7.5. The Perform Quality Assurance process

Quality assurance refers to the process of auditing and analyzing established quality requirements and process results to ensure that appropriate and valid quality standards and operational definitions are in place. The term refers to the systematic and planned activities implemented to provide confidence to all stakeholders—particularly the customers, share holders, and the organization's management—that all processes established to for successful project execution are in place and comply to applicable quality standards. Continuous improvement activities form part of quality assurance initiatives. The primary output of the Perform Quality Assurance process (Figure 7.8) is the quality management plan.

7.5.1. Quality Audits

A quality audit is the task of systematic examination of the effectiveness of a quality system carried out by a quality auditor or an audit team and is the key engine of a quality system. It is generally a scheduled task. Results of quality audits, along with quality control reports, form the basis of measuring the functioning of a quality assurance system.