Quality Management and Small Cell Infrastructure Design

The Department of Public Works, Engineering Division for the City and County of Denver in May of 2019 published the Small Cell Infrastructure Design Guidelines. Communications companies use small cell infrastructure to improve wireless communication in densely populated areas. To complete the construction of the infrastructure, communications companies requested the right to install poles holding small cell equipment in the public right of way of the City and County of Denver. For that reason, the Small Cell Infrastructure Design Guidelines were published and are available at the following website: https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/705/documents/guidelines/PWES-016.1-Small_Cell_Infrastructure_Design_Guidelines.pdf (Links to an external site.)

While the document provides standards for building small cells in the Denver city and county public right of way, it offers no quality management plan. You have been contracted to develop a quality management plan, and you will report to the Engineering Supervisor, Jon Reynolds. If Mr. Reynolds is pleased with the quality management plan your company develops, your firm will likely be hired to project manage and quality check the portion of the small cell infrastructure build impacting the public works and public safety for the City and County of Denver.

Note: While the document at the core of this assignment is an actual document published by The Department of Public Works, Engineering Division for the City and County of Denver, the quality management scenario described is fictional and only for the educational purpose of showing mastery of the course objectives set forth for this course.

In Module 3, you were asked as a first step, to familiarize yourself with the Small Cell Infrastructure Design Guidelines. Note that two contract firms were instrumental in the development of the guidelines: Clanton & Associates, Inc. and Jacobs Engineering Group. After your review of the guidelines, you were asked to provide your input to the following:

• Are the current Small Cell Infrastructure Design Guidelines (SCIDG) ones that promote high quality? If yes, how? If no, why not and what should change to promote quality? Support your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation.
• What do you interpret to be meant by “quality” from the perspective of the public works personnel, communications companies deploying small cell infrastructure, the contract companies involved, and the public both now and in the future? What support do you have for your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation?
• What are the drivers for change, and the barriers to change from the perspective of the public works personnel and the public? Are there competing drivers for change that may impact quality from the public’s perspective? Support your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation.

In Module 8, you are asked to build upon your work from Module 3 and show additional mastery through other course modules.

Provide the following quality management plan in your final portfolio:

1. Provide an opening paragraph which describes the importance of the using this case to show your mastery of course objectives, and mapping of what is contained in your paper to prove that mastery.
2. Delineate your next section with a header, and in less than one page, describe the case of using small cell infrastructure to improve wireless communication in densely populated areas, and the role of the Department of Public Works, Engineering Division for the City and County of Denver in promoting quality.
3. Delineate your next section using headers and sub-headers with your work from Module 3. Include any updates that you wish to make as a result of learning more about quality management, and input from your instructor in Module 3 for the following:
   1. Are the current Small Cell Infrastructure Design Guidelines (SCIDG) ones that promote high quality? If yes, how? If no, why not and what should change to promote quality? Support your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation.
   2. What do you interpret to be meant by “quality” from the perspective of the public works personnel, communications companies deploying small cell infrastructure, the contract companies involved, and the public both now and in the future? What support do you have for your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation?
   3. What are the drivers for change, and the barriers to change from the perspective of the public works personnel and the public? Are there competing drivers for change that may impact quality from the public’s perspective? Support your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation.
4. Delineate your next section with a header to discuss the operational issues that must be managed and controlled to support quality including partnering and strategic alliances if any are pertinent. How will those issues be managed and controlled in your plan? As usual, what support do you have for your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation?
5. Delineate your next section with a header to discuss the human resource issues that must be managed and controlled to support quality including employee empowerment, teamwork, education and training. How will those issues be managed and controlled in your plan? As usual, what support do you have for your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation?
6. Delineate your next section with a header to discuss customer satisfaction and how it will be measured. How will and when will measurement happen in your plan? As usual, what support do you have for your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation?
7. Delineate your next section with a header to discuss how problems will be solved, conflicts resolved, and how decisions will be made. As usual, what support do you have for your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation?
8. Delineate your next section with a header to discuss what quality tools should be used, when and how, including communications tools, process control tools, benchmarking, or other tools as you find appropriate. What support do you have for your position with specific references to the SCIDG or current scholarly documentation?
9. Finally, conclude with the final section making a recommendation to Mr. Reynolds for your plans, and why your company is in the best position to lead the quality management effort going forward through implementation.

Submission:

• Write a paper addressing the case of The Department of Public Works, Engineering Division for the City and County of Denver regarding the Small Cell Infrastructure Design Guidelines and quality management. Your paper should be 8-10 pages in length, not including the required title and references pages and any appendix if required. For more information see “How do I do an Appendix in APA style?” (Links to an external site.)
• Support the paper with a minimum of six current (published in the most recent five years) scholarly sources from the CSU-Global Library. This is in addition to any course textbooks, lecture material you decide to use, or the case itself. Of course, you may always exceed the minimum number of sources.
• Format the paper according to the CSU-Global Guide to Writing & APA (Links to an external site.).
• Be clear, concise, and focused.

Tip: Cases may be addressed in 6 steps:

1. Read the assignment and questions provided to get an idea of the important course concepts to be covered. There is plenty of material in a case that may be immaterial to the course learning objectives. (For example, a case may have significant information on utility pole design issues, but the assignment questions relate to quality management. In that case, do not spend time on utility pole design unless relevant to quality management. Use your time searching the case, researching and reporting on quality management.)
2. Read and take notes on the entire case. Read every figure and table to thoroughly understand them.
3. Determine who are the key players; what are the key issues; what is the problem to be solved?
4. Do the research and analyze any data. Use the CSU Global library to research the key issues and problems. Find current academic information on those topics.
5. Make your decisions relative to the important course concepts, and document the defense of your position by melding the scholarly research and examples from the case. Remember, no opinions; only facts.
6. Finalize your portfolio by checking all assignment questions are fully answered, rubric items are met, and the document follows CSU Global Guide to Writing and APA requirements.