Quality Vision Statement
The vision of Quality Management is to ensure that Enterprise IT Applications and IT processes and services within IT@Cornell have built in sound and sustainable quality management functions that are guided by best practices.
Quality Mission Statement
The mission of Quality Management is to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction through continuous assurance and improvements in information technology products and services by developing, documenting and maintaining a comprehensive quality management program.
Discipline of Quality Management
Quality is the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements
Quality at the highest level is a concept of continuous improvement involving the Deming model of Plan – Do – Check – Act.
It is important to remember that the concept of quality does not require perfection. It is more about doing what was agreed to be done rather than being perfect or exceeding expectations.
The practice of quality management is usually broken into 3 processes: quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control.The concept of continuous improvement is an overarching process that is driven by Plan, Do, Check and Act.
1. Quality Planning – identifies which standards are relevant and how to satisfy them (examples: cost-benefit analysis, benchmarking). Components would be creation of a quality management plan, identification of measures and metrics, acceptance criteria for go-live.
2. Quality Assurance – Activities that ensure that the service will have all processes needed to meet requirements (example: quality audits).
3. Quality Control – Iterative process to ensure that quality standards are being met. These are defined in the quality management plan. The outcomes would be acceptance decisions, rework, and process adjustments.
Quality Management Best Practices
The following are recommended best practices for Quality Management:
Document – Quality measures and metrics should be centrally documented.
Involve Stakeholders – Involve participants and stakeholders in the identification and definition of service quality standards.
Solicit Feedback - Solicit feedback from customers, stakeholders, and implementation team regarding quality metrics, proposed measures, and quality baselines.
Be Proactive – Focus on detecting and addressing quality early in development before it becomes an issue.
Iterative - Quality Management is an ongoing, iterative process that is conducted throughout the IT service lifecycle.
Track Trends – Trend quality metrics and measures over time to provide a graphical representation of the trend of conformity to defined quality metrics.
Review – A regular review of quality standards, metrics, and measures is good practice. Depending on the complexity of the service the review process can be as frequent as weekly.
Thresholds – Establish agreed upon threshold that define when certain corrective action needs to be taken to bring an IT service back within acceptable boundaries of performance.
Analysis – Analyze the impact of quality on the product, development, and service.
Act Quickly – Obtain quality feedback as quickly as possible to avoid escalation of potential quality issues.
Archive Quality – Quality measures and metrics should be archived as historical data and incorporated in lessons learned.
Disseminate Quality – Disseminate appropriate quality measures and metrics data to product/service team and appropriate stakeholders.
Continuous Improvement – Constantly look for ways to increase service quality.
Triple Constraints Plus One-- Analyze quality based on scope, time and cost impact to the service. This evaluation will help understand the costs and benefits of applying an appropriate level of quality. Ensure users expectations are met.