and directed by a dedicated QA person, usually a senior manager who reports directly to the person most accountable for the quality of the product in question (in your example, the Project Manager).

Note that the term QA is often misused. Most correctly, QA is involved in processes, and the NOT testing of products. Often, testing is incorrectly referred to as QA. However, the testing function is often simlilarly arrange, with a test manager (or QC manager) reporting to the Project Manager. The Project Manager should be concerned both with QA and QC.

PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge offers an approachable discussion of the topic, and there are numerous books available, as well.

It is actually simple:
Forget about IT. Think of the project as a car.
You have a development/construction team.
They are in charge of design, architecture, production methods etc.

The test team does the testing.
That includes (ore should include)
-the safety in case of all kinds of accidents,
-economy, e.g. how much fuel does it use,
-Behavior in win tunnels
-User friendlyness

etc., etc. etc.

The test team receives all specifications as soon as the are created in order to better plan the testting. If any weak areas are found directly from review of those, a report is made to the construction team - requesting changes.

After all types of testing, a report is made, which should clearly state any security risks.
(Change and retesting is a demand - not a request in that case), any weaknesses etc.

In short:
The development/construction team should NEVER have any influence on the work of the test & Q/A team.
Safety or security risks pointed out by the test &Q/A team must always be corrected by the development/construction team.

The Q/A team measures (amongst other activities) the effectiveness of the control procedures set-up by the development/construction team as a help for them to improve their methods and tools.

This question was auto closed due to inactivity