Quality Built In into Projects Project Quality Gates May 2011

Quality Built In into ProjectsProject Quality Gates

May 2011

© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2

Topics

Project Quality Gate Value Proposition

Project Quality Gate Process and Tools



SAP places Quality Built-In at the center of projects that we deliver for our Customers.Quality oversight and early visibility of potential problems have a profound impact on reducing project risk and drive Customer Value.

Project Quality Gate Process supports this: The Project Quality Gate process is a formal way of specifying and recording the transition

between critical stages in the project lifecycle.

Each Project Quality Gate verifies that acceptance is meet for the deliverables required and actions to be completed for the associated critical stage.

The Project Quality Gate Plan is defined in the Project Management Plan



Click icon to add picture

Objectives: Assure quality at the milestones of the project

Assure that all key deliverables and actions have been completed in compliance with best practices

Avoid customer dissatisfaction

Enable project managers to continuously communicate and build quality into the project

Benefits: Enhance project quality

Minimize project risk exposure

Manage expectations and monitor customer satisfaction

Improve transparency of the project

Reduce cycle time: get it done right the first time

Project Quality Gate Process and Tools


Project Quality Gate Concept

Project Quality Gate means: Formal assessment of the quality and integrity of the project deliverables

Formal checklists are used throughout the life of a project

Formal sign-off and acceptance occurs at each gate

Measure customer satisfaction throughout the project

Information is assured to be communicated to the correct stakeholders during the project

Purpose and ImpactThe intention of Q-Gates is to ensure that when we reach significant milestones in the project we check the Quality of the delivery: Are we on track?

Are all deliverables complete?

Are they fit for purpose?

Do the Partner/Customer agree?

Is risk managed?

Can we start the next phase without delay


Project Quality Gates are defined in the Project Management Plan and are set at critical stages in the project lifecycle.

Four quality gates are mandatory: Project Preparation Phase

Blueprint Phase

Realization Phase

Final Preparation

Other 3 gates are optional as agreed with the customer.

Four (of seven) Q-Gates are mandated for SAP Projects

21 3 4

1

2

3

4


Result

Follow-Up

Scope

Delivery events

Review efforts

ROLES

Project Quality GatesExecuted at end of each Project Phase , it is a formal way of specifying

and recording the transition between critical stages in the project lifecycle

Evaluate quality of each deliverable in the phase based on questionnaire and actual deliverable

Formal approval of the Quality Gate Focus on Project Management + limited coverage of Functional/Technical

topics

Prior to the end of each stage in the project lifecycle, before moving into the next phase

Preparation – 0,5 Hours Assessment Meeting– 2-4 Hours

Pass/No Pass Status (based on Approval from QA Manager and Delivery Manager)

QA manager dispatch all follow-up activities and ensure that they have been executed

QA Manager (Role) Mandatory - Moderator

QA Subject Matter Expert Optional (On demand) - Questioner

Project Manager Mandatory - Presenter

SME (Project team) Optional (On demand) - Supporter

Delivery Manager Mandatory - Approver

Other Optional Participants Optional

Project Q-Gates Process


Project Quality Gate Process

Approach Preparation call to establish pre-requisites

Quality Gate Meeting duration half day to full day, owner is Project Manager

Project Manager presents overall project status and Team Leads the status of each key deliverable

Project Manager and Customer Project Manager review deliverable quality and verify completeness and accuracy

Sign off Quality Gate scorecard Action items for follow-up are established.

All address specific project matters for second opinion & follow-up

Key Deliverables The key deliverables assessed at each project quality gate are

listed in the Project Quality Gate Scorecard.


Project Quality Gate Review Meeting

Prior to meeting: Project Manager prepares Quality Gate scorecard by indicating the project phase deliverables according to project WBS and assures deliverables will be available for review

Project Manager is owner of the meeting and presents the status of the project phase.

Project Manager or Team leads (deliverable owners) present deliveries according to the scorecard

Project Manager and Customer Project Manager evaluate content and quality of each deliverable

Project Manager records result of the review in the scorecard and the deadlines and action owners for open points/tasks. Acceptance Level 1: Accepted Acceptance Level 2: Conditionally accepted. Quality improvement to the deliverable is needed. A comment

describes the next steps depending on the estimated impact to the project. Acceptance Level 3: Not available or not accepted. Fulfillment is needed. A comment describes the next steps,

depending on the estimated impact to the project.

Project Manager captures customer satisfaction ratings to success measures identified in the Project Management Plan and records actions for improvement.

Project Manager and the Customer Project Manager summarize the minutes and action items (area at the bottom of the scorecard) and release decision taken for the Quality Gate

After Quality Gate Review: Verify that follow-up actions have been taken place, provide scorecard to Phase Acceptance and Closure


Quality Gate Review Meeting – Agenda template

Topic Responsible

2 -3 hours 2 Assessment

Presentation of status of project Project

Manager

Review of status of stage deliverables Team

Leads

Maintenance of scorecard

Project Manager

Identification of action items and satisfaction Project Manager

15 Min 1 Kick-off Project Manager

30 Min3 Other Project Matters Discussion all

30 Min 4 Sign-off scorecard, summary of action item Meeting close

Estimated Time

Project Manager Customer Project Manager

Customer Project Manager ratings

Yogesh to provide updated version


Project Quality Gate – Scorecard

Excel format, stores all Quality Gates during the lifecycle of the project. Each Quality Gate has its own scorecard as sub-sheet

Review mandatory key deliverables in checklist to properly reflect the specific project WBS

The scorecard provides a default list, based on the ASAP WBS.

All key deliverables are documented in the ASAP Roadmap with templates

Other required project specific deliverables can be added on demand.

Verify that each deliverable has achieved the acceptance criteria Assign under column “Acceptance” the level of acceptance on the 1-3 numerical scale

Assign under the column “Impact to Project” the level of impact on the 1-3 numerical scale

Use the “Comments/Actions” field to record the reasons of any conditional acceptance and the action plan to produce an acceptable deliverable

Capture customer satisfaction ratings to success measures identified in the Project Management Plan and record actions for improvement

The Project Q-Gate assessment will be concluded by specifying the minutes of the assessment down the list of deliverables including the sign-off/release of the Q-Gate


Evaluating individual deliverables

Project Manager & Quality/Delivery Manager(s) assess quality of deliverables in the scorecard: content review is focus of the Quality Gate

How to evaluate the deliverable?

Deliverable is physically available and in the right format/using the agreed template Example: Final version of Business Blueprint is shown on screen

Deliverable has followed the appropriate sign-off procedure Example: Business Blueprint has been physically signed off by Customer and Project Manager or e-

mail is shown where Customer and PM approved the document

Deliverable is actively used for the purpose it’s meant for Example: Business Blueprint will be used to accept the configured solution at the acceptance test

Deliverable content is realistic and assessed against any specific acceptance criteria Example: Take a snapshot on a specific page and review level of detail.

Judgment on required action is also related to the question: What risks does this incomplete deliverable bring to the project’s success? This is indicated by Impact indicator Low, Medium, High

Example: A final Blueprint which is not signed-off may bring a high risk to the project, and as such will be recorded as 3-Red for Impact and requires immediate action.


Meeting Minutes: Quality Gate Released?

Indicates that this quality gate is passed.

There might be some action items in place in order to complete or improve certain deliverables.

Indicates that this quality gate is not passed.

There are serious action items in place and the Project Management insist to organize a second assessment to re-evaluate the actioned deliverables.

No brings a serious message that the overall quality of (some of) the key-deliverables is insufficient and causes a serious risk to the success of the project.

YES

NO


No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP AG. The information contained herein may be changed without prior notice.

Some software products marketed by SAP AG and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors.

Microsoft, Windows, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

IBM, DB2, DB2 Universal Database, System i, System i5, System p, System p5, System x, System z, System z10, System z9, z10, z9, iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, zSeries, eServer, z/VM, z/OS, i5/OS, S/390, OS/390, OS/400, AS/400, S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server, PowerVM, Power Architecture, POWER6+, POWER6, POWER5+, POWER5, POWER, OpenPower, PowerPC, BatchPipes, BladeCenter, System Storage, GPFS, HACMP, RETAIN, DB2 Connect, RACF, Redbooks, OS/2, Parallel Sysplex, MVS/ESA, AIX, Intelligent Miner, WebSphere, Netfinity, Tivoli and Informix are trademarks or registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.

Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, PostScript, and Reader are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.

UNIX, X/Open, OSF/1, and Motif are registered trademarks of the Open Group.

Citrix, ICA, Program Neighborhood, MetaFrame, WinFrame, VideoFrame, and MultiWin are trademarks or registered trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc.

HTML, XML, XHTML and W3C are trademarks or registered trademarks of W3C®, World Wide Web Consortium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.

JavaScript is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., used under license for technology invented and implemented by Netscape.

SAP, R/3, SAP NetWeaver, Duet, PartnerEdge, ByDesign, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, StreamWork, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and other countries.

© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved

Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, and other Business Objects products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects Software Ltd. Business Objects is an SAP company.

Sybase and Adaptive Server, iAnywhere, Sybase 365, SQL Anywhere, and other Sybase products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sybase, Inc. Sybase is an SAP company.

All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

The information in this document is proprietary to SAP. No part of this document may be reproduced, copied, or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express prior written permission of SAP AG.

This document is a preliminary version and not subject to your license agreement or any other agreement with SAP. This document contains only intended strategies, developments, and functionalities of the SAP® product and is not intended to be binding upon SAP to any particular course of business, product strategy, and/or development. Please note that this document is subject to change and may be changed by SAP at any time without notice.

SAP assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document. SAP does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this material. This document is provided without a warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

SAP shall have no liability for damages of any kind including without limitation direct, special, indirect, or consequential damages that may result from the use of these materials. This limitation shall not apply in cases of intent or gross negligence.

The statutory liability for personal injury and defective products is not affected. SAP has no control over the information that you may access through the use of hot links contained in these materials and does not endorse your use of third-party Web pages nor provide any warranty whatsoever relating to third-party Web pages.

Documents

Quality Built In into Projects Project Quality Gates May 2011