What is Quality Management?

Quality management (QM) involves planning, controlling and improving processes and products to meet defined requirements. Rather than simply testing for quality, the goal is to systematically ensure it through preventive methods such as reviews and inspections, and optimised workflows.

To understand QM, one must distinguish between two concepts:

1. Quality Assurance (QA):

Proactive and process-oriented. The goal is to prevent errors from occurring, for example through training, standards and reviews.

2. Quality Control (QC):

Reactive and product-oriented. The objective is to pinpoint existing defects (e.g., through software testing).

An effective quality management system combines the following two approaches: “Do the right things“ (QA) and “do things right“ (QC). It follows the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle (PDCA) cycle to continuously optimize processes.

Quality management begins with the documents before a single test case is executed. Static testing techniques are the most efficient form of quality assurance:

• Review: This involves a technical discussion of documents, such as requirements, specifications, and architecture, to resolve discrepancies early on.
• Inspection: The most formal type of review with defined roles (facilitator and note-taker). During this process, the document is thoroughly reviewed against checklists. The dual-control principle is often applied as a preventive control measure here, whereby critical decisions, documents, or processes must be reviewed by a second, independent person.

Studies show: An error found during the review of a requirement costs only a fraction of what it would cost to fix after programming.

In many companies, quality management only exists on paper (or in endless Excel spreadsheets). In reality, requirements are in Word, risks are in Excel, and test results are in a third-party system.

• This creates a documentation gap: When a requirement changes, no one can be sure if the review document has been updated.
• The audit stress: Shortly before certification (e.g., ISO 9001), employees must spend days gathering and consolidating documents manually to prove who changed and reviewed what and when.
• Lack of accountability: Reviews often take place via email with responses like “Looks good,” but this status is not attached to the document in an audit-proof manner.

The Solution: Quality Management as a Living Process

A QM system is only as good as its integration into daily work, and objectiF RPM  objectiF RPM ends the separation of work and documentation. Quality is created “on the fly” here, not retrospectively.

• Practical Review Workflows: Define fixed, state-driven review processes for requirements, use cases, documents, and entire groups of items. Invite stakeholders to review items online with a single click. Conducting a review only requires a web browser, which is a real advantage for distributed teams. A review is considered successfully completed when all reviewers “accept” the item under review.
• Automated Traceability: objectiF RPM provides a list of what was reviewed, when it was reviewed, and the result. For example, it provides a list of all requirements along with their associated reviews and current statuses.
• Audit Assurance: Thanks to comprehensive versioning and version history, you can confidently face any auditor.

Audit-Ready without the Paperwork Hassle

objectiF RPM integrates quality assurance into your processes. Transparent, traceable, and verifiable at any time.