Project Quality Management
Project quality management is a functional activity within the project management process that strives to ensure that work activities and products conform with the expectations set in the project management plan. In other words, project quality management strives to get things done right. But this is not as easy and simple as it may sound.
Quality management in project execution covers a large number of constantly moving targets. In a construction project, for instance, there are millions of different parts which must be made properly, delivered on time, installed correctly, and so on. Regular inspections at each stage of manufacture, transportation, and assembly must be made. Results must be compared to planned outcomes, and changes to work in progress made to correct deviations from the plan. All of these details can become overwhelming without the aid of quality project management software.
Project quality management modules are included in all major project management tools. It's even part of online project management tools such as Codendi, Redmine, ProjectPier, Trac, Project HQ, Collabtive, eGroupWare, Kforge, OpenGoo, and ClockingIT. The questions is, how good is the quality management component of an online project management package?
Project quality management software should import the criteria for results documented in the overall project plan. It should then facilitate the breakdown of the plan into specific tasks and work products that must be developed in order to meet the expectations of the plan. Then the project quality management software should allow one to track the time of each task's completion and the results of inspections of work products. But also, a project management quality program should allow one to track changes that are made, who made them, and compare the results of the changes to the original process used.
Project management quality control is an ongoing process from start to finish of any project. Robust project quality management software helps catch deviations from the project management plan before they mushroom into major problems. It also helps store and index the volumes of changes made and their results, so that one can quickly generate reports for government regulators and management.
Using online project management software should be intuitive, responsive, and efficient. Test drive any project management software, online or off, before buying it. Be sure to give everyone who will use the project management software an opportunity to test drive it too, and listen carefully to everyone's reactions. Project management quality control starts with the quality of the project management software.