February 20, 2024

The Importance of Project Management’s Key Principles

In his blog series, Natig Nabiyev has broken down his industry-leading approach to quality management. In The Importance of Quality Management, he looked at the necessary and beneficial role it plays in a project’s lifecycle. In this blog, Natig breaks down the fundamentals that we use to underpin our approach to the success of our clients’ projects.

The importance of Quality Management in project execution cannot be overstated. It is the cornerstone that upholds customer satisfaction, regulatory compliance, and projects and organisations’ overall success and sustainability.

By taking a holistic approach, from the planning stages to completion and beyond, we ensure clients achieve Practical Completion requirements efficiently and faster, setting a new benchmark in the construction industry.

The approach outlined in this blog has proven successful, providing vital support to our clients and maximising the benefits of project involvement for every stakeholder and delivery partner.

Quality Planning

Quality Planning is a pivotal function in each phase of project delivery, as highlighted previously. This involves establishing objectives and processes necessary for delivering a product or service in alignment with predetermined quality specifications. Key components of Quality Planning include:

  1. Conducting a quality risk assessment is crucial. It involves a systematic process of identifying, analysing, and evaluating potential hazards and consequences that may impact the quality of a product, service, or process.
  2. Development of the Quality Management Plan, outlining the overall approach for ensuring quality compliance and delivery strategies to mitigate any risks identified during quality risk assessment.
  3. The establishment of key project delivery processes, as specified in the Project Quality Plan, encompasses creating procedures, work method statements, standards, and work instructions for each process.
  4. Planning Inspection and Testing activities. This involves identifying and developing Inspection and Test Plans and Checklists for the final product. These plans incorporate key verification, hold, witness, and inspection points in alignment with applicable standards, technical specifications, drawings, and regulations, making it crucial to ensure that the product or service meets its intended use or is fit for purpose.
  5. Planning work packs/lots that outline inspection work for equipment or functional locations is essential to ensure effective delivery and close-out activities.
  6. Planning resources to ensure processes are undertaken by qualified and approved personnel.
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  • Planning materials procurement, testing and certification to ensure that materials meet the prescribed standard and achieve an accepted level of quality.
  • Planning quality management systems and tools (document management, field data capture, ncr/car management, completions management system, welding traceability, etc.)  to ensure a systematic approach to quality management processes is essential. This guarantees traceability at each level of product delivery and maintains control over project deliverables.
  • Planning internal and external audits for Quality Management Systems and audits for project and product delivery is crucial to ensure compliance with ISO and project and product requirements. This process spans the project lifecycle and encompasses subcontractor and supplier organisations, specifically emphasising product quality.
  • Planning the completion of the final product and the handover process to the Client/End User/Operations Team is a crucial step. This phase is essential to confirm that the system or product meets the required standards and is safe to operate. During this stage, the identification of the Manufacturer Data Report (MDR) Index and the planning of the MDR Structure for applicable work packages become critical, ensuring the prescribed level of quality.
  • Training and Induction of key personnel to ensure that all key project stakeholders understand and accept quality requirements. Quality requirements are detailed in the Project Management Plan, which outlines the overall approach for ensuring quality compliance.

Key Actions

When the Quality Planning is completed, there are key actions fundamental to success. They are:

  • – Monitoring and verifying that processes are performed according to the defined quality standards and Inspection and Test Plans. This involves inspecting and testing products or services to ensure they meet the specified criteria and supported by providing evidence of compliance, such as product inspection certificates, Inspection and Test Checklists or Compliance Verification Records completed by an authorised person or testing authority.
  • Quality Assurance – A proactive approach to prevent defects and errors by implementing systematic processes and procedures. Quality Assurance involves ongoing evaluation and improvement of processes to ensure consistent quality.
  • Continuous Improvement – This involves an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. It emphasises incremental and continuous enhancements to achieve higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Customer Focus – Placing a strong emphasis on understanding and meeting customer needs and expectations. Customer feedback is a must to drive improvements in products and services.
  • Employee Involvement – Involving employees at all levels in the organization in the quality management process. This can include training, empowerment, and recognition of employees for their contributions to quality improvement.
  • Process Approach – Viewing the organisation as a series of interconnected processes, each contributing to the achievement of quality objectives. Managing these processes effectively is crucial for overall quality management.

As with everything, you need to tailor and adapt your approach to suit the requirements of the project, but the fundamental approach should not change.

At Lidiar Group, we have an experienced team of quality management professionals with experience across resources, energy, oil & gas, infrastructure, civil engineering, and transport projects. To learn more about quality you can be assured of: