Section: Volume E
Explanation:
Process: 8.2 Perform Quality Assurance
Definition: The process of auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements to ensure that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used.
Key Benefit: The key benefit of this process is that it facilitates the improvement of quality processes.
Inputs
1. Quality management plan
2. Process improvement plan
3. Quality metrics
4. Quality control measurements
5. Project documents
Tools & Techniques
1. Quality management and control tools
2. Quality audits
3. Process analysis
Outputs
1. Change requests
2. Project management plan updates
3. Project documents updates
4. Organizational process assets updates

Section: Volume C

Section: Volume D

Section: Volume E
Explanation:
1.4.3 Projects and Strategic Planning
Projects are often utilized as a means of directly or indirectly achieving objectives within an organization's strategic plan. Projects are typically authorized as a result of one or more of the following strategic considerations:
Market demand (e.g., a car company authorizing a project to build more fuel-efficient cars in

response to gasoline shortages);
Strategic opportunity/business need (e.g., a training company authorizing a project to create a new course to

increase its revenues);
Social need (e.g., a nongovernmental organization in a developing country authorizing a project to provide

potable water systems, latrines, and sanitation education to communities suffering from high rates of infectious diseases); Environmental consideration (e.g., a public company authorizing a project to create a new service for electric

car sharing to reduce pollution);
Customer request (e.g., an electric utility authorizing a project to build a new substation to serve a new

industrial park);
Technological advance (e.g., an electronics firm authorizing a new project to develop a faster, cheaper, and

smaller laptop based on advances in computer memory and electronics technology); and Legal requirement (e.g., a chemical manufacturer authorizing a project to establish guidelines for proper

handling of a new toxic material).
Projects, within programs or portfolios, are a means of achieving organizational goals and objectives, often in the context of a strategic plan. Although a group of projects within a program can have discrete benefits, they can also contribute to the benefits of the program, to the objectives of the portfolio, and to the strategic plan of the organization.
Organizations manage portfolios based on their strategic plan. One goal of portfolio management is to maximize the value of the portfolio through careful examination of its components-the constituent programs, projects, and other related work. Those components contributing the least to the portfolio's strategic objectives may be excluded.
In this way, an organization's strategic plan becomes the primary factor guiding investments in projects. At the same time, projects provide feedback to programs and portfolios by means of status reports, lessons learned, and change requests that may help to identify impacts to other projects, programs, or portfolios. The needs of the projects, including the resource needs, are rolled up and communicated back to the portfolio level, which in turn sets the direction for organizational planning.