Quality Assurance is the deliberate effort to monitor and react to observed quality. Quality is the ability to achieve desired process outputs on a consistent basis.  Quality Assurance requires;

1.       An organization to define “desired process outputs”

2.       A system be established to measure and compare actual versus desired process outputs

3.       A feedback systems enabling the organization to react to undesirable variations

Defining what is desired as outputs from an organization’s processes requires and understanding of what the customer wants (Voice of the Customer), as well as the organization’s capabilities (Process Capability Assessment.)  Quality measurement systems, such as those within the Six Sigma discipline, need to be implemented to effectively integrate with day-to-day operations and management.  Reaction to quality issues arising from feedback systems needs to be timely and effective.  Quality Assurance requires a deliberate effort to allocate resources in an effective manner based on metric driven feedback.