Quality Assurance: Graded Approach to Quality A Graded Approach to Quality Assurance

Quality assurance (QA) is a term used to refer to the entire set of activities undertaken by a manufacturer to ensure that a product or service, at the very least, meets the expectations of customers (Webber & Wallace, 2012). Quality control (QC) is a component of QA -- it refers to the specific activities that are taken to ensure that a deliverable service or product meets the specific needs and requirements of the customer (Webber & Wallace, 2012). Checking calibrations, conducting tests and inspections, and checking drawings and calculations for errors are all part of quality control. QA, on the other hand, is broader -it includes QC, and starts way before the product is developed. Some of the activities that the manufacturer would conduct as part of QA include conducting requirement analyses to assess the appropriateness of the proposed product to potential stakeholders, reviewing the initiation and planning phases of product development to take into account the findings of requirement analyses, screening potential vendors and suppliers for best value, putting in place controls to ensure that the execution plan is properly-followed, identifying and correcting deficiencies, and conducting quality audits.

From the above list of sampled activities, it is quite evident that quality assurance is a costly affair that is perhaps beyond the reach of small manufacturers. It is for this exact reason that manufacturers adopt a graded approach to quality assurance -- where quality specifications are planned and conducted only to the degree necessary to meet the current project's specific needs (EPA Quality System, 2014). In other words, a graded approach recognizes that different...

In a graded approach to quality assurance, therefore, the manufacturer will either consider the entire set of possible quality-assurance activities, but only implement those that are necessary to ensure the product meets the needs, requirements, and specifications of customers, or implement all the quality requirements, but vary the methods of implementation based on the project's complexity, cost, or importance to the organization's mission (EPA Quality System, 2014).
Example Applications of a Graded Approach to Quality Assurance

i) Graded approach at the Office of Environmental Management and Energy Facilities Contractors in the Department of Energy (DOE)

The above office employs a graded approach in the procurement of deliverables to be used in the execution of client programs. Its quality specifications in this regard include i) procuring deliverables that meet the performance specifications as well as established requirements; ii) evaluating potential vendors based on the specified criteria so as to obtain maximum value, and iii) putting in place measures to ensure that approved vendors keep providing acceptable deliverables (DEO, 2008). The department of energy requires all job-related purchases made by approved contractors to meet the aforementioned quality requirements; the office, however, varies the methods used to implement the three requirements and the extent of documentation based on the inherent risk of the program under implementation and its degree of importance to…