oregon department

of Education

Pre Kindergarten through Grade 16 Integrated Data System

(KIDS) Phase III

Quality Management Plan

Prepared by

RK Technical Associates, LLC

May 30, 2008

Table of Contents

Document Revision History and Intended Audience

Executive Summary

QA Introduction and Purpose

QA and QC Scope: Initial, Ongoing and Closure

QA Methodology

Quality Plan Processes

Quality Planning

Quality Assurance

Project Deliverables and Processes Acceptance Criteria

Quality Control

Project Flex Priority Assessment

Roles and Responsibilities

Governance Structure

QA Work to Be Performed

Tools and Checklists utilized

Project Documentation Checklist

Initial Risk Assessment/Lessons Learned: PMBOK Knowledge Areas and KIDS Phase III Alignment

Additional QA Reports

Initial Risk Assessment and Updates

QA Monthly Report

QA Baseline Project Plan and Updates

QC Deliverable Reports

Quarterly/JLCIMT Reports

Deliverables Validation/Invoicing

Attachment A: Sponsor/PM/Business Expert Roles and Responsibilities

Attachment B: EISPD Templates for Quarterly Reports

Document Revision History and Intended Audience

Document Revision History:

Version / Date / Author / Change Description
1.0 / May 21, 2008 / Nell Klumph / Initial Draft
2.0 / May 27, 2008 / Dennis Boston / Provided edits and updates
3.0 / May 28, 2008 / Nell Klumph / Finished edits, submitted to ODE for approval.
4.0_final / May 30, 2008 / Nell Klumph / Document approved by ODE Project Team

Intended Audience:

This section provides a summary of the potential areas of interest for the various audiences within the KIDS III Project.

Role / Areas to Review
Executive Level / QA Introduction/Purpose and QA Scope
IT Management / QA Introduction/Purpose and QA Scope
Business Management / QA Introduction/Purpose and QA Scope
ODE Project Managers / Entire Document
ODE Project Team / NA (Optional)
IT Developers / N/A
Business Users / N/A

Executive Summary

KIDS Phase III is an expansion of the successful KIDS Phase II project, which was a pilot project for a PK-12 Integrated Data Warehouse system involving four major school districts Operational Data Stores. KIDS Phase III is a major upgrade, involving two more ODS regions, expanding the implementation to be astate-wide Integrated Data Warehouse system for 200 school districts and over 500,000 students (the vast majority of the remainder of the State).

The overall mission is to provide ODE and Stakeholders, (ESDs, districts and schools), with a single, accurate, and authoritative data structure that streamlines data acquisition and reporting within the enterprise of education in the State, while enhancing students’ transcript exchange across schools and districts, promoting operational efficiency, and satisfying key NCLB & AYP reporting requirements.

This statewide expansion will enable a timely and accurate exchange of comparable information between school districts by means of an exchange application known as Oregon Students Transcript Exchange (OSTX), and between districts and Oregon Department of Education (ODE). This includes data and business rules standardization across all districts, and a statewide metadata repository (Data Dictionary). The KIDS III project will result in a reduction of redundant data systems and processes when fully implemented, while enabling an integrated and consistent data (and business rules for the data) which is consistent throughout the State.

QA Introduction and Purpose

The KIDS III Project has identified the need to include an independent third party in its quality management activities, specifically to perform formal QA and CC oversight services.Our role as QA/QC oversight is to provide timely, independent, expert monitoring and reporting to the KIDS III Project as well as advice to the ODE Project Manager, ODE Project Team, sponsors and stakeholders.

This approach includes the continuous review of: (1) the execution of project management processes which follow Agency standards and that are effective, leading to on-time, on-budget, within-scope delivery; (2) the execution of quality assurance/control processes applied to the work products that are produced to ensure these products meet the business objectives; (3) the assessment and prioritization of risks which may diminish the success of the project; (4) the planning and execution of appropriate mitigation strategies to address the risks, and (5) the effectiveness of communications among all project stakeholders.

To summarize our approach, we will provide the following QA services:

  1. Monitoring the KIDS Phase III agency application of the project management methodology
  2. Assessing the key process areas, the degree of process compliance to ODE standards and KIDS III Project requirements, and the quality of the resulting end product
  3. Monitoring and assessing the relationship between ODE management and stakeholders, the KIDS III Project Team, the DW Contractor and the other outsourced contractors
  4. Monitoring and providing migration strategies ofproject risks that could affect the project’s scope, budget, timely completion and project quality
  5. Assessing the completeness and appropriateness of the project and product deliverables
  6. Monitoring the project's performance according to the project plan and schedule
  7. Monitoring the quality of the work performed
  8. Reviewing project activities and suggesting process improvements

Our specific focus in the KIDS III project will be on a different set of the “three Rs”, and these are summarized as:

  • Risk. (risk identification, prioritization and mitigation strategies)
  • ROI. (identifying the most appropriate areas for project work focus and the return on investment for the work to be addressed)
  • Reward.(identifying continuous improvement strategies and optimizing resources to provide the best value for the project)

QA and QC Scope: Initial, Ongoing and Closure

As mentioned in the introduction, we will monitor the KIDS III Project processes and work products and will assess the ODE Project Team and DW Contractor’s performance to business objectives and requirements. We will work with the Project Manager and Project Team to provide mentoring, advice and recommendations on how best to proceed with the project. We will make recommendations, based on a review of risks and mitigation strategies, as to how to optimize valuable project resources. This QA approach will support the achievement of the agency’s business objectives and will help the ODE Project Manager and ODE Project Teamto keep the project within budget, schedule, and scope. Our work involves an initial assessment, ongoing support and project closure activities.

We will conduct the following initialproject reviews and assessments:

  1. Initial Documentation Review: Review existing project documentation, including business, technical and project documents. These include but are not limited to:
  • (QA) IRRs,(Information Referral Requests) project charters, plans, schedules (Gantts) governance documents
  • (QA) Additional project management documentation and processes such as issues logs, bug tracking, budget/burn rate documents, contractor and project change management processes
  • (QA) Outsourced vendor RFPs Contracts (and amendments) if any
  • QA and QC) Business case and justifications for starting the project
  • (QA and QC) Business, functional and system requirements
  • (QC and QA) Technical documentation from previous phases which include but are not limited to: data dictionary, data models, schema versions, migration strategies ETL and data staging processes, business processes for choosing (prioritizing) candidate data, system flow diagrams, metadata catalogue, user access and security roles, end-user processes and reports
  • (QC and QA) Review the DW Contractors Project Plan and delivery schedule for Phase III and any new technical documentation for Phase III.

The results of our document reviews, and any recommendations will be outlined in the Initial Risk Assessment report.

  1. Initial Interviews:Interviews will involve discussions with the ODE Project Team, ODE managers/sponsors and the DW Contractor, if available. Lastly, we will conduct interviews with the agency customers and the ESDs/regions who operate their various ODSs as described in the KIDS III Solicitation, and the business staff who will be using the data to meet their business needs.
  1. Initial Risk Assessment and Project Status Report: We will develop the KIDS Phase III Risk Assessment report, based on the above interviews and reviews of project and technical documentation. In the document, we will review areas of project strengths and weakness, identify gaps, risks, and risk mitigation strategies. We will also be reporting progress to the identified risk initial areas in the monthly and quarterly reports. This initial report will be created using reviews of QA and PMBOK project best practices and the KIDS Phase III degree of alignment to these best practices.
  1. Provide Additional Initial QA Assessment Documents. These are described in the RFP, and include the Quality Standards document, Baseline QA Project Plan and the Quality Management Plan.

The following areas are the scope of ongoing QA assistance:

  1. QA Project Team Assistance/Mentoring: We will be an integral part of the ODE Project Team, and will be attending weekly meetings with the ODE PM and Project Team, providing guidance and recommendations on how to address various project issues as they arise.Our QA mentoring is based on over 16 years experience as a PM for various State of Oregon projects, which includes an in-depth understanding of various State of Oregon processes, agencies and people. In addition,we will use our experience and understanding of project best practices and processes to assist ODE in maintaining forward momentum on the project. Progress, issues and risk assessments based on these reviews will be identified in the monthly and quarterly QA reports.
  1. QC Review of DW Contractor’s Development/Deployment Project Plan. (QC Deliverable 1.2). When the DW Contractor is selected and is on site, we will review their Development/Deployment Project Plan and develop (as part of Deliverable 1.2), the Quality Checklist to monitor the DW Contractor Deliverables. The review will address the degree of DW Contractor compliance to the agency business case, agency requirements and whether the DW Contractor has incorporated best practices for data warehouse program management. Each Deliverable reviewed by QC will also cite areas that were properly addressed, areas that need more work and generic risk/mitigation recommendations.
  1. QA/QC Review of DW Contractors Work Product. We will review the various DW Contractor Work products (Deliverables and Milestones as part of QA Deliverables section 2), and will also review and document the testing and acceptance criteria for ODE acceptance of the DW Contractor Deliverables/Milestones. We will also review these DW Deliverables to ensure they address identified critical success factors and whether they are in alignment with business, system and technical requirements.
  1. QA Project Team Monitoring: We will review generally acceptedPMBOK project processes and will compare the ODE Project Team Work performed to determine the degree of ODE compliance with these generally accepted practices. In addition, we will review ODE Work performed to determine if the Work is aligned to KIDS III project objectives. We will also review the identified project critical success factors and monitor project progress on these factors. Lastly we will provide guidance to the ODE PM and Project Team and will report areas that were properly addressed or need more work in the monthly and quarterly reports.
  1. QA Monthly/Quarterly Reports: We will prepare and disseminate approved monthly and quarterly reports to identified ODE staff and related stakeholders. Quarterly reports (to be prepared as outlined by DAS EISPD in the RFP, will be submitted to ODE for their review and approval and will then be submitted to EISPD. We will also prepare JLCIMT reports as requested by EISPD.
  1. QA Communication Issues/Relationship Monitoring: Communication is 80% of a PM’s job and it is critical that the relationships between the ODE Project Team, outsourced contractors, ODE Sponsors/stakeholders/business, and end-users are working together to achieve their mutual goals. When project constraints arise, poor communications/relationships can be one of the major factors in project failures. We will continue to monitor the relationship between the above entities to ensure the project is moving forward and will report areas of concern in the monthly and quarterly reports.
  1. QA Risk Review and Monitoring: We will monitor the project risks identified in the Initial Risk Assessment, and continue to identify, assess and track project risks, and, where appropriate, recommend risk-mitigating solutions. The goal is to facilitate a successful project completion and to migrate the successful project into a successful program.

QA closureactivities include:

  1. Project Acceptance and Closure Report: Prior to starting this QA Deliverable (2.2b), three events need to occur:
  • The DW Contractor Deliverables will have been reviewed and accepted by QC
  • The QC reports have been reviewed and accepted by the ODE Project Team
  • The System Support & Maintenance Agreement (QA Deliverable 2.2a) has been completed by QA and accepted by ODE

Once these have been completed, we will prepare a standardized project acceptance and closure report for ODE review and acceptance. When accepted by ODE, these will need to be signed by the ODE Sponsor, Business Mgr, PM and DW Contractor.

  1. .Lessons Learned Report. (QA Deliverable 1.6). Approximately three months prior to the end of the project, this report will start. We will conduct re-interviews of the individuals who were interviewed at the start of the project. We will list the risks and mitigations, compliance to generally accepted PMBOK process (as outlined in the initial Risk Assessment) The report draft will be reviewed by the ODE Project Team, and when approved will be sent to the identified ODE audience.

QA Methodology

RK Technical Associates QA approach is based on industry ‘best practices’ of project management and quality assurance. Managing project quality requires an approved quality plan encompassing three major quality processes defined below.This includes all activities of quality management that determine the quality policy, objectives, and responsibilities and implements them by means of quality planning, quality control and improvements, and quality assurance.

For the purposes of this document, “quality standards” means both “process and product quality standards”. Process quality standards cover management support, decision drivers, project management, schedule and resources. Product quality standards cover product content, development, deployment, environment, technology and maintainability.

This quality management approach adheres to and includes work activities in support of the following quality management processes:

Quality Plan Processes

Quality Planning

Quality planning includes the identification and monitoring of established quality standards relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them.

Quality Planning involves review of organizational policy, the complexity and uniqueness of the project, an assessment as to the strengths and gaps within the project, the governance structure, and the ODE Project Team and outsourced Contractors, and the business. .

The product is this Quality Management Plan, to identify the standards as they relate to the project schedule, resources and internal procedures, and addresses how these standards will be implemented, inspected, controlled and reported.

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance activities focus on the processes being used to manage and deliver the solution to evaluate overall project performance on a regular basis. Quality assurance is a method to ensure the project will satisfy the quality standards and will define and record quality reviews, test performance, and customer acceptance.

Project Deliverables and Processes Acceptance Criteria

Project team members and key stakeholders agree at the project planning stage on formal project processes and major Deliverable acceptance criteria that will be used to evaluate final deliverable results before the results are formally approved. These are to be included in all outsourced Contracts.

Quality Control

Quality control activities are performed continually to verify that project management and the DW Contractor project Deliverables are of high quality meet quality standards and meet contractual thresholds for Deliverable acceptance. This includes review of completed Deliverables to determine if they comply the project critical success factors, and meet business, functional or technical requirements. Quality control also helps uncover causes of unsatisfactory results and establish lessons learned to avoid similar issues in this and other projects. Quality control includes identifying quality improvements that can be made and recommending and tracking changes that will realize those improvements

Project Flex Priority Assessment

It is critical the ODE Sponsors, Stakeholders and Project Team review the assets and constraints of the project at the beginning of Phase III, and determine the areas of least to greatest flex. This also needs to be part of the ODE PM Project Management Plan. As per the initial discussion with the technical and regional PMs, the four areas are listed in order of least flex to most flex.

  1. SCOPE: The area of least flex (for the first half of the project) is the scope. At a minimum, KIDS III needs to incorporate the data from the remaining school districts into one of the six regional warehouses, and then migrate designated data elements into the central data warehouse. Additional functionality can be added as long as the project cost and schedule were not exceeded.
  2. QUALITY: The project needs to meet the high quality standards for deployment and acceptance by ODE Sponsors, Stakeholders and Business Users.
  3. SCHEDULE: The current project schedule indicates an October 20, 2009 deployment but could flex within that time range. However, a major time constraint is the KIDS III Project needs to deploy sufficient improvements (by no later than January 2009), to justify obtaining POP funding for Phase IV. The ODE Project Team will need to work with the regions (the six ODSs), additional stakeholders and the DW contractor, (when selected) to determine what components can be addressed by December 31st, 2008.
  4. COST: The project cannot exceed the amount in the budget. However, there appears to be adequate funding, which may be needed to augment staffto meet the scope and schedule constraints.

Note: After January 2009, the project flex priority may change. These priorities will be reviewed and updated in the quarterly report.