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What is the objective of using tools and techniques in Plan Quality Management?

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Tam Nguyen Annandale, Va, United States
What is the objective of using tools and techniques in Plan Quality Management?
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Tam Nguyen Annandale, Va, United States
Jul 24, 2017 9:37 AM
Replying to Mark Eckman
...
Tam,

If you are asking this question in relation to PMP exam prep, the answer may be defined or worded slightly different than if asking for practical application for a real world project. As some of our colleagues have already hit on, Quality Management tools and techniques can be specific to type of project, product, or company approach.

For PMP exam:
- Primary objective for using the Tools and Techniques in "Plan Quality Management" is to help PM and project team to determine what Quality requirements are needed for both the project and product. Also, T & T help to determine the Quality Standards that will be used throughout the project to Perform Quality Assurance and Quality Control.

- Some of those tools used when Planning Quality Management are: Checklists; Control Charts (ex: when determining upper & lower variance thresholds); Flowcharts; Benchmarking; DOE - Design of Experiments; Cost Benefit Analysis;

- It also helps to put the objective of the Tools & Techniques into perspective if you look at what the Outputs of Plan Quality Mgt. are, (what do we need to have when we have completed Planning Quality Mgt.?). Here are the outputs:
- Quality Management Plan - (subsidiary plan of the Project Management Plan)
- Quality Metrics - (to be used during project)
- Checklists
- Process Improvement Plan
- Project Management Plan & Document Updates

There are many details that define these concepts and there is not enough time or space to answer completely. Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep book paints a fairly practical summary of Quality Management and I would encourage you to take a look at this material as a starting point.
Thank you for your advice. I did buy that book. I am so confused between tools of Plan Quality Management and Tools of Perform Quality Assurance
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
The tools and techniques used in Plan Quality Management is to help you prepare a quality management plan. The tools and techniques should be mostly common across all subsidiary management plans.

When are you in Perform Quality Assurance, your tools and techniques will be about supporting your quality assurance activities, such as reviews and audits.
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Mark Eckman Senior Project Manager, PMP| Veolia Emporia, Va, United States
Tam,

You are not alone in the confusing part of differentiating between Plan Quality, Perform Quality Assurance and Perform Quality Control. In my opinion, some of the tougher questions on the PMP exam came from this knowledge area.

Understanding the key roles each of these three processes play within a project is the answer to understanding the Tools and Techniques used in each. So, in the context of the PMP exam, several things helped me to properly identify and understand what process each question was asking me about and also helped me to put the potential answers for each of those questions into context:

- Focus of each Process (Rita's book p. 273-274)
Plan Quality - (Planning Phase):
Define quality and how to ensure it / What are the standards and metrics
to follow?

Perform Quality Assurance - (Execution Phase):
Are we following the standards and doing the right things?

Perform Quality Control - (Throughout project but mainly Monitor/Control Phase):
Are we meeting the standards that have been set?

- Know situational context (see tip on p. 289, Rita's book)
- If question is looking forward in time, most likely a planning function or tool.
- If question is looking back in time at project results, most likely a quality
control function or tool.
- If question is looking back in time at a standard, most likely a quality assurance
function or tool.

- Practical exercises on Tools & Techniques used in each process
(P. 288 - 291 in Rita's book)
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