CA Quality Assurance & Improvement 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which benchmarking approach compares an archives program's practices against those of a leading organization outside the archival profession?
- Internal benchmarking
- Competitive benchmarking
- Functional benchmarking
- Generic benchmarking (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Generic benchmarking
Generic benchmarking compares processes with best-in-class organizations regardless of industry, borrowing practices from outside the archival field.
Question 2: A balanced scorecard for an archives program would typically include which four perspectives?
- Financial, customer, internal processes, learning and growth (Correct answer)
- Accessions, reference, preservation, outreach
- Inputs, outputs, outcomes, impacts
- Staff, collections, facilities, technology
Correct answer: Financial, customer, internal processes, learning and growth
The Kaplan-Norton Balanced Scorecard framework uses financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth perspectives.
Question 3: In a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, what is the primary purpose of the 'Check' phase?
- Identifying a problem to solve
- Implementing the planned changes
- Evaluating results against expected outcomes (Correct answer)
- Standardizing successful changes
Correct answer: Evaluating results against expected outcomes
The Check phase compares actual results to the predicted outcomes to determine whether the plan worked as intended.
Question 4: Which metric would best measure the efficiency of an archives' reference service?
- Number of accessions processed per year
- Average time to fulfill a reference request (Correct answer)
- Percentage of holdings with finding aids
- Total linear footage of holdings
Correct answer: Average time to fulfill a reference request
Average fulfillment time directly measures how efficiently the reference service delivers responses to researchers.
Question 5: An archival program conducting a SWOT analysis would categorize aging HVAC equipment as which element?
- Strength
- Weakness (Correct answer)
- Opportunity
- Threat
Correct answer: Weakness
Aging equipment is an internal deficiency that hinders preservation capacity, making it a Weakness in SWOT analysis.
Question 6: Which statistical process control tool is used to distinguish common-cause variation from special-cause variation in archival workflows?
- Pareto chart
- Control chart (Correct answer)
- Fishbone diagram
- Scatter diagram
Correct answer: Control chart
Control charts plot process data over time with control limits to identify when variation signals an out-of-control condition.
Question 7: When developing a logic model for an archival outreach program, 'increased public awareness of local history' would be classified as which component?
- Input
- Activity
- Output
- Outcome (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Outcome
Outcomes represent the changes or benefits that result from program activities, such as shifts in awareness, knowledge, or behavior.
CA Quality Assurance & Improvement 2
Which benchmarking approach compares an archives program's practices against those of a leading organization outside the archival profession?