Quality Planning Tools and Techniques
Various tools and techniques are employed on each of these three major processes.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
The cost-benefit analysis is similar to a cost-benefit ratio. The costs and benefits are measured to analyze the
trade-offs of providing quality.
Cost of Quality
Cost of quality (COQ) includes all the costs that conform to the required quality of the project, including the cost
to ensure conformance to requirements as well as the cost of nonconformance, and finding the right balance.
Modern quality management philosophy emphasizes preventing mistakes rather than detecting them later
because the cost of nonconformance is very high.
The following costs are associated with quality:
Prevention costs are associated with keeping defective products away from the customer. Examples
include quality training, quality planning, reliability engineering, test engineering, or data analysis.
Appraisal costs are associated with checking the product to make sure it is conforming, such as
inspection, testing, calibration, studies, or surveys.
Failure costs can be categorized in a couple of ways:
o Internal: Nonconformance that is found while the product is still within the performing
organization is called internal failure costs, and includes rework or scrap.
o External: Nonconformance that is found when the product has been given to the customer is
called external failure costs, and includes repair or returns.
The cost of nonconformance can also be classified as direct or indirect:
o Direct: Direct failure costs include scrap, warranty costs, rework, engineering changes, liability
insurance, or inventory costs.
o Indirect: Indirect failure costs include fewer sales, lost customers, increased costs to get
customers back, decreased team morale, or decreased project efficiency.
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Additional Planning Tools
A wide variety of other tools can be applied to quality planning. The PMBOKGuide identifies the following
examples:
Brainstorming is a technique for gathering information, where multiple unfiltered inputs and ideas are solicited
and captured for later analysis and decision making.
Force field analysis (FFA) is a technique for analyzing ideas by grouping characteristics or factors that are for (pros)
and against (cons) the idea.
Nominal group technique (NGT) is an enhancement of brainstorming that adds mechanisms for ranking ideas. It
is based on the assumption that a nominal group (one that has agreed to work as a team) will produce better
results than a group engaging in traditional brainstorming. NGT collects anonymous input from group members
and encourages discussion of all input. Then each member prioritizes the input items. The items are further
prioritized based on their cumulative score