Apprenticeship training course

Quality practitioner (level 4)

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Information about Quality practitioner (level 4)

Ensures that an organisation, product or service consistently functions well.

• Knowledge, skills and behaviours:
  View knowledge, skills and behaviours

  Knowledge

  • Understand the organisations operating environment and the factors that may influence its direction and performance, including the markets it operates in, roles and responsibilities, who its stakeholders are and what they require from the organisation. This may include sustainability criteria.
  • Understand the environment in which the organisation’s products/services are produced or supplied, and the factors that may influence performance, including legislation, customer requirements and regulatory requirements. This may include sustainability or climate change criteria.
  • How the organisation’s strategy is sensitive to stakeholder perceptions and how this knowledge informs priorities at a tactical level. This may include sustainability, ethical, or climate change related criteria.
  • How applicable contractual and commercial requirements for quality affect the organisation’s performance objectives for their specific products / services.
  • The methods and tools for identifying customers/stakeholders and gathering information about their requirements including the tools for analysing and prioritising customer/stakeholder quality requirements using tools such as Kano model.
  • How to convert quality requirements into performance measures objectives using tools such as Critical to Quality Trees (CTQ Trees), requirements matrices and operational definition.
  • Risk and opportunity management, including the risk and opportunity management principles, framework and processes, types of risk/opportunity associated with new product/service development and improvement, process and supply chain management and methods and tools for identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks/realising opportunities, such as risk and opportunity register, risk and opportunity matrix, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.
  • Products/services life cycle stages (such as Capture, Design and Development, Integration, Production, Support and Closure) and the implication for quality
  • Concept of process design and how this supports specific organisational objectives using tools such as process flowchart, value stream mapping and SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output, and Customer).
  • Tools and techniques for managing the organisation’s specific products / services to meet customer requirements such as Quality Function Deployment, Lean Product Development and Design for Manufacturing.
  • How to plan, measure, manage and monitor organisation’s quality objectives.
  • Understand the purposes for auditing and how to plan, conduct, report and follow up an audit.
  • When to apply a range of business improvement approaches tools and techniques such as Problem definition, measurement systems analysis, Basic data analysis, graphical data analysis, use of software tools for data analysis, root cause analysis, identification and assessment of improvement options, process control tools.
  • The key considerations (such as political, economical, social, technological, legal and environmental) and approaches necessary (such as Tuckman’s Storming, Norming, Forming and Performing) to enable change in organisations, products or services.
  • The company’s key drivers for change (internal and external) may influence priorities and objectives.
  • How to promote the right behaviours to create a quality culture in the organisation and how this leads to organisational performance improvements.
  • The techniques used for improving awareness and performance in relation to quality objectives and requirements.
  • Learn how different sources and methods will aid in maintaining own development in the quality profession.
  • Principles of the foundation of Quality and Quality Management System.

  Skills

  • Identify, interpret and apply relevant legal, governmental or industry regulations affecting the organisation.
  • Communicate using appropriate methods (verbal, written, visual) to influence internal and external stakeholders, using appropriate questioning techniques such as open questions, leading questions.
  • Identify, collect and analyse relevant quality data using appropriate tools and techniques such as Pareto analysis, statistical methods and trending analysis.
  • Apply methods and tools to improve the quality performance of processes, products and services such as production control plans, standardised work, use of failure modes and effects.
  • Identify, analyse and prioritise quality specific risks and opportunities. Support the development, implementation and effectiveness of resulting actions.
  • Plan and conduct system, product or process audits.
  • Assess the effectiveness of the measurement systems using tool such as Measurement Systems Analysis.
  • Identify requirements from technical documents, commercial input or stakeholder statements and converting to definitions that can drive the organisations processes
  • Identify gaps in process performance and develop improvement plans to close gaps.
  • Apply structured problem solving including identification, definition, measurement, analysis, improvement and control methods and tools.
  • Communicate organisational quality strategy to all levels of the organisation.
  • Identify who the internal and external stakeholders are and their current and optimal positions (such as hostile, help it work, opposed, uncooperative, indifferent, hesitant, enthusiastic support) required to support quality related activities.

  Behaviours

  • Promote actively best practices and continuous improvement.
  • Operates diligently with professionalism considering a wider picture.
  • Act with integrity by being open and honest.
  • Always put customers at the heart of every task.
  • Seek continuous professional development opportunities such as self-reflection, gathering information, producing personal development plans and keeping up to date on sector/organisation regulation.
• Apprenticeship category (sector): Business and administration
• Qualification level: 4; Equal to higher national certificate (HNC)
• Course duration: 14 months
• Maximum funding: £6,000 ; Maximum government funding for ; apprenticeship training and assessment costs.

View more information about Quality practitioner (level 4) from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.