The design of QTrac: An automated quality and cost management system for projects

The value of Total Quality Management is demonstrated by the fact that quality products and service are non-negotiable as market-entry for organizations to compete globally. Quality costing is a measure of the efficiency of Total Quality Management and the metric that companies employ to measure their gain in profitability from investment in quality management programs. Current financial accounting systems, however, are not designed to measure and report quality related data in a format that allows informed decision-making. Two companies, BIE International and PACE Services, combined their expertise in quality management and cost engineering to design a quality and cost management system that measures and reports quality management and cost data and information. The program is called QTrac for Projects and Manufacturing and is designed as a quality decision-making and cost management system for the project and manufacturing sectors. The objectives of this paper are to present the design strategy of QTrac in response to the critique and limitations of existing quality cost and accounting methodologies.