Every project has a beginning and an end. The Project Management Institute likes to say that "a project is a finite endeavor (having specific start and completion dates) undertaken to create a unique product or service which brings about beneficial change or added value."
To ensure that a beneficial change does occur or that value is added, controls must be established up front to minimize risks… or prevent failure. A new business methodology, one that was patented less than a year ago, should interest risk and project managers, because, when applied with a computerized communications and workflow system, it offers quality assurances, improves administrative and operational efficiencies and strengthens transparency -- all ingredients for success. The new approach sets up controls throughout the life of the project. At the very beginning before any production ever begins, project specifications are defined and suppliers are identified and vetted.
Identifying and prequalifying suppliers is critical, because you only want suppliers in your database that you know can deliver a quality product or service on time and for the right price. Anything less can jeopardize your business. You want firsthand knowledge of each supplier's capabilities. With the new methodology, you set up a supplier database with information about each supplier being as detailed as possible. Similar information is entered for each supplier. These details include everything from where the supplier is located to the type of equipment that it has to the number of shifts it works to whether it is minority owned or environmentally friendly. Whatever the parameters, you set them to create the computerized database that will establish your first quality control checkpoint.
The next step is determining specifications for your project. Let's use print as an example. You will want to specify the type of paper, size, ink colors, quantity, coatings, folds, binding, die cuts, packaging and every other detail that a supplier would need to determine whether it can do the work for you. The details have to be precise, and that is the second quality control checkpoint.