Quality Management Processes

Larger organizations often make use of quality management standards and systems to bring cohesion to their project quality management activities. In some organizations, the PMO plays a central role in developing organizational quality standards by gathering best practices and lessons learned from individual projects to establish standardized quality processes, procedures, tools, and techniques customized to the needs of the organization. As part of its audit function, the PMO may also monitor projects for compliance and consistency to those corporate procedures and provide training and support to up-skill individuals and teams.

In certain industries, or for certain clients, an established quality management system and accreditation to an independent quality standard may be required for an organization to qualify for large-scale contracts. The ISO 9001:2015 standard outlines the criteria for a quality management system and provides guidance for improving processes and training employees. The ISO 9001:2015 standard is "based on the plan-do-check-act methodology and provides a process-oriented approach to documenting and reviewing the structure, responsibilities, and procedures required to achieve effective quality management in an organization".

According to the ASQ, a well-documented quality management system helps an organization meet the customer's requirements, comply with regulations, reduce waste, lower costs, prevent mistakes, and define, improve, and control processes.

The thread of quality runs through a project from beginning to end. Throughout, the team leader must balance the desired quality with the triple constraints of budget, schedule, and scope. Over the life of the project, the project leader must continually check in on quality to ensure the living project does not deviate from an acceptable outcome.