Tools and Techniques for Quality Management
Albert Bautista & Chris Ramsey
CMGT/575
December 22, 2014
Dr. Gayle Grant
Tools and Techniques for Quality Management
As we move forward with the project Huffman Trucking Database, we will put forth a plan for tools and techniques we will utilize for managing quality during and after the entire project. Quality is important to recognize in all phases, specifically in addressing the objectives and requirements of the project. Application of project quality management (PQM) from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide will be crucial in ensuring the attainment of a complete and working database. PMBOK identifies three major quality management processes in ensuring that the processes and actions meet the policies, objectives and responsibilities that align with Huffman’s business. Those three processes are declared as the plan quality, perform quality assurance and perform quality control (PMI 2004). We will operate under the conditions of those three processes and align its objectives and events with the systems development life cycle defined by the project.
To reiterate, the justification of recreating the Huffman Trucking Database was put forth by the inadequacies and poor organization of the previous database. Inaccurate financial and truck data, incomplete maintenance records, improper driver logs and partial vendor information are the major problems that need to be addressed in the creation of the new database. By updating and streamlining the database with accessible reporting tools, management will have access to timely information and business critical data to make firm business decisions.
To begin planning how quality will be measured, maintained and tested, a quality plan will be set in order to determine which requirements are important for both the project and the resulting database. Documenting these steps will ensure that the quality plan will be followed throughout the project’s progress. In order to demonstrate the steps we will follow to ensure quality is managed throughout the project, please review the following illustration (Marchewka 2012):

As part of the project quality management, quality will be maintained by following the circle clockwise during each project phase.
To begin the PQM, we will implement a combination of quality tools and methods as provided by the concepts related to quality management. During the entire project, a focus on customer satisfaction will be monitored during the quality review process in order to ensure that the final deliverable version of the database succeeds in not only the requirements, but also of the front-end experience Huffman Trucking will receive upon using the database. Since Huffman’s users will be the final receivable of the project, it is our utmost directive to ensure that customers will be satisfied and that expectations will be met upon usage of the new database. This will be important in the start of the project when data is being evaluated for consistency and redundancy, as Huffman’s users will have to make sure that previous data is transferred completely.
The second quality technique to be implemented will be to establish prevention of defects, mistakes and bugs during the design of the new database. By ensuring that quality is maintained, prevention, not inspection, will be a practice that will be implemented in the entire redesign of the database. This moves towards the ideal phase of quality assurance, as prevention will keep costs low, but may increase development time. As part of rebuilding the database, a process to improve the product will also be established as part of the quality tools. By improving many aspects of the database, business data will become a positive asset (instead of a hindrance) to Huffman’s business. The caveat of this phase is the time that the improvements will take, as quality must be retained at every stage of the project.
Another quality technique will be