There are many common tools, methods and strategies used for ensuring quality or quality assessment in education such as rubrics, curriculum mapping, focus groups, portfolios, structured interviews, and surveys. On the other hand, there are other kinds of quality assessment methods in various business firms, institutions and organizations like QMS or quality management assessment, a system which serves to formally document processes and procedures within the firm or organization in order to benchmark and measure the level of quality and provide metrics to assist the overall quality improvement within the organization. In this article, we will discuss the different types of quality assessments, the basic components, and steps in preparing an effective quality assessment plan, plus we have various downloadable examples of quality assessment plan templates such as our sample construction project quality assessment plans, project management quality assessment plans, data quality improvement plans, clinical laboratory quality assessment plans, competency assessment plans, and other quality assessment plan templates for you to use. Scroll until the end of the article!
A quality assessment plan is a clear, comprehensive and well-coordinated written document which is generally used for the successful data collection and in-depth analysis of a specific data, product, methodology, operational business activities, other outputs of the business or organization and/or many others. It is a strategic evaluation tool which significantly helps educators, professors, product developers, designers, project managers, and other professionals to plan carefully on how they will provide reliable and valid data to inform all users and stakeholders about the condition, status, and performance or overall quality of a particular data, product, methodology and/or other aspects that should be carefully examined. As an assessment action plan , it is a beneficial roadmap for assessment and evaluation to facilitate in-depth and systematic planning when attaining success in the quality assessment projects.
Based on a published report, 68% of organizations were using a QMS solution at the time of a product recall and 83% of organizations say that it helped them recover from a product recall. Running quality management through an automated QMS solution unlocks advantages including enhanced data management, increased visibility, streamlined corrective actions and greater workforce productivity. QMS makes it easier to clarify and fully see the clear picture of the current processes, examine potential corrective actions, and assess the financial impact of quality-related decisions. Business firms and organizations need to commit to high quality management in order to increase their investments both from budget and headcount perspectives. Thus, all kinds of project managers, operational managers, product developers, program managers, system developers, project supervisors, and other managers should effectively create a compelling and well-detailed quality assessment plan.
According to the book Quality Improvement Techniques in Construction, there are four stages of quality management: inspection, quality control, quality assurance, and total quality management. Inspection is an activity that involves examining, measuring, testing or gauging one or more characteristics of an entity and comparing the results. Quality control is regarded as an extension of inspection. Quality assurance involves the considerable effort in removing faults or problems before the release of the product or service.Moreover, you need to understand the different types of quality assessments that you and other project managers, product developers, system developers, and other professionals will use for ensuring the high quality of their products, programs, methodologies, and/or other activities. Here we will explain to you about the different types of quality assessments:
Construction quality control managers are responsible for the assessment and inspection of a construction project before, during, and after construction to guarantee compliance with all safety and quality specifications. Quality management is beneficial in construction projects to help project managers and other workers in a construction firm to achieve specific goals, objectives and compliance of the construction industry, and to ensure that the construction projects are successfully accomplished within the constraints.
The quality assessment in a clinical laboratory is defined as accuracy, reliability and timeliness of the reported test results. Medical professionals in charge of quality assurance or quality management in clinical laboratories usually perform these primary quality assessment phases: pre-analytical phase, analytical phase and post-analytical phase. Pre-analytical phase involves acquiring patient information and taking the specimen sample, analytical phase involves the examination and test of the sample, and post-analytical phase involves analysis of the test results and creating an official report.
Competency assessments are used in multiple settings such as schools, businesses or enterprises, medical institutions and many others. For example, employee competency assessment provides evaluation and analysis to measure the skills most relevant to an employee’s role, according to their career architecture. Managers in businesses and organizations use assessment software to learn exactly what their employees can do so they can apply their talents now and effectively plan their future development. Some examples of competency assessment tools are pre-employment to evaluate candidate competency in relevant skills, during employment as a part of a periodic performance evaluation, or when considering an employee transfer for a new role or department within the organization.
Montgomery, J.D. stated in their article entitled “Quality assessment and improvement processes and techniques”: Research and investigation techniques must be utilized to assess the current state of the project and locate the issues in order to identify what specific improvements are necessary, and quality assessment and improvement processes and techniques must be followed to place rigor in the project management practice. To initiate quality assessment in your project, you need to assess quality items through informal and formal meeting, interview, questionnaire, survey, checklist, inspection and analysis, compile assessment results through comparative analysis and combinatorial analysis, analyze assessment results by requesting for further assessment and completed assessment, prepare and review assessment report.
A data quality improvement assessment program should be implemented by all business firms, institutions, and organizations as its significance deserves to be effectively communicated to all of the business managers who may participate, either as sponsors or as beneficiaries. As a challenging and intimidating process, data quality improvement assessment combines quantitative analysis of data sets with the qualitative context setting needed to manage the potentially ever-broadening scope of data improvements. It is important to improve the ability to solve the most crucial issues and to maintain control in place to limit the breadth of the assessment. This assessment involves meeting with the stakeholders, collecting the source data, profiling that data, documenting the discoveries, synthesizing the results in the context of the interaction with the stakeholders, etc.
Quality managers identify several issues and concerns as crucial because quality management requires sufficient commitment and dedication from themselves, the workforce, senior managers and other key individuals who are directly responsible for the quality system. It is helpful for quality managers to promote quality assessments to formulate problem-solving approaches and encourage them to consider other methods for creating organizational improvement. In this section, you will learn how to construct a well-written and systematic quality assessment plan. But you need to learn about the different kinds of components of a quality assessment plan. Include the following elements for you to create a professional piece of writing:
Whether you are an educator, an instructor, a business operational manager, a project manager, a system developer, a product developer, or a project supervisor, it is significant to establish effective quality management systems in your projects or programs, and align your professional career practices on the proper development and execution of a well-coordinated quality assessment plan. Below are some easy-to-follow tips that indicate how to write a clear and structured quality assessment plan:
Broadly defined as the adherence to well-prescribed procedures, quality assurance is designed to ensure an accurate and reliable product, program, method, or activity. Write in this section the main purpose of your quality assessment plan as it encompasses satisfaction or quality as defined by your customers, clients, employees, students, the management, and others, the quality as defined by high scores on internal and external proficiency, decision making by use of data and scientific methods, interdepartmental communication and cooperation through teams, emphasis on processes rather than individual components, and review and improvement of all processes through continuous assessment.
What are your quality assurance goals and objectives for your quality assessment plan? Explain in this part that you will monitor and evaluate quality, identify and correct issues and other concerns, ensure accurate, reliable, and prompt reporting of the assessment outcomes, assure adequacy and competency of team members, and improve quality of the activities, methods, and/or services.
The next step is to include the description of the roles and responsibilities of the quality assessment team. For example, if you are developing a clinical laboratory quality assessment plan, explain in this part that the quality management manager conducts reviews of quality control records for each division at least annually which includes accuracy of laboratory-supplied information, the efficiency of storage of reports, and the time it takes to retrieve the reports. Then, describe the tasks of other quality assessment team members in the areas of administrative support, clinical services, microbiology, mobile division, etc.
Construct the summary of the quality assessment methods. Document and highlight the key points of your quality assessment plan. Show the purpose, statistical techniques, analysis and evaluation process, data collection, discussion and interim results. Illustrate a quality assessment system that will guide you in monitoring the evaluation phases, leading to the achievement of the quality assessment plan.
Establish a clear timeline to help guide the execution of the quality assessment plan. Explain which assessment work has to be conducted and when it will be done. Indicate accuracy and clarity in your quality assessment methods and techniques.
Review your overall quality assessment plan and make sure that you fully include all the fundamental points in your plan. Highlight the connection between the specific quality assessment goals, objectives, resources, strategies and methods used for the fulfillment of the objectives, and the evaluation of the educators, system developers, trainers, project managers or program developers involved in the quality assessment plan. If you realize that you forget some sections that need more essential details, we highly recommend that you edit and revise the document as soon as possible.
The fundamental principles of assessment are fairness, flexibility, validity and reliability. Fairness is a principle based on the needs of the individual learner being considered during the assessment process by making reasonable adjustments, ensuring that the learner has a clear understanding of the assessment process, and creating an environment of equality and providing learners with access to training. Flexibility is a principle which involves the consideration of a wide array of needs of individual learners during the assessment by reflecting their needs and assessing their skills. Validity ensures that the assessment decision is based on evidence of performance. Lastly, reliability refers to the consistency of the assessment outcomes.
The different types of quality assessments are methods of deriving data’s effectiveness, measurement of resource data, measurement of project management, health methodology measurement and valuation, clinical laboratory quality assessment, method of synthesizing the costs and effects, school improvement quality assessment, student competency quality assessment, employee performance quality assessment, vocal training quality assessment, dance performance quality assessment, safety quality assessment, construction quality assessment, and many others.
Some examples of quality assessment plans are internal quality assessment plan, project management quality assessment plan, clinical laboratories quality assessment plan, data quality assessment plan, quality assurance assessment plan, quality risk assessment plan, data product quality assessment plan, quality assessment manufacturing plan, quality design assessment plan, healthcare quality assessment plan, sustainable quality assessment plan, school quality assessment plan, food quality assessment plan, air quality assessment plan, student quality assessment plan, continuous quality assessment plan, quality assessment performance plan, quality assurance self assessment plan, design quality control assessment plan, social care quality assessment plan, and measurement-based quality assessment plan.
A quality assessment plan is important because it aims on assuring excellent outputs of the project/program activities, data, products, methodology, and many others, as well as comprehensive quality evaluation of the project/program deliverables and regular assessment of the progress and achievements of an institution or firm.
The ultimate goal of quality assurance is to build confidence and faith in the quality of a product, a program, a service, or an activity being rendered by a company, firm, institution, organization or a professional. It focuses on improving the average level of quality of service delivered, and motivates the managers, developers, employees, trainees and students to achieve high levels of quality. To assist you in writing your quality assessment plan, you can learn and apply the tips aforementioned in this article. As the roadmap of the evaluator, it contains optimal assessment strategies for conducting the assessment fully well. Plus, we have included several quality assessment plan samples, project management quality assessment plan templates, clinical laboratories quality assessment plan samples, data quality assessment plan templates, quality assurance assessment plan templates, quality risk assessment plan templates, data product quality assessment plan templates, and other quality assessment plan templates that you can download and use for your assessment work.
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