Revising the Quality Theme
When planning your revision, run through the checklists below to see where you feel confident and where you think you should highlight a point to go through again in revision. If you already have the Foundation Certificate and are reading this book to prepare for Practitioner, still go through the Foundation list to make sure you remain up to speed on the basics, and then check out the Practitioner list in addition.
Revision checklist – Foundation
This list takes in the official syllabus for the Foundation exam, but also some other key points essential to your understanding of the theme. Don’t tick off an item unless and until you feel confident that you understand it. The items you need to grasp are:
The purpose and objective statements for the theme
The three steps in a Quality Review (QR), and the four roles
In the context of QR, the difference between a producer of a product and a presenter in the QR – the person who created a product may or may not be suitable to present it to others in a QR
The objectives of a QR, as set down in the PRINCE2 manual – in order to be able to recognise them rather than recite them from memory [Manual Quality Review Technique panels in 6.3.2.1]
How roles are combined in a minimum form of QR – one person is Chair and Reviewer, a second person is Presenter and Administrator
Quality planning and the place, content and purpose of the Quality Management Strategy
How quality planning picks up lessons from the past (Lessons Log), and the management of quality within the project then involves recording lessons learned to pass back into the organisation to contribute to continuous improvement
The difference between Customer Quality Expectations and Acceptance Criteria – the expectations tend to be a bit woolly, while the project’s Acceptance Criteria are precise and can be measured to say whether they were achieved
The tracking of quality down to the level of Product Descriptions – the sections in a Product Description that are focused on quality (the final five)
What quality control is (basically testing) and the types of quality method – ‘in-process’ and ‘appraisal’, and then within appraisal, ‘testing’ and ‘quality inspection’
The contents and purpose of the Quality Register – and the fact that it’s used to record the outcome of a QR, just like it is for any other quality action
What a Quality Management System (QMS) is in the organisation – and how this can have a bearing on setting up quality management within the project
The difference between Project Assurance and Quality Assurance
Where quality is specified in PRINCE2: the Project Product Description (PPD) within the Project Brief then in the Project Initiation Documentation (PID), the Quality Management Strategy, also in the PID, and then individual Product Descriptions. How this ‘trail’ can be followed through [Manual Figure 6.1]
Revision checklist – Practitioner
Make sure that you’re fluent with the areas in the Foundation checklist, then go through this one for additional Practitioner revision points.
The detail of the quality audit trail, to be sure that you understand every element and how the diagram goes down through the levels of the project to individual products. [Manual Figure 6.1]
The detail of interaction with the organisation’s Quality Management System (QMS)
Where quality requirements are recorded and then maintained in terms of the process model. This may be a useful list to write into your PRINCE2 manual for reference during the exam. So, to start you off: Customer Quality Expectations and project Acceptance Criteria in the Project Product Description (PPD) within the Project Brief – activity ‘Select the project approach and assemble the Project Brief’ in the process Starting Up a Project.
The detail of the Quality Management Strategy – do you understand each section in the strategy and could you spot errors in a faulty one?
Where Product Descriptions are created and used, and by whom – not forgetting the PPD and the fact that Product Descriptions can be used for management products as well as specialist (team) products.
Who does what in quality management in PRINCE2 – mostly easy, because it’s in the responsibilities table in the manual, which, of course, you can consult during the exam. Just don’t forget that it’s there. [Manual Table 6-3]