A Total Quality Self-Assessment Toolkit

Phase I of the proposed program shall involve the design, rapid prototyping, and demonstration of the feasibility of a total quality self-assessment toolkit (TQSAT-95), a user-friendly software package based on the 1995 Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Criteria for use by businesses and organizations to conduct self-assessments on personal computers (PCs). User guides will be incorporated in an on-line help system with sufficient documentation for ease of use by novice users. The toolkit will be Windows-based utilizing a readily-developed, in-house software package for TII self-assessment which employs partitioned screens for data entry and linkage between different files to import data from spreadsheets and graphic application software. The graphical user interface screens will provide the user with ample working space at all times while displaying windows for data entry, guidance and directions, scoring guidelines, case studies, training instructions, and a linkage tree to show the interrelationships between the Items and the specific Areas to be Addresses. The software architecture and content can be easily upgraded to add or modify specific categories such as the Criteria, Items, or Areas to be Addressed. The feasibility of the TQSAT will be demonstrated on case studies.