PLAN GUIDELINE SECTIONS:
These Quality Management Plan (QMP) guidelines will identify the Smart Lane electronic toll system (ETS) quality related objectives, including plans to achieve and measure these objectives. It will establish the roles and responsibilities of each group that will work on this project and define the different types of quality-related processes to be implemented and adhered to by the ETS Contractor (Integrator).
This QMP describes the quality procedures to be followed by JPA management and the selected Integrator in carrying out and successfully completing the ETS integration work on the Smart Lane Project.
The Smart Lane Project overall Quality Management (QM) responsibility shall be distributed among all participants of the program including the JPA, the system engineering consultants and the Integrator. However, the Integrator shall be fully responsible to develop the QM procedures and guidelines and strictly adhere to these documents throughout the course of the system design, development, implementation and testing phases of the Smart Lane Project. The JPA’s primary responsibility shall be to ensure that the various QM procedures are followed by the Integrator. This will make certain that the delivered tolling system operates according to the RFP and Contract requirements.
The selected Integrator’s internal QM program must be compliant with International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000 or an equivalent standard. The QM Plan developed by the Integrator, and reviewed and approved by the JPA, shall be compliant with the Integrator’s QM program.
All members of the Smart Lane Project team are responsible for producing work of the highest quality. The Integrator Project Manager (PM) has the overall responsibility for guaranteeing that the QM procedures are adhered to. The PM will have the assistance of the Integrator’s Project Quality Manager (PQM), who will have responsibility for implementing and monitoring the QM process.
The PM and the PQM shall also have a direct interface on all quality-related matters with the JPA Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) project staff. Listed below are suggested starting points for defining the QM’s organizational responsibilities required for the program’s success.
The JPA ED shall have full contractual responsibility for all Smart Lane QM activities and will work closely with the consultant staff and Integrator personnel to make certain that full quality control is adhered to during the system design, development, integration, testing, installation and deployment phases of the Smart Lane Project.
The JPA’s Smart Lane program management and tolling system consultant staff shall have, at a minimum, the following roles and responsibilities:
1. Shall ensure quality objectives are met on this project.
2. Shall identify each of the applicable policies and procedures as part of the ISO 9001: 1994 Standards or an equivalent standard.
3. Participate in all facets of QA/QC activities and provide recommendations to the ED for verification of QM features of the project.
4. Provide QM guidance to the Integrator and JPA staff during the system design, development, integration, testing, installation and maintenance process.
5. Provide regulatory guidance for QM related requirements in conjunction with JPA staff.
6. Maintain a liaison with the ED and Integrator staff to incorporate additional QA/QC procedures throughout the Smart Lane system design, development, integration, testing, installation, maintenance and possibly operations phases of the Project.
The ETS System Integrator engineering personnel for the Smart Lane Project shall have the following roles and responsibilities:
1. Develop a detailed QM manual based on the ISO 9001 1994 standards for review and approval by the JPA.
2. Identify and document the relevant specific QA/QC procedures and guidelines that are necessary to satisfy all of the project-specific operating requirements.
3. Identify the control documents for management of quality.
4. Carry out project-specific QM procedures enabling quality audits.
In addition to the policy and people, the QMP will define the project’s QM procedures. The QM procedures will be developed by the Integrator, and subject to JPA review and written approval. They shall provide the specific approach to ensure that quality objectives are met on the project in accordance with each of the applicable ISO 9001 1994 Standards (or an equivalent standard) policies and procedures. The Integrator shall apply these QM procedures to the Smart Lane Project.
The QMP shall be developed and a QA/QC program implemented during all phases of the Smart Lane Project. This QA/QC program shall indicate how the Integrator will address changes to the scope of services on the project requested by either the JPA or the Integrator.
The Integrator RFP will include the system design, development, testing and implementation milestones for the Smart Lane Project. Reaching each of the specified milestones will trigger a pre-determined payment from the JPA to the Integrator. The QM and QA/QC procedures and guidelines will be clearly described in the proposal and in the Contract to make sure a process is in place that will allow the JPA to clearly determine whether each milestone has been reached.
The Integrator PM shall direct the implementation of the approved QMP, which will execute the following QM and QA/QC procedures to maintain a proper level of quality throughout the project.
Quality process as defined in the QMP shall govern the control of the system design, development, integration, testing, implementation and maintenance of the work to be completed on this project.
The Integrator shall implement various document and data control procedures as part of the QM and QA/QC process. The Integrator shall track electronic communications, physical documents, and communication records generated by their staff on the project. Procedures will be developed by the Integrator to guarantee that this takes place. The Integrator shall also provide the JPA with a hard copy of all project correspondence that they develop, including system design documents, drawings, letters, e-mails, etc.
Any direct purchasing for the project shall follow the QMP direction which applies. All approvals and processing of purchases charged to the project shall adhere to the existing JPA policy. In the event that subcontractors are used on the project, the procedure to procure and control these services and/or equipment or software shall be established according to the QMP. Most project-related purchases for materials used by the Integrator shall be managed by the Integrator and will comply with the various QM and QA/QC procedures established by the Integrator and approved, in writing, by the JPA.
The QMP shall clearly identify the various processes and products that will be used by the Integrator to identify any defects, and methods of corrective action to resolve such defects.
The QMP will determine the ISO standards that should be followed in the Integrator’s QM and QA/QC procedures and guidelines. The QMP shall also identify specific products to be used to track, monitor, and document corrective actions in a structured manner.
Internal quality audits are required to prove that the QA/QC procedures are working effectively. Audits will be performed by the Integrator PM, the PQM, or another designated person. Audits on areas that are within the scope of influence of the Integrator PM and specific QM team members shall be conducted by personnel that have not conducted actual work on the system design, development, etc. This will ensure that the staff that has performed the actual work is not checking the work in question.
Quality audit documentation shall be made available by the Integrator to the JPA. The following illustrates the internal quality audit framework that shall be adhered to by the Integrator on the Smart Lane Project:
1. Internal quality audits of components by the Integrator PM and staff will be conducted at an interval not to exceed one month.
2. Quality audits of the major subsystems conducted by the Integrator PM and QM staff shall be conducted at an interval not to exceed three months.
3. The quality audit documentation shall be developed by the Integrator and submitted to the JPA for review and approval. Once approved, it shall be distributed to all Smart Lane Project team members.
4. The audit documentation shall contain, at a minimum, recommendations for improvements, if any, to the various quality procedures that have been used as the basis for the development of the audit documentation. The documents will be prepared according to the relevant ISO 9001 standards or an equivalent standard.
5. The audit shall follow an established format proposed by the Integrator and approved, in writing, by the JPA within the QMP.
Presented below is a sample checklist for use as part of the quality audit for tolling system design projects. This checklist is for informational purposes only, since the Integrator will develop and use their own detailed checklists as part of the quality audit procedures and guidelines as detailed in the QMP, and monitored by the JPA.
Table 1 – Typical Quality Assurance and Control Checklist
|
YES |
NO |
Checklist Description |
|
p |
p |
Are project tracking activities in place? |
|
p |
p |
Is project tracking and oversight being conducted? |
|
p |
p |
Are all plan reviews conducted according to plan checklists? |
|
p |
p |
Are all issues arising from peer reviews addressed and properly closed? |
|
p |
p |
Are status and review meetings conducted according to the schedule? |
|
p |
p |
Has a contract Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) that supports all project deliverables and long-term tasks been developed? |
|
p |
p |
Are system changes being managed according to the Configuration Management Plan (CMP)? |
|
p |
p |
Have all deviations from standards and procedures documentation been approved by the JPA? |
|
p |
p |
Are project roles and responsibilities clearly defined and adhered to? |