TRAINING SERVICES (SIN 874-4)

The Quality Plus Engineering team understands how to deliver highly effective training services. Our training creates the foundation for MOBIS initiatives by fostering commitment, accountability, empowerment, and collaboration among leaders and staff within Federal agencies.

• Performance Measurement. Q+E consultants customize a GPRA training module as part of strategic, business and actions planning work. The module combines a lecture on the time-phased requirements of GPRA with instruction on how to develop performance measures and hands-on exercises in which the participants develop performance metrics for their agency.
• Strategic Risk Management Planning.  Q+E offers a 3-day leadership and governance course that facilitates the discussion of risk tolerance, development of metrics, establishes a risk management structure appropriate to the agency, development of control at the enterprise level, process/project level and the activity/product level.  Finally, root cause corrective and preventive feedback loops are developed to monitor and measure critical risks.  Training in strategic risk planning is vital at the start of the strategic planning process.  The Q+E team can offer Value Added Auditing^® to reinforce and deploy senior executive risk management vision, missions, and strategies. A companion course, "Information Systems Risk Assessment," addresses the systems aspects of risk management, organizational and business improvement strategies.
• Business Process Management.  Q+E provides Business Process Management training tailored to the client's specific needs. This can range from our two day Process Management course which is tailored to introduce basic techniques as a general orientation or as part of business process team building, to the detailed just-in-time training modules that Q+E presents to business improvement teams as they actually perform reengineering or risk management. Q+E experience has shown that the just-in-time method has the distinct advantage of remaining fresh in the mind of team members as they work through each step in a structured Business Process Management or Risk Management process. This training is highly interactive and contains numerous exercises to build proficiency throughout the course of the project.
• Value Added Auditing^® Linked to ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.  Q+E developed the Value Added Auditing^® as the next step in the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 journeys.  ISO 9000, ‘Quality Management Systems,’ and ISO 14000, ‘Environmental Management Systems,’ are international standards that have received global acceptance and implementation. Q+E provides ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 training courses to Federal agencies and private sector companies. Our ISO 9000 course introduces the fundamental principles of quality management. Our introductory ISO 14000 training covers environmental practices and how to standardize the approach to developing environmental management systems, environmental performance evaluation, environmental audits, life cycle analysis, and environmental labeling.
• Quality Management and Statistical Process Control.  Q+E principals have written some of the best selling and most recognized books in quality management, quality assurance, and quality control.  Q+E understands very well that quality has become a prerequisite for organizational success. Quality management begins with planning and an examination of processes. Therefore, Q+E offers ‘Lead Auditor/Assessor Training’ through Moody International as part of our quality management program.  Using the Hutchins, Crosby, Deming, and Juran methodologies, Q+E introduces Federal agencies to a set of principles for establishing quality goals, identifying customers, determining customer needs, providing measurement, and developing process features and controls to improve business tactics.  During this course, emphasis is placed on setting quality goals, planning multi-functional processes, establishing databases for quality planning, motivating managers and the work force, and introducing quality planning in any governmental environment.  Since Six Sigma and Statistical Process Control are a critical and integral part of quality management, Q+E also provides an introductory ‘Statistical Process Control’ and ‘Six Sigma’ module as part of our Value Added Auditing^® certification and quality management training.
• Benchmarking and Process Improvement.  Q+E developed the Value Added Auditing^® certification which includes core courses in process management, project management, risk management, and Value Added Auditing^®.  ‘Process Management’ and ‘Certified Quality Manager’ courses specifically cover training in benchmarking theory and practice to help organizations establish realistic benchmarks for their core business processes. This course covers the types of benchmarking, the seven-step benchmarking process, and how to integrate benchmarking with consensual problem solving. Q+E also conducts training in process management, risk management, and process/project improvement.  Components of this training include: describing work as a process; defining the process structure (inputs, transformation, outputs, and influences); developing meaningful measurements of process performance; getting the process to talk to you (collecting meaningful data); and finding and solving process problems.
• Performance Problem Solving and Change Management.  Q+E's courses offer interactive lectures and exercises to illustrate problem solving concepts and principles.  Participants identify process problems, select a process for redesign, create process maps, benchmark the process against those of other organizations, design a new process, and communicate the redesigned process using storyboards and graphics. Courses also address change management by identifying important factors needed to initiate effective change management and integration within the Federal agency's environment. These factors include organizational structure, knowledge, systems, and human resources.
• Customer Service.  Q+E recognizes that the first step toward improving customer service is to understand the fundamentals of customer satisfaction and the attributes of high quality customer service. In many cases, agency personnel may be uncertain as to who their customers are. QPE provides training on the basic principles of high quality customer service as part of our consultation and facilitation engagements. This customized training is integrated into our business improvement projects.  Training combines lecture, actual examples of world-class customer service, and exercises. We define the attributes of superior customer service in the language of the Federal agency that we are supporting.
• Team Building.  Q+E consultants and facilitators use team building training to provide a solid conceptual framework for understanding self-managed and functional work-group teams. This training explains key team issues, interpersonal concerns, and individual behaviors a team must tackle by means of a five-stage team development model.  Q+E customizes the session to include topics such as the advantages of team building; differences between groups and teams; assessing group capability maturity (CMM); benefits of teamwork versus individual task work; process-oriented teamwork (Business Process Management); characteristics of successful teams; barriers and aides to teamwork; organizational support for teamwork; assessing individual skills (Myers-Briggs Instrument); and valuing diversity and managing conflict.