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VSTI believes that quality assurance is a continuum of practices that result in value added capabilities for both the customer and the team. To this end, VSTI is thoroughly committed to ensuring quality products and services as evidenced by our ISO 9001 standards certification. To better serve our customers needs and to ensure the continuation of high quality performance from our team members, the VSTI Team will use VSTI’s established ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS). Implementing the established VSTI QMS will result in the consistent delivery of high quality products and services with clear and concise methods for problem resolution. At VSTI, quality extends far beyond management inspection of the final product. Our quality system is an institutionalized part of our contract, cost, and management approach. As part of our quality system, we continuously pursue opportunities to improve current quality assurance practices to ensure we are providing deliverables that are technically accurate and meet all applicable content and format requirements.
The major components VSTI’s QMS support project planning, system engineering, requirements management and development, process development, record keeping/audit, and financial controls, and are critical to the efficient management of products and services provided to the customer. Our QMS procedures have been proven through the successful execution of Department of Defense programs. Managing change and ensuring superior performance from team members are the goals of VSTI’s quality system. A key to success is the ability to address non-conformance issues with team members in a manner that is conducive to responsive problem resolution.
VSTI is fully committed to quality in every aspect of our work performance and in the way our team is managed. Our quality assurance approach embodies a system that allows user-friendly problem reporting and requires systematic reviews and evaluations of issues and problems. We believe that a timely and frank discussion of issues, in the proper forum, with the appropriate decision makers and stakeholders, will lead to a quick resolution. The VSTI Team will utilize the Corrective and Preventive Action (CPAR) accounting and tracking system defined in the VSTI QMS to track any problems during a task. The CPAR system assigns tracking numbers, due dates, affected personnel, and primary point of contact for each problem as it is identified. The CPAR tracking system is maintained and ensures that deficiencies are addressed in a timely manner and closed out. Follow-on inspections are scheduled whenever required to ensure that all CPAR correction activities are successfully implemented and no further problems have occurred related to the initial CPAR identified.
Two key factors ensure that our response to solving problems is both quick and flexible: (1) Our Program Managers are vested with full decision-making authority and are accessible to all customers, subcontractors, and employees, and (2) Problem identification and resolution is a priority of every task. A primary topic of weekly management and staff meetings is to keep both management and the technical team abreast of potential problems. If additional management input and/or technical expertise is required, additional company resources are made readily available. Problems are resolved quickly when there is adequate insight into project status and the proper authority and additional resources are readily available.
Corrective action is defined, initiated, and implemented based upon data collected during the task monitoring effort. Corrective action consists of any of the following steps, as deemed necessary:
- Define tasks and clarify responsibilities—unclear task definitions can contribute to poor personnel performance, missed milestones, and redundancy. When costs exceed planned profiles, methods such as clarification of responsibilities are employed to ensure timely task completion within budget requirements.
- Train Personnel—personnel may need additional training to complete their work effectively, learn new techniques and technology, and broaden skills.
- Reassign personnel or reallocate resources—reassignment of personnel may be necessary if a task, and the personnel assigned to complete it, are poorly matched. Reallocation of resources may be necessary to ensure timely task completion.
- Ensure schedules are maintained, reviewed, and understood—as a tool, schedules are critical to ensure timely completion of tasks; that impacts of incorporated changes are fully considered, understood, and minimized; and that progress is reported.
Utilizing our proven project monitoring tools and methods in conjunction with these corrective actions, VSTI’s Program Managers and Task Leaders can identify and correct problems and deficiencies relative to meeting contract performance requirements. This process is iterative and on-going. We continuously monitor task performance: following implementation of a corrective action, if a trend of improvement is rapidly demonstrated, the process is continued with task monitoring. If the collected data or customer feedback does not demonstrate improvement, the corrective action process is repeated with identification of the recurring or new problem.
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