ROLES


The third component of a quality gate is "roles". This component involves assigning tasks to various people or areas involved in the operation of a quality gate. Roles identifies areas or people who are directly connected to the quality gate and its operation, along with people or areas who are affected by issues with the process. It is important to make sure that people or areas dependent on the successful outcome of the process, who are not directly involved, are included in roles as stakeholders. This is so they can be informed of any issues identified from the quality gates that may impact on their work.

The key roles for a quality gate have been identified as:

• An operational person (gate keeper);
• Stakeholders; and
• A sign off person(s).

Each of these roles plays an important part in the quality gate process.

The operational person, known as the gate keeper, is the person responsible for compiling the information for the quality gate. Their role includes documenting the quality gate and populating the information within the gate as the process unfolds. The gate keeper is also responsible for ensuring that all roles are completed on time.

There are two types of stakeholders. The first type of stakeholder is the giver or giving stakeholder. They are the stakeholders responsible for providing the information specified by the quality measures. These stakeholders need to be aware of the definitions being utilised within the quality gate in order to provide the right information. It is also important that all responsibilities are clearly negotiated at the creation of a quality gate to ensure that the correct information is supplied in a timely manner when the quality gate is reached. It is also worth noting that these stakeholders may be in another area to that of the process that is being monitored. In these cases it is important to not duplicate the efforts of other stakeholder areas in the quality gate.

The second type of stakeholder is that of the receiver or receiving stakeholder. They are the stakeholders whose work may be affected by any issues identified in the process. These stakeholders play a different role in the overall quality management of a process depending on the impact of a quality gate assessment. For example, if one area is dependent on data from another area, it is advisable to have the dependent area as a stakeholder that is informed of any delays or issues in the process that may directly impact on their ability to do their work.

A sign off person is independent of the compilation of the quality gate. They examine the information presented within the quality gate and make a decision as to whether the process can proceed to the next stage. A sign off person may be a manager who has not been directly involved with the process. This promotes a fresh examination of the data presented from a quality gate in order to make an informed decision. A risk with any process is that people closely involved may not be able to see obvious issues, which is why it is strongly recommended that an independent person to the process has the role of sign off. Depending on organisational requirements there could be more than one sign off person for the quality gates in a statistical process.