Quality Assurance

PEM provides Quality Assurance System (QAS) services upon request the client’s request. The purpose of PEM’s quality assurance system (QAS) is to ensure that any quality issues are promptly identified and addressed through appropriate and timely corrective measures.

1. Objectives of the Quality Assurance System

PEM’s quality assurance policy is to provide services that consistently meet client needs and expectations, upholding high professional standards.

The QAS aims to:

1. Make a clear distinction of roles and division of responsibilities.
2. Ensure ownership.
3. Facilitate better implementation of methodology and processes.
4. Ensure early detection of potential problems.
5. Enable timely and appropriate corrective action.
6. Provide opportunities for learning and continuous improvement.

The QAS is designed to ensure the quality of the:

• Proposed team and methodology, identifying the best qualified experts and developing an appropriate methodology.
• Interactions with stakeholders.
• Desired deliverables.
• Various processes, such as different activities, decisions, time schedules, and compliance with different rules.

PEM’s Quality Assurance System has five quality dimensions:

• Methodological quality: the tools and methods applied for stakeholder interaction, and data collection and analysis.
• Thematic quality: the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the different themes are addressed in the assignments.
• Editorial quality: the structure, grammar, illustrations and layout of written deliverables.
• Managerial quality: the team must be fully qualified to deliver quality services.
• Contractual quality: contractual, financial and legal compliance, financial management and administration.

2. Actors, roles and procedures in the Quality Assurance System

A different range of actors are involved in the tasks that are related to the quality assurance of written deliverables. Other actors are also involved in tasks that are not related to written deliverables. Figure 1 visually represents PEM’s Quality Assurance System.
Team Members, Team Leaders and PEM Partners are involved in the five quality dimensions of the QAS: methodological, thematic, editorial, managerial and contractual.
Each written deliverable will be subject to quality assurance following these steps:

1. Each team member ensures the quality of her/his deliverables before submission. Deliverables are submitted to the Team Leader for feedback and approval.
2. The Team Leader is responsible for ensuring the highest quality of each deliverable prepared by the team. The Team Leader provides comments and revises deliverables.
3. The Team Leader submits major written deliverables to the PEM Partner responsible for feedback and a final quality check before submission.
4. The Team Leader responds to the Partner’s comments and revises the deliverable for submission to the client.
5. Comments and feedback from the client are duly considered and incorporated into the revised deliverable by the team, under the guidance of the Team Leader.

Other actors involved in the Quality Assurance System include:
PEM Director is responsible for ensuring the preparation and signing of contracts, financial management and reporting to the client, handling of payments, and legal issues that may arise.
PEM Board is responsible for handling cases of serious grievances, disagreements, disputes, contractual breaches, and misuse of funds.
PEM Project Managers may aid on assignments, such as management and processing of large sets of quantitative data and documentation, logistics, and ensuring editorial quality of written deliverables.
External Peer Reviewer may be included to assess the solidity of the methodology and thematic contents of major written deliverables.
External Editor may be engaged to carry out the final editing and layout of deliverables.