T&H's Quality Assurance Program

Proper oversight of all contract operations will be key to our Team's successful partnership with the Virtual SYSCOM customers. A robust, consistent, and documented management approach is essential. Our Project Management Methodology (PMM) promotes flexible collaboration and innovative application of our combined team strengths in complex integration and development environments such as those presented by the SeaPort-e effort. T&H's PMM is grounded in CMMi practices, and follows the Program Management Institute's guidelines for PM. Using a standard, documented PMM allows us to execute tasks on time and within budget, and identify and mitigate program risks.

The T&H Team's approach to quality assurance is to have the right people apply the right processes at the right times to promote project excellence. Through a process of structured product development, customer involvement, and an iterative assessment of performance measures and expectations, we are able to translate this approach into the consistent, timely delivery of high quality products. T&H considers the scope of quality control and assurance to begin at the onset of the project and extend through the life cycle of all tasks, products, and deliverables.

Our QA/QC process begins by involving qualified and experience staff from the outset. We develop and document a process, action plan, and a description of performance measures relevant to the specific TO. To prevent quality defects, the Team will gather, record and communicate product information as it relates to processes, impacts, risks, applications, and technology. Throughout the work product development process, an iterative approach is used to continuously verify, validate, and improve the quality of work and to meet customer requirements. The Team will use proven QC techniques, such as walkthroughs, inspections, and formal reviews to identify and resolve quality defects in a proactive manner. Comments from internal peer reviews will be incorporated into draft products before client submission. We will use these multiple levels of review to inspect work products and identify and remedy non-conformance items prior to delivery.

All major work products will be delivered first in draft form. The customer will have the opportunity to review the draft deliverable; feedback will be incorporated into the final deliverable. Any defects identified will be documented, and communicated, with both initial reports and remedial strategies maintained in a central repository, serving as a reference point for preventing future work defects. To manage work product integrity, the Team will implement CMMi-compliant change management and version control principles that emphasize ongoing documentation and communications as the best way to identify and remediate any problems before they impact schedules, resources, or performance.

Customer Relations.
The Team's organizational structure provides an efficient and effective management architecture that meets or exceeds the requirements for work assignments and tasks. T&H's functional organizational structure reflects our collaborative PMM-based management approach, and its emphasis on ongoing communications between the customer and our project team.

Contracts such as SeaPort-e depend on both Government staff and multiple contractor teams to meet their needs. While clear lines of reporting are established within the team, our staff is encouraged to work as partners with all appropriate stakeholders involved in making projects a success. Our Team has access to an Advisory Board, formed for this specific project. Technical experts and corporate leaders from each teaming partner will provide guidance to the Team as a whole, and will be available to participate in project reviews of the project or to discuss the customer's emerging needs.

The T&H Team's Program/Project Manager will oversee all project activities, will monitor economic, finance, regulatory, and business issues, and will be the primary point of contact for contractual issues with the customer. Our other personnel will provide guidance, management, and senior expertise in a matrixed management approach across all functional areas of the project.

Risk Management and Problem Resolution
Risk assessments are an important quality control (QC) component. Through our risk management approach, our Team will identify and mitigate project risks early in the development cycle, enabling us to remain on schedule and within budget without compromising product or program quality. The T&H Team's integrated risk management protocol is a formal process for anticipating, ranking, and mitigating project risks, involving six steps, as shown below:

Risk Process	Description
1. Identification	Look at changes in resources and the internal and external programmatic and technical environments to identify risks before they become problems. Anticipate typical risks and build mitigation strategies into overall operations.
2. Analysis	Technical, project, client and business risks will be analyzed and ranked by determining the probability of a negative event as measured against the likely severity of that event and its potential impact on project and program operations. We will identify potential mitigation strategies and their cost and impact.
3. Prioritization	Based on our analysis, the Team will prioritize risks and will present the results, recommended mitigation strategies, and rationale to AHRQ. Our presentation will include full documentation of the process.
4. Mitigation	We will implement the mitigation strategy, following the prioritized plan.
5. Contingency planning	Develop contingency plans to anticipate typical risks such as office closures, non-availability of staff due to illness, etc. These plans will be updated as project needs, resources, or standard procedures change.
6. Monitoring	Our documentation and reporting activities and open lines of communication promote continuous monitoring of progress performance, including application of risk mitigation strategies.

When engaging in risk mitigation efforts, our Team will receive assistance as required from the Project Advisory Group. As summarized below, we routinely anticipate common risks. We have incorporated common mitigation approaches that have proven successful on similar engagements into our management plan.

Typical Risk	Mitigation Approach
Unexpected staff shortage	Cross-train the technical Team, with priority given to mission-critical processes and functions, so that other team members can step in for absent staff. Draw on full team resources to identify qualified staff for temporary reassignments. Reduce unanticipated absences by requiring advance notice for vacations and planned leave.
Lack of documentation compromises the ability to execute technical tasks.	Conduct interviews and workshops to gather and document pertinent information about processes and procedures. Develop and maintain a library of documentation in a repository accessible by all Team members Assign a Team with direct experience and established relationships with the business community involved in application development
Delays with review and feedback on deliverables slows project performance.	Involve all personnel, including customer and other involved contractors, early in the development process so that schedules are known and signed off on when milestones are set. Include review and feedback activities for the next period in each project status report so that all parties know their responsibilities for the upcoming period. Schedule frequent project meetings to monitor, review and finalize project management, risk management, quality control, and configuration management procedures
Stakeholders find it difficult to adapt to changes in technology or associated processes	Build early stakeholder involvement into the development and implementation process Conduct executive briefings with all key stakeholders to explain the purpose, goal, roles, responsibilities, and value of the project Address key stakeholder expectations and concerns using the Team’s institutional knowledge and by providing ongoing training and support Conduct continuous reviews in accordance with performance measures
Process, legislative, and organizational change impacts project focus, funding, or performance	Provide focused communications to deliver messages to differing internal and external audiences when process change is involved Conduct ongoing literature and industry reviews to identify and proactively respond to changes in health technology, overall information technology, and allied environments Monitor government initiatives and maintain flexibility to respond to these as they emerge Continuously monitor project performance against the baseline so that resources are effectively used and a measurable return on investment can be demonstrated