To validate the effectiveness of our project team, our teaming arrangements and to promote quality within our deliverables, Accenture employs established, rigorous internal processes across all aspects of the program. Our quality assurance plan integrates methods and tools to mitigate risks, prevent and resolve issues, and deliver quality solutions.
We employ a two-part approach to quality assurance:
The first is our Quality and Process Improvement program (QPI). Our QPI program supports our externally certified CMMI Level 4 compliance and enables continuous improvements in management processes. Accenture's Government Operating Unit was one of the first organizations of its kind to be externally certified as CMMI Level 4 compliant in 2004.
The QPI process enforces the measurement of project performance against key metrics, both those in the quality process as well as internal metrics, through periodic audits of project performance. QPI provides for early detection of quality issues, allowing program management to take timely corrective action and deliver quality solutions. The effectiveness of the QPI process, based on Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) Level 4 standards, is evidenced by key metrics, including:
- Cost and scheduling reductions: For every hour of QPI performed, five hours of rework is avoided.
- Project start-up time: Approximately two weeks of preparation time is saved by using standard tools and methods.
- Requirements revision time: Reduction in errors during requirements definition reduces rework costs by 60 to 90 percent.
QPI drives quality by reviewing and maintaining leading practices, methodologies, and tools, such as ADM, resulting in:
- Minimum time to fielding
- Increased operational effectiveness
- Reduced total cost
- Increased customer satisfaction
- Increased delivery capability
The second part is our Client Quality Management Assessment (CQMA). The CQMA process is one of our methods of assessing client satisfaction. This process, which occurs at least once every six months, involves a senior Accenture advisor conducting independent assessments of our progress toward our objectives.
These approaches support the successful implementation of our quality program by providing the project team with external perspectives of its current practices and ongoing quality monitoring, as well as guiding and reinforcing quality practices throughout the project. In addition to meeting the overall quality objectives, our approach to quality yields documented benefits, allowing us to start a project more quickly and complete it more efficiently.