CASE STUDY

Ball, Inc. is a management consulting firm with the objectives to locally provide its clients the best services in various

fields such as organizational change management assistance; development of coaching skills; and technology, project,

and operations management improvements. The company motto is: "Your one $-$ stop management consulting for all your

business." Konrad Cerni is one of not so many employees who have been working there since day one. He loves the

company environment and enjoys working with his peers and clients. More importantly, he loves his job $-$ project

management training. Konrad is well known inside and outside the company. His current position is a senior consultant,

and his specialization is in the areas of project management tools and metrics. Recently, his local client requested

Konrad conduct a workshop specifically designed for project management tools. Particularly, the workshop must be done

within a very strict timeframe to accommodate the participants' schedules. With more than $50$ tools that are available in

the practice and literature of project management, Konrad knew he had no time to cover all of them. Thus, he had to pick

only the important ones, and cover them in as many areas as possible. One of the tools he included is called the "project

quality program."

WHAT IS A PROJECT QUALITY PROGRAM?

A project quality program is an action plan striving to ensure that the actual quality of a project will meet the planned one.

Using WBS as a skeleton for integration, the program sets a quality level based entirely on customers' expectations and

requirements. With such a strong customer focus, the project quality program translates the requirements into tangible

quality standards, for whose accomplishment a set of tasks is defined. Explicitly defined responsibilities and timelines for

the performance of the tasks add necessary elements to use the program as a project quality roadmap. In a nutshell, the

project quality program states that this is what this project has to do to ensure that the quality of its deliverables $)$

meeting our customers' requirements.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Konrad said, "The quality of the project quality program is heavily dependent on the quality of its inputs. In particular, the

following inputs are known for their impact on the program: Quality policy and procedures, Voice of the customer, and

Scope statement and WBS $="$ He continued, "The foundations of how quality is managed in an organization are described

in its quality policy. Defined, documented, and supported by management, the policy is a statement of quality principles,

beliefs, and key objectives for projects that set a general framework to carry out quality management actions in the

organization. This framework is further detailed in quality procedures. Together, the policy and procedures set a direction

for the program. For example, if the procedures mandate compliance with ISO $9000$ standards, the program will have to

comply. Listening to the voice of the customer will not only help discover customers'. needs; it will also help decipher customers 'needs and

translate them into the recognizable language of the project scope, establish units to measure customers $\text{'}$

needs, and express them as quality standards, a crucial piece of the program. For this reason, the project quality

program needs to be closely coordinated with the voice of the customer. Finally, when you are setting project goals, the

scope statement also sets a quality goal for the project. Along with this input goes the WBS which defines the project

work for which a project quality program is developed. Therefore, both the scope statement and WBS are significant

inputs to the quality program preparation $={?}^{?}=$

$1\mathrm{.}2.$ In light of the case study provided, advise the project management team on the elements that they

need to utilize in order to develop a quality management plan. Relevant examples should be provided.