CQP Foundation Level
Quality Management Systems cheat sheet
Every chapter's key points, formulas and definitions on one page, for the last week before the exam. Each heading links to the chapter that explains it.
The origin and evolution of quality management
- KS ISO 9000 defines quality as the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics of an object fulfils requirements, and a requirement may be stated, generally implied or obligatory.
- Quality control is detection applied to output that already exists; quality assurance is prevention, giving confidence before and during the work that requirements will be met.
- Grade is a category for items of the same functional use but different requirements; quality is achieved or missed within it, so a budget hotel can be high quality at a low grade.
- The five eras, craftsmanship, inspection, statistical quality control, quality assurance and total quality management, overlap rather than replace one another.
- The business case rests on customer retention, cost reduction, market access, regulatory exposure and employee engagement, and is strongest when the loss is worked out in shillings.
Key terms
- Inherent
- Belonging to the thing itself, not assigned to it. The tensile strength of a steel bar is inherent; its price is not, so price is not a quality characteristic.
- Requirements
- A need or expectation that is stated, generally implied, or obligatory. A customer states delivery in seven days; the market generally implies that packaged milk will not be sour; the Standards Act makes a KEBS compulsory standard obligatory.
- Degree
- Quality is a matter of more or less, not of yes or no. A product either conforms to its specification or does not, but the specification itself may be set high or low.
- Quality control (QC)
- The part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements. It is detection: inspection, testing and measurement applied to output that already exists.
- Quality assurance (QA)
- The part focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled. It is prevention: procedures, competence, audits and documented evidence applied before and during the work.
- Quality management
- Coordinated activities to direct and control an organisation with regard to quality: setting the policy and objectives, then planning, controlling, assuring and improving.
- Quality management system (QMS)
- The part of a management system that deals with quality: the processes, the people, the documented information and the resources, taken together as one interacting whole rather than as separate departments.
- Grade
- A category assigned to objects having the same functional use but different requirements. A three-star and a five-star hotel in Diani are different grades; either can be poor quality if it fails its own grade's requirements.
The rest of the sheet covers
- The quality gurus
- Dimensions of quality
- Principles of quality management
- The process approach to quality
- Quality requirements
- ISO management system standards
- The context of the organisation
- Leadership for quality
- Quality planning and support
- Quality operations
- Quality culture
- Exam technique and revision
- Glossary