Quality Assurance / Quality Control Plan

Transcription

1 Quality Assurance / Quality Control Plan

2 Table of Contents MANAGEMENT APPROACH... 3 SUBCONTRACT MANAGEMENT... 3 QUALITY MANAGEMENT APPROACH... 3 METHODOLOGY... 4 CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS... 5 QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND QUALITY ASSURANCE... 6 QUALITY ASSURANCE TEAM... 7 QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCEDURES... 7 PROCEDURES FOR CONTROL OF TASK... 8 Procedures for Monitoring, Measurement and Validation of Processes, Products, and Services... 8 Method for Identifying and Preventing Deficiencies... 8 Noncompliance Procedure... 9 Management Commitment... 9 Planning... 9 EDC QA/QC Plan Page 2

3 MANAGEMENT APPROACH Our management processes are designed to ensure our Program Manager, Task Leads, and staff personnel have the tools to effectively control and execute the mission. A key tool that we use to manage and ensure the performance of all required tasks and subtasks in accordance with SOW requirements is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). We develop the WBS after analyzing the SOW requirements, supporting documentation, and employing our extensive construction experience to identify major work areas, the functions required to effectively meet work requirements, and all specified and implied supporting tasks and subtasks. This process provides our functional leads and their subordinate personnel a sequential checklist of the tasks and subtasks required to ensure outstanding client support. The WBS is a living document that can be modified as required to add/modify tasks and subtasks to improve execution of SOW requirements. The WBS provides both corporate and site management personnel a detailed template for the execution of actions, to include subcontractor performance requirements, necessary to meet all customer requirements. It has the added value of serving as an excellent tool for developing job descriptions, conducting performance evaluations, and conducting refresher/cross training to improve employee performance. The WBS also serves as an important element of the Quality Management Plan because it provides management and quality personnel a tool for conducting scheduled and unscheduled quality control evaluations. In this way, we can rapidly identify potential problems in our performance and take immediate corrective action to address the problem. SUBCONTRACT MANAGEMENT Our subcontract management plan will ensure that our partners, specialty subcontractors and selected vendors perform work and services to best support the Client end-state. Our partners and specialty subcontractors will be evaluated on a quarterly basis to ensure their performance and commitments to execution are fully met. Corrective Actions Plans will be created and monitored to ensure that all concerns have been addressed. QUALITY MANAGEMENT APPROACH In order to effectively manage and deliver results, a quality management system is required to identify quality requirements and standards for the program and its deliverables to demonstrate compliance and achieving contract objectives. Our approach provides a basis to effectively and efficiently evaluate the exceptional quality of our performance. This plan supports the oversight required to ensure that service levels, performance standards and acceptable quality levels are achieved and maintained. We anticipate working with Clients feedback to periodically refine the QCP quantitatively and qualitatively over the life of the vehicle as the customer s mission, EDC QA/QC Plan Page 3

4 priorities or policy changes necessitate the addition, modification, or elimination of one or more requirements. EDC Global LLC recognizes the importance of using measures and metrics to manage contract performance; make timely, quantifiable decisions and to proactively identify long-term trends and emerging issues. Programmatic and technical metrics provide the insight to assess the health of a contract and identify areas that may require additional oversight and resources. Clear, objective and actionable measures provide the means for monitoring progress and to deliver exceptional results. Our focus is on outcomes rather than outputs, measuring effectiveness (doing the right things) and efficiency (doing things right) to achieve customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements. EDC Global will partner with Client stakeholders to meet contract requirements through collaborative performance assessment, a culture of quality, and a relentless pursuit of operating excellence. Using a comprehensive Quality Assurance Program (QAP), we ensure that customer requirements and performance indicators remain top priority throughout the life of a task. Our plan provides a basis to effectively and efficiently manage the program. This plan supports the oversight required to ensure that service levels, performance standards and acceptable quality levels are achieved and maintained. We anticipate working with the customer and obtaining their feedback to periodically refine the plan quantitatively and qualitatively over the life of the contract, priorities or policy changes necessitate the addition, modification, or elimination of one or more requirements. Our approach to quality management for the Client will focus on the main principles of Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Our Quality Manager, Allan Acuvera, will instill a quality mindset across the entire team through initial briefings, participation in quality events, and communication with each staff member. Our team will ensure that quality is not a buzz word, but in fact a part of our culture. EDC Global will ensure all members of the team are fully trained in the overall Quality Assurance process implemented to support the Client. Furthermore, we will make sure all stakeholders are provided sufficient training and are notified of any modification of these methodologies throughout the duration of the contract. METHODOLOGY The primary objective of the Quality Management System (QMS) is the delivery of quality services and solutions that meet and exceed contract requirements within cost, performance, and schedule commitments. EDC s use of effective processes, tools, measures and metrics reporting will provide insight to assess the program s compliance and effectiveness. We collaborate with stakeholders to define success, identifying the Critical Success Factors (CSF) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in business EDC QA/QC Plan Page 4

5 related terms. The CSFs and KPIs provide a clear line of sight from the business objective to measurable results. We will develop our initial candidate set of results-based performance measures which are based upon a SMART methodology (Figure ) for developing actionable measures. We will document the monitoring and surveillance results on a monthly basis to assess compliance with performance objectives and standards. SMART Methodology Specific Clear, focused, understandable Measurable Objective Independently verifiable No adverse impact to process Actionable Easy to understand Target performance changes Indicate trends Motivate process improvements Drive actions to align with goals Relevant Manageable Appropriate to requirements Measure only important things Keeps expenditures reasonable Timely Available when needed Measure regularly Measure recent events Provide actionable information Figure 1. SMART Methodology. SMART is used to define metrics that provide meaningful measurements to ensure quality. CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS Our implementation approach to providing metrics-based management utilizes the Stabilize -Optimize - Transform - Outcome best practice (Figure 1) to increase productivity, provide systems management automation and implement best practices while returning lower cost, reliability, and availability of systems without incurring operational downtime. The goal is to provide visibility of the reliability and availability of specified items within each task with the intent to improve overall performance. Stabilize: Established sets of processes and procedures, to demonstrate effective program implementation and control. EDC QA/QC Plan Page 5

6 Optimize: We will continuously study industry best practices, review SOP s and process diagrams, and update physical infrastructure drawings or documentation. Our goal is to improve operational efficiency and service delivery by identifying and implementing changes to those services where improvement is required, cost effective, low-risk and that ensure no disruption to production. Transform: In concert with the customer, we will implement changes to enhance operations to improve performance and reduce overall operations costs. The objective of metrics based management is not reporting performance, rather it is to develop a system of measures and metrics that are predictive in nature, provide timely alerts, and support a rapid return to service to deliver highly available services. Outcome: Ensuring outcomes received through our delivery system which is predictable and consistent with our performance standard. Any anomalies or nonconformances are monitored to ensure that any negative trending is addressed, in addition to capitalizing on opportunities/benefits that will improve EDC Global s performance. Figure 2: Metric-based Management Approach. EDC Global s utilization of Client resources will provide a proactive approach to improve processes across the program. QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND QUALITY ASSURANCE The Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) is an integral part of service delivery, and is subject to regularly scheduled audits to assess its effectiveness to measure the degree of conformity of services with defined customer requirements. We routinely re-evaluate EDC QA/QC Plan Page 6

7 processes and where necessary, evaluate new solutions to better monitor, track, and alert our support staff of performance. QUALITY ASSURANCE TEAM Our Quality Assurance Team will consist of representative from each work area. Through the inclusion of EDC personnel, we instill the importance of the quality management of the program and demonstrate the importance of each person on the program. Below are descriptions of the roles played by members of the QA team. QA Team Roles Responsibilities Quality Assurance Lead Task Leads Contract Management and Technical Staff Conduct external review of QAP. Submit reports to management for review and action. Review completed Corrective Action Requests for completeness and effectiveness. Comply with audit schedule provided by LM Senior Program Management. Designated Corrective Action Leads (CAL) and report to the onsite PM. Monitor progress of corrective and/or preventive action requests. Generate reports of Corrective Action Requests. Follow documented procedures for performing work to meet customer requirements. Complete and submit any checklists used during the performance of work to meet customer requirements. Follow procedure to report any noncompliance of the quality management system that affects the quality of service or product. Be subject to audits of work methods and procedures. Work to resolve assigned corrective action requests. Participate in continual improvement efforts, as directed Figure Quality Team roles and responsibilities. Our Quality team ensures that EDC is continuously improving our organization processes, deliverables and maintaining customer satisfaction. QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCEDURES EDC will meet with Client stakeholders to gather information that will allow us to identify and develop procedures and metrics to describe all work performed to meet customer requirements. The procedures, checklists and performance measures are subject to audit where appropriate to monitor quality output. EDC s QCM is responsible for meeting with Client Project Management at least monthly to review our quality standards and reassess the nature of any or all KPIs and CSFs. Documentation will be EDC QA/QC Plan Page 7

8 ongoing to reflect changes and/or improvements in processes and procedures. PROCEDURES FOR CONTROL OF TASK Task specific procedures are written to control selected production and service processes, information, instructions, equipment, measurements, and activities to ensure consistent, repeatable processes for all work that affects quality. Procedures for Monitoring, Measurement and Validation of Processes, Products, and Services Our procedures ensure the elimination or correction of nonconformance to prevent unintended delivery or use, and require re-verification that nonconformance is corrected before subsequent delivery or use. Following the requirements defined in the SOW, support activities are defined with criteria of expected performance. Upon coordination with Client, our process will establish several methods of providing and analyzing sample data or service regularly for the specified acceptable performance levels for identified objectives. Depending upon the deliverable or requirement under review our procedures may involve: Strong Configuration Management Peer Reviews Test and Evaluation Independent Validation and Verification End to End Verification Method for Identifying and Preventing Deficiencies At determined intervals (daily, weekly or monthly) we sample a percentage of deliverables and/or services and perform measurements in accordance with identified performance requirements. When performance falls below the acceptable level, a Corrective Action Request (CAR) will be completed and routed to the responsible EDC manager for mitigation. EDC Global will leverage a wide array of quality techniques such as Ishikawa diagramming, flowcharts, checklist, Pareto diagrams and other tools to ascertain the underlying cause of the defect. Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is performed for each CAR, and QA intervention will be formally documented and archived. Where applicable, specific performance measures will be identified in coordination with Client stakeholders. Resolutions to CARs follow one or more of the following approaches: Root Cause Analysis to determine reason for the nonconformity. Corrective action(s) taken to return the product or service to an acceptable level such as: a) Review and revision of the procedure or process if necessary b) Training or re-training employees in the procedure and the expected level of performance c) Discipline of the employee, if warranted Preventive action taken to eliminate possible reoccurrence of the nonconformity, such as the establishment of an appropriate control or checkpoint EDC QA/QC Plan Page 8

9 Noncompliance Procedure If nonconformance is detected during the monitoring of a product or service, a procedure is followed to formally document the nonconformance, and assign to management for RCA and resolution. The status of nonconformance is tracked and reported. A procedure is developed to identify and study the effects of potential nonconformance and develop preventive action to eliminate potential causes of nonconformance. Records of corrective and preventive actions are maintained and reviewed. The Corrective Action Request (CAR) includes the following: A description of the nonconformance The procedure, process or standard that was compromised The responsible manager or task lead assigned to resolve the CAR The results of the RCA The action taken to correct, prevent or other resolve the CAR The re-audit of the employee, process or procedure to evaluate the effectiveness of the action taken to prevent reoccurrence Management Commitment The Quality Assurance Team establishes standards and measurements. These standards apply to products and services (including those provided by suppliers and subcontractors), structure systems for controlling and monitoring adherence to the prescribed criteria, and identify adverse trends to management. Program Management works closely with the Quality Assurance team and evaluates the corrective action process to assure problems are adequately identified, documented, and closed. In support of the QA team, Program Management is responsible for elevating, to higher levels of management, the identification of problems that are not being acted upon or resolved in a timely manner. This action initiates immediate corrective action by the QA lead with the full support and oversight of program management. The results of such actions are documented and provided to COR for evaluation. Along with the QA Lead, the PM is responsible for quality of products by ensuring the company processes are properly implemented. This includes monitoring, sampling and witnessing task execution processes to ensure quality control procedures are correctly followed, and selectively assessing the process to ensure adherence to contract requirements. Planning Our Quality Control Manager (QCM) supports our SMART Methodology, by helping to establish the plans, standards, and procedures that will add value to the program needed to satisfy the constraints and organization policies. By incorporating quality assurance into the planning stages of a task, we ensure our methodologies are the foundation of all work performed moving forward. Our QCM, with the support of program management, will review and incorporate the requirements of the SOW and other requirements documentation, as well as assist in the development of a master schedule which will serve as a checklist of the tasks necessary to meet the government s requirements on time and within budget. Our QCM will review and audit the work products and activities to verify that processes EDC QA/QC Plan Page 9

10 and procedures are feasible, strong, and repeatable and are compliant to contractual requirements and industry best practices. The QCM provides the program management (government) with the results of the reviews and audits and also participates in the ongoing process improvement activities. EDC QA/QC Plan Page 10