Effort Engineering Quarter

Quality Assurance Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the first of four lectures of Effort Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise discovery, or, in other words, to concepts related to obtaining data needed to administer the enterprise effort; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Outline

The predecessor lecture is Controlling Quarter.

Concepts

• Total quality management. A philosophy of management that is driven by continuous improvement and responsiveness to customer needs and expectations.
• Quality assurance (QA). (1) The process of evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards. (2) The organizational unit that is assigned responsibility for quality assurance.
• Unit production. The production of items in units or small batches.
• Slack time. The amount of time an individual activity can be delayed without delaying the whole project.
• Six Sigma. A quality program designed to reduce defects and help lower costs, save time, and improve customer satisfaction.
• Operational plan. A plan that encompasses a particular operational area of the organization.
• Process consultation. A meeting in which a consultant assists a client in understanding process events with which he or she must deal and identifying processes that need improvement.
• Process production. The production of items in continuous process.
• Process conflict. Conflict over how work gets done.
• Process conflict. A conflict over how work gets done.
• Specific plan. A plan that is clearly defined and leaves no room for interpretation.
• Standing plan. An ongoing plan that provides guidance for activities performed repeatedly.
• Short-term plan. A plan covering one year or less.
• Single-use plan. A one-time plan specifically designed to meet the needs of a unique situation.
• Budget. A numerical plan for allocating resources to specific activities.
• Budgeting. The process of allocating resources to pay for designated future costs.
• Directional plan. A plan that is flexible and sets out general guidelines.
• Formal planning department. A group of planning specialists whose sole responsibility is helping to write organizational plans.
• Long-term plan. A plan with a time frame beyond three years.
• Planning. Management function that involves setting goals, establishing strategies for achieving those goals, and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities.
• Planning. A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities.
• Zero-balance budgeting. Process starting with an established point of zero rather than using the current budget as the basis for adding, modifying, or subtracting resources.

Practices

The successor lecture is Operations Management Quarter.