CSTE Week 2 Vocabulary Page A10 (CBOK v6.2)

To change a process to make the process produce a given product faster, more economically, or of higher quality. Such changes may require the product to be changed. The defect rate must be maintained or reduced.

The output of a process: the work product. There are three useful classes of products: Manufactured Products (standard and custom), Administrative/Information Products (invoices, letters, etc.), and Service Products (physical, intellectual, physiological, and psychological). A statement of requirements defines products; one or more people working in a process produce them.

To change the statement of requirements that defines a product to make the product more satisfying and attractive to the customer (more competitive). Such changes may add to or delete from the list of attributes and/or the list of functions defining a product. Such changes frequently require the process to be changed. Note: This process could result in a very new product.

The cost of producing a product. Production costs, as currently reported, consist of (at least) two parts; actual production or right-the-first time costs (RFT) plus the Cost of Quality (COQ). RFT costs include labor, materials, and equipment needed to provide the product correctly the first time.

The ratio of the output of a process to the input, usually measured in the same units. It is frequently useful to compare the value added to a product by a process, to the value of the input resources required (using fair market values for both input and output).

The use of mathematical logic techniques to show that a relationship between program variables assumed true at program entry implies that another relationship between program variables holds at program exit.

A product is a quality product if it is defect free. To the producer, a product is a quality product if it meets or conforms to the statement of requirements that defines the product. This statement is usually shortened to: quality means meets requirements. From a customer’s perspective, quality means “fit for use.”

The set of support activities (including facilitation, training, measurement, and analysis) needed to provide adequate confidence that processes are established and continuously improved to produce products that meet specifications and are fit for use.