Quality management might sound like the fluffy side of project management but, trust me, it is not. In fact, with so many cases in the news of phones exploding while charging or trains which ended up being too wide to fit existing platforms, just to mention a few examples, one can easily appreciate the real importance of proper quality management in projects!
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The tricky aspect of quality is that, just as value, it tends to lie in the eyes of the beholder, that is, it is subjective and very often difficult to measure. However, this is not to say that it should be neglected or fast-tracked when planning and executing a project. Quite the opposite. It is because of the different interpretations of quality that it should be addressed carefully and documented as explicitly as possible by the project manager in the project’s Quality Management Plan.
What is a quality management plan QMP?
The Quality Management Plan is a comprehensive document which details how quality is going to be covered by and in the project, including the acceptance criteria for the project’s deliverables. It determines quality policies and procedures relevant to the project for both project deliverables and project processes, defines who is responsible for what, and documents compliance and tailoring required to fit the characteristics of the project. It is also in this document, that the approach for quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control are defined.
A Quality Management Plan will typically contain:
Quality Planning
Definition of Project Quality
Project Quality Measurement
Assessments, Reviews & Audits
Project Quality Improvement
Quality Monitoring and Control
Corrective Actions
Quality Schedule
Quality Management Roles and Responsibilities
Quality Management Processes
Quality Management Standards & Procedures
Quality Management Methods, Tools & Techniques
Quality Planning
This section identifies which quality standards are relevant to the project and how they will be satisfied by the project. It also lists the quality metrics that will be used, including the acceptance criteria for project deliverables and product performance.
Definition of Project Quality
To make quality a construct as objective as possible, this section identifies quality standards and expectations for customers, the project, and the organization, ensuring that the customer and project success criteria are clear to all involved.
Project Quality Measurement
Describes how quality will be determined and measured, including desired metrics and related monitoring processes to measure quality standards. Additionally, explains how data for measurements is going to be collected as well as the time frame for measurement and metrics reporting.
Assessments, Reviews & Audits
Identifies the product reviews, process audits, and other assessments that will be conducted during the project’s life cycle to ensure quality objectives and standards are met. It should be clearly defined how these reviews are triggered, to what frequency they should be performed, and who is expected to be involved.
Project Quality Improvement
Based on quality data obtained, this section documents opportunities for improvement to eliminate gaps between current and desired levels of performance regarding quality management.
Quality Monitoring and Control
as important as to plan quality, is to monitor it and identify the controlling actions that will be conducted to re mediate quality gaps throughout the project’s life.
Corrective Actions
Following from the previous point, the project management team should define the process and procedures by which anomalies and problems will be recorded, tracked, resolved, and reported. Likewise, the process for identification, communication and implementations of corrective actions should be documented here.
Quality Schedule
Provides a schedule of quality reviews and other quality activities planned for the project, which should be appropriately integrated into the overall Project Schedule.
Quality Management Roles and Responsibilities
Defines the primary roles and responsibilities of the project team regarding quality management. These activities can include mentoring or coaching, auditing work products, auditing processes, participating in project reviews, among others.
Quality Management Processes
Provides a summary of how the project quality will be managed, including changes to the baseline. This step is often presented as a workflow diagram.
Quality Management Processes
Quality Management Standards & Procedures
Should there be any organizational quality standards and procedures, these should be mentioned here, including any tailoring applied to suit the project.
Quality Management Methods, Tools & Techniques
Should there be any particular methods, tools and techniques that are recommended or mandatory for this project, this is the place to list them.
The Quality Management Plan is part of the planning phase of the project and should not be completed in isolation. Remember that quality is often subjective, hence, the earlier you can involve the project stakeholders in this exercise, capture their perception of quality, and translate it into quality acceptance criteria, the better chances of success you have!
As William Foster very well said “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” The same applies to projects – the quality of the project depends on you.
The global standard for a traffic light is that red means stop, and green means go. Due to this, the inherent conditioning is that red is bad, green is good, and orange is somewhere in between. Red usually denotes that there is a problem in the information which is presented, green that it is on track, and orange that it is at risk. These colors are used in many reports, Excel allows these colors to be used in its reports, in order to help the viewers focus on the problematic (red) areas. We can do these excel traffic light usingConditional Formatting in excel, which allows the user to customize the parameters for the colors.
In order to use the traffic lights in an Excel table, the following steps are required –
Step 1 : Insert Values into Excel Table
Insert the numbers into the Excel table, along with all the other relevant information. For example: the number of truck sales in 2016 by the sales people of a car dealership. Column A includes the names of the sales people, and column B the numbers of trucks they sold in 2016 –
Excel Table for Traffic lights in Excel
Step 2 : Conditional Formatting in Excel
Choose the numbers in column B (without the header), and click on “Home -> Conditional Formatting -> Icon Sets” and then choose the traffic lights icons –
Conditional Formatting Excelfor Traffic Light
Step 3 : Traffic Lights in Excel
Once this is completed, the default traffic lights will appear next to the numbers in column B. The default parameters for the traffic lights are –
The top 33% of the numbers (67% and up) have the Greentraffic light next to them.
The middle 34% of the numbers (less than 67% but more than 33) have the Yellow light next to them.
The bottom 33% of the numbers have the Red light next to them.
Default Excel Traffic Light
Customizing the Traffic Lights in Excel
Choose all the numbers in column B (without the header), and click on “Home -> Conditional Formatting -> Manage Rules”. The following menu will appear –
Conditional Formatting Excel Traffic Light
Setting Up the Rules for Conditional Formatting
Click on the “Icon Set” so that it is colored in blue as in the picture above, and then click on the “Edit Rule” button. The following menu will appear –
Conditional Formatting ExcelRules
In the top half of the menu (“Select a Rule Type”) leave the default as is (“Format all cells based on their values”). In the bottom half of the menu the following customization can be made –
The “Format Style” mustn’t change from the default “Icon Sets”, otherwise the traffic lights will disappear.
Clicking on the “Reverse Icon Order” button will cause the red light to appear at the top row, and the green one at the bottom. If the rest of the parameters stay the same, then the top third numbers will be red, and the bottom third green (no change to the yellow numbers).
The “Icon Style” drop-down menu allows the user to change the appearance of the lights. There are many icons to choose from.
Ticking the “Show Icon Only” box will cause the numbers to disappear from column B, and only the traffic lights will appear in the column.
Setting up the Parameters in Traffic Lights
Changing the parameters of the traffic lights requires in the bottom section of the menu, under “Display each icon according to these rules” –
Each Icon can be changed by choosing one from the drop down menu In the greater than or equal to drop down menu it is possible to choose whether either “>=” or only “>”.
In the “Value” field the parameter for which the first icon will appear can be chosen.
In the “Type” drop down menu there are 4 possible parameters to choose from – Number: An absolute number. Percent: The top X% of all of the numbers in the column. Formula: This requires writing a formula, and the numbers which meet the requirements of the formula will have a traffic light next to them. Percentile: Only the numbers which will be included in the percentile chosen will have a traffic light next to them.
For example: if the first icon is a green traffic light (the default) and the following parameters are chosen: “>=”, the value field is “200” and the type is “Number” then all of the numbers in column B which are 200 or above will have the green traffic light next to them.
Parameters in Excel Traffic Light
Best Practices for Creating Excel Traffic Light
Best Practice to Create Excel Traffic Light
If only one table appears in the spreadsheet, and the parameters apply to all of it, it is recommended to choose “This Worksheet” in the drop-down menu (after clicking on “Home -> Conditional Formatting -> Manage Rules”. This will ensure that all of the values in the table will adhere to the same parameters.
Try and limit the number of icon sets to one per spreadsheet.
The lights are dynamic, so changing the numbers in the column may cause the traffic light to change automatically.
You have defined the strategy and objectives of your Project Management Office (PMO). You have assembled a team to implement it. You even wrote a PMO Charter. You are ready to go and start changing the complex and dynamic universe of projects in your organization. You have plenty of work to do, would love start issuing nice monthly portfolio dashboards right away and seeing stuff happen in your PMO. You can feel the smell of change in the air. This is a serious moment, the PMO is ready to kick-off.
Running a PMO kick-off meeting might sound like a light and fluffy thing to do, however it a powerful way to get people’s attention to the PMO and ensure that expectations are aligned regarding what the PMO is, why it is needed, and how it is going to work. It is critical not to neglect it or rush it.
In fact, several reports claim that many PMOs fail in achieving their objectives due to lack of sponsorship and there are still many cases of abandoned PMOs because of poor engagement with their user community. So, although you might be in a hurry to show your PMO-love, get it off to a good start first with a PMO kick-off meeting. It is a fantastic opportunity for the PMO management team to start building relationships with project teams and other stakeholders. After all, no one destroys what one helps to build, right?
What is for PMO kick off meeting?
Implementing a PMO is no easy-peasy work. Yet, with a quick but effective PMO kick-off meeting you can leverage a range of benefits to support the PMO implementation:
Get everyone on the same page: present the PMO. No misunderstandings, no “I-have-no-idea-what-this-PMO-thing-is” anymore. With a kick-meeting, attendees gain a clear view on the objectives, scope, and services provided by the PMO.
Gain sponsorship and commitment: it’s easier to gain sponsorship for the PMO’s work and commitment from the team when roles and responsibilities are explicit and visible to all.
Build momentum for work to start: when you walk out of the kick-off meeting, visibility of the PMO is at an all-time high. Make use of it to keep the ball running.
Get the PMO team energised on the work ahead: by bringing the team together and sharing the PMO vision and roadmap as a team, a PMO kick-off meeting enables the creation of a cohesive, successful, high-performing PMO team.
OK, I’m convinced but When should I do it?
As early as possible. Make no mistake: your first challenge will be to find a date (and likely a meeting room available) that works for everyone, so try to schedule the kick-off meeting while you are still working on your PMO Charter, allowing yourself enough time for preparation. The PMO Kick-off meeting marks the start of the PMO implementation project hence you will want to make it right and ensure as much attendance as possible.
Right, and Who to invite for PMO Kick off meeting?
This will much depend on your organizational structure, however, it is advisable to have at least the PMO Sponsor, the PMO team who is going to carry out the work, and representatives from the different user groups, such as Change Management, Resource Management, Finance, Project Managers, and other areas of the Business deemed relevant. In summary, anyone who can fit the role of “PMO’s client”.
What to cover in the PMO Kick Off Meeting Agenda?
A PMO implementation should be taken as seriously as any other project, meaning that the kick-off meeting requires preparation and a structured agenda. A great kick-off is always the result of great preparation. An example of an agenda is:
Introductions and Setting the Scene: what is the context for the PMO implementation?
PMO Vision and Objectives: what do we aim to achieve?
PMO Benefits: why are we doing this?
PMO Scope: what are we doing?
PMO Roadmap: how are we going to make this happen?
PMO Team Roles and Responsibilities: who is doing what?
PMO Communication Plan: how are we going to communicate our progress?
PMO Ground Rules: how are we going to work together?
Next Steps: how do we keep momentum?
Some final Hints and Tips
Make it brief but exciting: no one likes long boring meetings. Try to keep the entire kick-off meeting as brief but impactful as possible. Usually, 1 to 2 hours is enough.
Focus on the big picture: establishing clarity and excitement among the PMO team and stakeholders is your mission for the kick-off. Don’t worry too much about the details at this stage, you’ll have plenty of time after the meeting, when the party starts.
Don’t be afraid to answer questions: allow sufficient time at the end of the meeting for participants to pose questions. It is important that people feel comfortable and are clear on what was presented during the meeting.
Summarize key points and finish with a smile: do a quick recap focusing on the important points and close the meeting in a positive and enthusiastic way. Give people a reason to talk about the PMO implementation even after they leave the meeting room.
Big journeys start with simple steps and by investing the necessary time in preparing the best PMO kick-off meeting ever, you can set a winning course and tone for the rest of the PMO implementation project. After all, the PMO kick-off meeting is much more than a ceremony, it’s your opportunity to shine and get everyone excited about the PMO, do not waste it!
The One Page Project Manager Excel Template helps a project manager to manage projects with a single page. The one page project manager covers the task tracking, maintain key dates, task meter, resource load, to do for the PMs, risk and issues tracking. The template has been designed to fit into one excel sheet and easy to print. Other important KPI have also been designed to be visible easily.
Each task has a owner, start date, end date, actual completion, forecast completion and status.
All the columns marked in blue are auto populated so should not be changed.
The task tracker calculates the Forecast % complete based on task start date, end date and duration.
Based on the Actual and Forecast the status is populated.
If the task is on track or ahead then the status is green. If the task is less than 5% behind then the task is marked amber. If the task is lagging behind for more than 5% then the status is marked red.
Always copy the previous task to create a new task. Update only the columns marked in yellow. On a day to day basis update the Actual % completion.
Milestones, Task Meter and Resource Workload View
Milestones and Key dates section allows tracking of key dates and milestones. Each date has a due date and status indicator which will indicate on track, concern and delayed.
The Task Meter displays shows the on track, concern and delayed. The graph gets the data from the task tracker status.
The Resource Work Loaddisplays the work allocated to each resource in days. The resource work load graph also gets the data from task tracker.
Task Meter and Resource Work Load
Concerns, Actions and Change Requests Section
This section allows tracking of risks and issues within the Top 5 Concerns.
Each concern has a owner and status which can be On Track, Concern or Delayed.
The Open Actions and Change Requests allows tracking of action items and change requests.
Each action item and change request has a owner and status which can be On Track, Concern or Delayed.
Statistics can be cruel: according to several studies, most Project Management Offices (PMOs) are shut down just after 3 to 4 years after their implementation. While many reasons can lead to this scenario, a poor PMO start-up is typically one of the main root causes.
Just like projects, the front-end activities of a PMO implementation are critical to its success, laying the foundation for what to expect from the PMO going forward. In fact, most of the challenges that can later determine the life expectancy of a PMO arise from the very beginning of its establishment, such as:
Poor sponsorship
Unclear need for a PMO
Unclear objectives
Lack of direction for the PMO
Poor visibility over the PMO performance
Unclear roles and responsibilities
Lack of awareness of what the PMO is and does
Poor recognition of the PMO’s value
No wonder that the first stages of the PMO setup are so important!
Creating a PMO from scratch can be a hard-working task, I know, and it should be emphasised that no PMO is created equal, they are all different. However, while there is no magical pill or recipe that you can follow to guarantee the PMO success, there are acknowledged steps or best practices that can guide you, like the importance of having a PMO’s catalogue of services or identifying the key performance indicators that are going to be used to measure and demonstrate the PMO’s value.
Based on this set of recognized best practices, we have developed a PMO Starter Kit to help you setting up your PMO in the right direction and equipping you with a fighting chance. That’s right, we have done all the paperwork for you, ready to be used in your new PMO!
PMO Life cycle and PMO Starter Kit
The PMO Starter Kit aims to assist you in answering the following key questions and in building a solid foundation for your greenfield PMO:
PMO Life Cycle
Addressing the PMO implementation as a project on its own and covering the PMO life cycle, the PMO Implementation Starter Kit includes templates for:
PMO Implementation Timeline: a great visual tool to communicate with your stakeholders and understand how far you are in your PMO implementation project
PMO Business Case: all you need to justify the need for a PMO before the business, with a view on anticipated costs and benefits resulting from the PMO implementation
PMO Charter:PMO charter is a key document that clarifies the PMO objectives and scope and formalizes the existence of the PMO in the organization
PMO Service Catalogue: document the menu of services that the PMO will be able to offer to the project management community
PMO Stakeholder Plan: remember that your PMO was created to serve someone – identify who these individuals are and how you are going to manage their expectations
PMO Roles: as important as the PMO’s functions are the competencies of the PMO’s team
PMO Roadmap: to be successful, your PMO needs to understand where it is and where it wants to be, that is, its roadmap
PMO Action Plan: this useful checklist will ensure that nothing will fall through the bricks and that all key aspects are being covered in the PMO’s implementation
PMO KPI Dashboard: measuring the performance of the PMO is as important as measuring the performance of the portfolio of projects and this tool will assist you to do just that
PMO Communication Plan: most PMOs fail not because they are not delivering value but because they are not communicating it well enough, so we have prepared a plan to address this frequent problem too
PMO Kick-off Meeting: congratulations, initiation and planning activities are completed, and you are ready to kick-off the PMO. Let’s do this!
By using our set of pre-defined templates – which should be tailored as required, by the way - you can save time and focus on what really matters when setting up a PMO: managing relationships and start building the necessary PMO buy-in from the different stakeholder groups!
Don’t get me wrong: having appropriate templates is useful but it is just the beginning and a small part of what is involved in the establishment of a PMO. There’s much to be done, from coaching project teams to recruit the PMO team to create scheduling guidelines, so be brave and do not address the PMO implementation’s project lightly. It may sound daunting in the beginning, but you will later be happy that you didn’t fast-track these steps – after all, would you live in a house whose foundation was built in a hurry?
You have the tools and you have the mindset – now go and build the best PMO ever built!
Good luck and keep us posted of your journey, we would love to hear from you.
Excel Free Project Management Templates Over 100+ Download
Techno-PM is a rich source of free project management templates. We have templates for all the phases of a project lifecycle. Using our free templates, a project manager can give a jump to start to their projects. Our project management templates have been designed based on years of experience. Though our templates are very IT or Software Projects focused they can be used for all the general projects. For example, the template Payroll Project Plan Template and SAP Project Plan template can be used any generic project. We also have a range of Excel Project Management templates which are free to use.
Our most popular excel template is One Page Project Manager. This excel template captures all the key information of project and provides a holistic view of the project. Being a project manager myself I find it very useful to have an over view of the project and in my favorite tool which is MS Excel. Another commonly downloaded template is the Excel Resource Plan Template. The excel resource plan is very tool in project management as it clearly shows which project has how many resources allocated. In line with resource another popular template in the capacity planning template which allows a project manager to easily calculate what capacity is need and when.
Project Management Templates are useful when you want a quick start to your projects. Using our templates can let a project manager to start a project with confidence.
Project Management Templates
Project Initiation Template
During initiation, you create an overview of the project as well as a strategy for securing its success.
Importance – If this phase is not handled correctly, the rest of the project management life cycle will suffer or even fail.
Roles – At the very least, you will need a project manager. You may also require other subordinate roles depending on the scope of the project.
Activities - Appoint a project manager, Appoint subordinate roles as necessary, Create the over and strategy, Decide what technology/resources will be required.
Now you must take your plan and break it down into individual steps. It is essential that you not try to attack a project all at once.
The importance – Groups often fail or fall short of their projects’ aims because they didn’t have a detailed plan of attack. Your strategy from the last step will be of no use if you don’t plot out each step of it.
Roles - Project Manager, Sponsor and key stakeholders.
Activities - Create a detailed plan that covers the aforementioned strategy from step one. Do a risk assessment of your plan. Define what criteria must be present for the result to be considered a success.
Project Plan Templates
Starting a project plan with a template allows a project manager to deliver faster and also ensure that the project plan covers all the key tasks. Here we offer simple and complex project plans in excel and MS Project.
Project management timelines provide a very convenient way of explaining the different phases in the project. A variety of tools can be used to generate project timelines. Excel, PowerPoint and MS Project provide fantastic tools to create project timelines.
Resource Management is a fundamental task in any organisation. Making optimal utilization of resources is a top priority for any organisation and its management. Types of resource management plans include basic excel plans, resource matrix, advanced resource plans, capacity planner, project, team resource and capacity planner.
Resource Capacity Planning Template Excel, Word and PPT
In this step of your project management cycle process, you are applying the detailed plan.
The importance – This is the culmination of the last two steps. Your success will come down to how well you execute your plan and remain aware of certain constraints like cost, time and performance.
Roles - Project Manager and Project Team.
Activities - Build the team, Perform the required work, Produce necessary deliverable (e.g. the credentials for success), Documents that should be delivered and This step should result in the deliverable for which your project was designed.
Task Management is an activity which can be done in projects or day to day team tasks. Here we provide templates which will help project managers and team leaders equally when it comes to task management.
Project Dashboards are a common and easy way displaying project status or issues. Types include simple, portfolio, heat map, team status, multiple and single projects, executive dashboards.
Status reports are a key part of project management. Below are the different types of status reports. Types of status report are simple and basic template, one page word, excel, PPT, monthly, team status report, MS Project Status Report, multiple project status reports.
Agile has become the norm in this time. Having a set a agile templates will help any project manager to get a head start on the projects. In our Agile Tool Kit we have Sprint planning, product backlog, dashboard, sprint capacity planning and agile project plans to start with. It is important that these templates be used after reading our basis of agile project management.
This final step can be seen as a way of preparing for the next project. You are looking back on the effectiveness of these last three steps and drawing out relevant lessons for the future.
The importance – Although it’s easy to overlook this step of the project management life cycle, it will have a huge impact on how effective your attempts are in the future. Closure is also about returning resources so that other groups are able to access them.
Roles - An administrator tasked with recording the project and any relevant lessons
Activities - Transferring deliverable to the next group or customer, Relinquishing resources to other projects/groups, Recording lessons learned for future use and Closing out any administrative elements.
Swapnil Wale founded Techno-PM in 2014 in Sydney, Australia.
Techno-PM started as a blog but in a short while has grown into a full-fledged company. Techno-PM is now a registered Australian business entity with ABN: 6361 5935 469 with a team of expert project managers and web design team.
Techno-PM offers a variety of template packages and downloads. All the templates we provide come with a detailed user guide and designed by experts.