Connecting Practice

Below are some lists of quality reviews that typically are used to help build, measure quality, and prevent defects of work, product, service, and/or process deliverables.

Expert Review. Work, product, service, and/or process deliverables are reviewed by QA member who is considered have expert knowledge in the area to check the accuracy of content. This includes finding and correcting defects in the development of the process. Example: To ensure the information is accurate and well constructed prior to submission to project sponsor and client, the QA member needs to deliver Preliminary Business Case by performing Expert Review using the Template for Business Case and Approved Business Case for the Project.

Self-Checking Review. A self-checking review is usually the initial quality inspection for a task, and it may be the only one. The QA member who performs the task checks correctness, completeness, consistency, and conformance to quality standards and fulfillment of quality criteria.

Peer review. Co-workers carry out the peer review of work, product, service, and/or process structure to check quality, spread experience, and communicate ideas and approaches. They check the output of the task, make constructive suggestions, and take the opportunity to learn. Example: To review the final draft for completeness and construction, one needs to perform Peer Review of final draft.

Multi-person Review. A review carried out independently by several QA members to gain agreement between different stakeholders. Meeting or workshop is carried out to resolve differences and reach agreement.

Walk-through – A useful technique to validate both the content and structure of a deliverable, identify potential problems, uncover inconsistencies, find defects, and educate the audience. It encourages critical analysis and is therefore effective for design reviews. Thus, material should be circulated in advance. If particular participants have not done their homework, they should be excluded from this activity. Example: To review early draft for completeness, QA member needs to deliver Project Definition by performing Walk-through of early draft using the Template for Project Definition.

Workshop. Workshop brings stakeholders together with key developers and a professional facilitator to collectively define, analyze, or review solutions. They can be an effective way to build in and verify quality.

Formal review. The project manager or project team holds formal reviews with the project sponsor and client to obtain agreement on an issue or acceptance of work, product, service, and/or process. The contract sometimes specifies the scheduling and content of formal reviews. Typically, they are held on completion of a milestone. Example: To ensure the Business Case is in a fit state to be submitted to the Finance Review Committee, QA member needs to deliver Final Business Case by performing the Formal Inspection using the Template for Business Case.

Standard Audit. Carried out by QA member who is only focused on ensuring the deliverable meets a particular standard(s) and specification(s). That is, it focuses on compliance with the standard(s) and specification(s). It should be planned and implemented during each phase of the project.

Formal Inspection. A review of a deliverable by an inspector who would typically be external to the project team. The inspector captures statistics on suspected defects. It is a useful technique for use with documentation.

Process Review. A review of existing quality Processes in an organization that determines whether the existing quality processes are being followed and achieving the desired results, all necessary procedures and actions are being undertaken, and information is being recorded. Process Review is usually conducted by Project Office or Internal Audit who are independent from the project team. Moreover, it is appropriate to have processes reviewed for quality once the project is initially established. This may be useful to give the project sponsor and client a level of confidence in the team.

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