Project Risk Management Quality Control & Assurance 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Pareto chart reveals that 3 defect types account for 78% of all quality failures. What is the recommended project management response?
- Address all defect types simultaneously to ensure comprehensive coverage
- Focus corrective action on the 3 dominant defect types first (Correct answer)
- Discard the remaining defect types as insignificant
- Escalate all defect types to the sponsor for prioritization
Correct answer: Focus corrective action on the 3 dominant defect types first
The Pareto principle (80/20 rule) guides teams to prioritize the vital few causes that produce the majority of defects for maximum improvement impact.
Question 2: What is the key difference between quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC)?
- QA focuses on finding defects in products; QC focuses on process improvement
- QA is a proactive process-oriented activity; QC is a reactive product inspection activity (Correct answer)
- QA is performed only at project closure; QC is performed throughout the project
- QA is the responsibility of the customer; QC is the responsibility of the team
Correct answer: QA is a proactive process-oriented activity; QC is a reactive product inspection activity
QA proactively audits processes to prevent defects, while QC reactively inspects deliverables to identify defects in outputs.
Question 3: A project uses statistical sampling to inspect incoming materials. If the acceptable quality level (AQL) is set too high, what is the primary risk?
- Increased project costs due to over-inspection
- Higher probability of accepting non-conforming materials (Correct answer)
- Reduced supplier satisfaction and relationship damage
- Longer project schedule due to extended inspection cycles
Correct answer: Higher probability of accepting non-conforming materials
A high AQL means a greater percentage of defects is considered acceptable, increasing the risk that non-conforming materials pass inspection and enter the project.
Question 4: Which quality cost category includes rework, scrap, and warranty claims?
- Prevention costs
- Appraisal costs
- Internal failure costs
- External failure costs (Correct answer)
Correct answer: External failure costs
External failure costs occur after the product reaches the customer and include warranty repairs, returns, and liability costs, which are the most expensive quality failures.
Question 5: A scatter diagram shows a strong positive correlation between two variables in a manufacturing project. What conclusion can be drawn?
- One variable directly causes changes in the other
- As one variable increases, the other tends to increase as well (Correct answer)
- The two variables are identical and redundant
- The process is operating within acceptable control limits
Correct answer: As one variable increases, the other tends to increase as well
A scatter diagram shows correlation (the tendency for variables to move together), but correlation does not establish causation — further analysis is needed.
Question 6: During quality control, an inspector finds a defect rate of 4.5% against a threshold of 3%. Which action should the project manager take FIRST?
- Immediately halt the project until quality is restored
- Log the variance in the issue log and notify the sponsor
- Perform root cause analysis and implement corrective actions (Correct answer)
- Revise the quality threshold upward to accommodate the actual rate
Correct answer: Perform root cause analysis and implement corrective actions
When a quality threshold is exceeded, the first step is root cause analysis to understand why the variance occurred before implementing targeted corrective actions.
Question 7: Which of the following is an example of cost of conformance in project quality management?
- Reworking a deliverable that failed customer acceptance testing
- Training team members on quality procedures before work begins (Correct answer)
- Replacing a defective component discovered during production
- Paying warranty claims for a product that failed after delivery
Correct answer: Training team members on quality procedures before work begins
Cost of conformance includes money spent to meet quality requirements proactively, such as training, testing equipment, and quality audits — before failures occur.
Project Risk Management Quality Control & Assurance 3
A Pareto chart reveals that 3 defect types account for 78% of all quality failures.
What is the recommended project management response?