Need to ensure project quality
management for an information management project and want some
practical suggestions to ensure rapid project delivery?
A quality assurance plan is part of a project
implementation plan and
describes the review/checkpoint process that will be followed to ensure
that the management information solution satisfies
requirements and
complies with standards
and best practices.
The following
identifies some key things I like to include in a quality
assurance plan—Depending on
the size of the project; these might be more (or less) elaborate. Data
requirements
Who
is responsible for ensuring that data requirements and the logical data
model complies with data model standards and how will this
happen? Is a peer review part of the
process? Is there a checklist of
items that must be
completed? Are business owners and/or
data stewards
included in a review? Is there a structure and
design center of
excellence that should be included in a review?
Data
movement requirements
Who
is responsible for ensuring that the data movement model complies
with standards and how will this happen? Are source system experts
involved in a review? Is there a checklist of
items that must be
completed? Are data stewards or other
subject matter
experts included in a review? Is there a data movement
center of excellence
that should be included in a review? Is a formal review of the
source to target
mapping documents included in the project quality management plan?
Information
usage requirements Is there a checklist of
items that must be
completed for information usage requirements? Are business owners and/or
data stewards
included in a review? Is a peer review of the
dimensional model
review included in the QA plan? Is a use feedback session
part of the project quality management plan? Is a formal sign-off part of
the process?
Functional
and non-functional requirements Who
has ownership for certifying that functional and non-functional
requirements are in sufficient detail to commence architecture and
design? Are the business owner
and data
architect included in a formal review?
Requirements
management plan What is the process to
ensure quality of the
requirements management plan? Are
review/checkpoints and a checklist for completing requirements
traceability and satisfaction of requirements included in the quality
assurance plan? What is the process to
prevent requirements
changing without approval?
Information
management requirements specification What is the
review/checkpoint for the
information management requirements specification? Is it a “big-bang” review or
are many
mini-reviews scheduled? Is there a formal sign-off
process? What is the process for
ensuring that changes
do not occur, after base line, without a change request/approval
process?
Architecture
document Who is responsible for
ensuring quality of the
architecture document? What is the
review/checkpoint process? Is there a pre-defined
quality checklist?
Database
design
Who
is responsible for ensuring that physical
data
model complies with data model standards? Is a peer review part of the
process? Is there a checklist of
items that must be
completed? Is the DBA involved in the
review? Is there a structure and
design center of
excellence that should be included in a review?
Design
specifications Who is responsible for
ensuring quality of the
design specifications? Who is involved with reviews? Is there a pre-defined
quality checklist? What is the requirements
traceability process?
Code reviews Who is responsible for
ensuring quality of the
code? Is a formal code review part
of the quality assurance plan? Does the project schedule
have sufficient time
allocated for re-work if necessary? Is there a pre-defined
quality checklist?
Test plan Who is responsible for
ensuring quality of the
test cases and test scripts? Are quality assurance test
cases based on design
specifications? Are architects and designers
involved in
reviews? Are user
acceptance test cases and test scripts built from
requirements specifications? What process will ensure
that we are not
testing for things that are not requirements? What process will ensure
that we test for all
requirements?
Project
phase quality
The project quality management plan should also document the process
for
documentation review/sign-off and approval for the end of each
phase—It should identify phase entrance/exit criteria and
the process that will be followed to ensure criteria have been met.
How can
we reduce project time required for reviews?
Consider
some form of project collaboration tool such as Net Meeting, WebEx,
Acrobat.com, Instant Messenger, etc--This way, everyone involved with
the review can work at their desk and focus on the specific items being
reviewed--I have found it a lot
easier for team members to follow review items on a
computer screen than on hard-copy material.
Summary...
Project quality management is an ongoing process. The quality assurance
plan is part of a project implementation plan and
describes the review/checkpoint process that will be followed to ensure
that the management information solution satisfies requirements and
complies with standards and best practices.
This planning must
be completed early in the project and sufficient time
should be allocated in the project schedule for the reviews.
describes the review/checkpoint process that will be followed to ensure
that the management information solution 
Is a peer review part of the
process?