PDSA

By using the PDSA process, improvement planning has allowed us to clearly
understand the strengths and weaknesses of our Quality Assurance Audit
Process. PDSA stands for Plan - Do - Study - Act and is based on simple
steps that are designed to identify essential areas that need improvement.
Simply stated, the PDSA Cycle has enabled us to better understand our original
audit process and has helped us to focus our energy to improve the process.

PLAN
We knew from listening to our customers in 2002 that Building Services needed
improvement. The PLAN was to develop a Quality Assurance program to audit
maintenance work completed at all District sites. We established goals that we
wanted to meet and initiated an audit process to insure that we were meeting
our goals. The first goals were chosen based on feedback from our customers.
The basic theory: if it's not good enough for our own homes, it's not good
enough for our kids.

DO
During the DO portion, we initially tried to audit as much of the completed mainte-
nance work as possible. Many months, between 700 and 800 audits were performed
on completed work orders from the previous month. Thanks to PDSA we found
that performing that many audits was wasting manpower. In late 2006, we went to
a "99% Confidence Level" audit procedure. By using a statistical sampling, if our
department completes 1201-3200 work orders a month, the probability of catching
any issues should be found in the 42 random audits.

STUDY
We continue to collect and study the data throughout the PDSA Cycle. We do
this to asses our progress towards our PLAN goals. This STUDY process allows
our customers and us to see measurable progress towards the defined PLAN.
During the STUDY process we found that communications needed improvement
between the Quality Assurance department and the supervisors regarding the
audit findings. We were able to adjust our flow chart and more clearly define
expectations for all involved.

ACT
In the ACT section of the PDSA Cycle, we look at the results from our PLAN
and implement the incremental improvements made during the STUDY portion
of the process. We continue to monitor the results; which will determine if we
should again use the PDSA quality tool to refine the process further.

The PDSA Cycle is a continuous cycle. As each cycle is completed we look at:
* If the plan worked, repeat the plan                                                      
* If the goals are maintained, set higher goals and revise the plan      
* If the plan didn't work, make a new plan based on what we learned  

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