Quality Assurance & Improvement Flashcards

A surveillance team samples a CAM's estimate at completion (EAC) and finds it has not changed in twelve months despite a steadily worsening cost performance index. What quality deficiency does this indicate?

Answer: The EAC is not being updated based on current performance data, undermining its validity

EACs must be regularly reassessed using current performance trends or they lose credibility as forecasts.

Which of the following is the best evidence that a CAM performs meaningful monthly variance analysis?

Answer: Written analyses identifying root cause, impact, and corrective action for variances exceeding thresholds

Quality variance analysis documents root cause, impact, and corrective action rather than merely reporting numbers.

During a self-assessment, a contractor discovers retroactive changes were made to prior-period earned value without documentation. What is the appropriate quality response?

Answer: Document the changes, determine root cause, and establish controls preventing undocumented retroactive adjustments

Retroactive changes must be documented and controlled; the fix is transparency and preventive controls, not concealment.

A CAM wants to reduce recurring data entry errors in monthly status updates. Which continuous improvement approach is most effective?

Answer: Analyze the error patterns, address the root causes, and add automated validation checks

Root-cause analysis combined with automated validation prevents recurrence instead of hiding errors.

What is the primary purpose of a contractor's EVMS System Description in the context of quality assurance?

Answer: It defines the documented processes against which compliance and data quality are evaluated

The System Description is the documented standard that surveillance and self-assessments measure actual practice against.

A quality review finds that management reserve was used to offset an unfavorable cost variance in a completed control account. Why is this a serious finding?

Answer: Management reserve must not be used to mask existing variances, as this distorts true performance

Using management reserve to eliminate existing variances hides true performance and violates EVMS principles.

Which sampling approach gives a surveillance team the most objective view of EVMS health across a large program?

Answer: A risk-based random sample of control accounts across different CAMs, phases, and work types

Risk-based random sampling across diverse accounts avoids selection bias and reveals systemic issues.