Quality Checklist and Quality Checksheet are the tools and techniques used in Quality management. Many people have confusion with checklist and checksheet, and most often think both are one and the same. It is important to clearly understand the checklist vs checksheet comparison to get a clear understanding. So, let’s start with the basic question…
What is a Checklist ?
A checklist is a tool that is used to verify whether a set of required steps has been performed or not.
What is a Quality Checklist?
Quality checklist is a tool that helps verify
- whether a required action has taken place or not
- whether a required item has been included or not.
Quality Checklists are created with reference to the Acceptance criteria defined in the Scope Baseline. It helps in identifying defects, managing and controlling the quality of the deliverables. Thus, Quality Checklists is used as one of the data gathering techniques in Manage Quality Process and Control Quality Process.
What is Quality Checksheet?
Quality Checksheet is also known as Tally Sheet. In a Quality Checksheet, the facts about a quality problem are mentioned in an organized way.
For example: Suppose a defect is identified, then there will be information regarding, when did the defect occur, how long did it occur, where did it occur, cause of the defect, who is accountable to fix this defect, etc.. All this information or facts are gathered. The same is done for other quality problems. Finally, these facts are organized in a systematic manner, so that it can be helpful to perform inspections.
According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), Checksheets are used to organize facts in a manner that will facilitate the effective collection of useful data about a potential quality problem. They are especially useful for gathering data of attributes while performing inspections to identify defects.
The data collected through checksheets can, in turn, be translated into other formats such as Pareto Diagram, etc.
SUMMARY (Checklist vs Checksheet)
In simple terms, A Checklist helps in identifying defects.
A Checksheet helps in knowing how often a particular defect occurs.
Check the Seven Basic Quality Tools.
Good article!