ASQ Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA)

The Certified Quality Improvement Associate has a basic knowledge of quality tools and their uses and is involved in quality improvement projects, but doesn't necessarily come from a traditional quality area.

ASQ Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA)

ASQ CQIA Exam Summary:

Exam Name	ASQ Certified Quality Improvement Associate
Exam Code	CQIA
ASQ MEMBERS Exam Fee	USD $294
ASQ NON-MEMBERS Exam Fee	USD $394
RETAKES Exam Fee	USD $184
Application Fee	USD $70
Exam Duration	210 Minutes
Number of Questions	110
Passing Score	550/750
Format	Multiple Choice Questions
Books	Q101: Certified Quality Improvement Associate Certification Preparation
Sample Questions	ASQ CQIA Exam Sample Questions and Answers
Practice Exam	ASQ Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) Practice Test

ASQ Quality Improvement Associate Syllabus Topics:

I. Quality Concepts (30 questions)
A. Terms, Concepts, and Principles	1. Quality - Define quality and use this term correctly in various circumstances. (Apply) 2. Quality plan - Define a quality plan, describe its purpose for the organization as a whole, and identify the various functional areas and people that have responsibility for contributing to its development. (Understand) 3. Employee involvement and empowerment - Define and distinguish between employee involvement and employee empowerment, and describe the benefits of both concepts. (Understand) 4. Systems and processes - Define and distinguish between a system and a process and describe the interrelationships between them. Describe the components of a system—supplier, input, process, output, customer (SIPOC)—and how these components impact the system as a whole. (Analyze) 5. Variation - Define and distinguish between common and special cause variation in relation to quality measures. (Understand)
B. Benefits of Quality	- Describe how using quality techniques to improve processes, products, and services can benefit all parts of an organization. Describe what quality means to various stakeholders (e.g., employees, organization, customers, suppliers, community) and how each can benefit from quality. (Understand)
C. Quality Philosophies	- Describe and distinguish between the following theories and philosophies. (Remember) 1. The Shewhart cycle: plan-do-check-act (PDCA) 2. Deming’s 14 points 3. The Juran trilogy 4. The Ishikawa diagram 5. Crosby’s zero defects
II. Team Basics (20 questions)
A. Team Organization	1. Team purpose - Describe why teams are an effective way to identify and solve problems, and describe when, where, why, and how teams can be used more effectively than other groups of workers. (Apply) 2. Types of teams - Define and distinguish between various types of teams: process or continuous improvement teams, workgroups or workcells, self-managed teams, temporary or ad-hoc project teams, and cross-functional teams. (Apply) 3. Value of teams - Identify how a team’s efforts can support an organization’s key strategies and effect positive change throughout the organization. (Understand)
B. Roles and Responsibilities	- Describe the roles and responsibilities of various team stakeholders. (Understand) 1. Sponsor 2. Champion 3. Facilitator 4. Leader 5. Member
C. Team Formation and Group Dynamics	1. Initiating teams - Apply the elements of launching and sustaining a successful team, including establishing a clear purpose and goals, developing ground rules and schedules, gaining support from management, and commitment from the team members. (Apply) 2. Selecting team members - Describe how to select team members based on their knowledge and skill sets and team logistics, such as a sufficient number of members in relation to the size or scope of the project, appropriate representation from affected departments or areas, and diversity. (Apply) 3. Team stages - Describe the classic stages of team evolution: forming, storming, norming, and performing. (Understand) 4. Team conflict - Describe the value of team conflict and recognize how to resolve it. Define and describe groupthink and how to overcome it, understand how poor logistics, agendas, and lack of training become barriers to team success. (Analyze) 5. Team decision making Describe and use different decision-making models such as voting (majority rule, multivoting) and consensus, and use follow-up techniques to clarify the issue to be decided, to confirm agreement on the decision, and to come to closure on the decision made. (Apply)
III. Continuous Improvement Techniques (30 questions)
A. Continuous Improvement	- Define and use continuous improvement tools and techniques. (Understand) 1. Brainstorming 2. Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle 3. Affinity diagrams 4. Cost of quality 5. Internal audits to identify improvement opportunities
B. Process Improvement	1. Six Sigma - Identify key Six Sigma concepts and tools, including the different roles and responsibilities of Green Belts and Black Belts, typical project types that are appropriate for Six Sigma techniques, and the DMAIC phases: design, measure, analyze, improve, and control. (Understand) 2. Lean - Identify lean tools that are used to reduce waste, including set-up and cycle-time reduction, pull systems (kanban), kaizen, just-in-time (JIT), 5S, and value stream mapping. (Understand) 3. Benchmarking - Define benchmarking and describe how it can be used to develop and support best practices. (Understand) 4. Incremental and breakthrough improvement - Describe and distinguish between these two types of improvements, the steps required for each, and the type of situation in which either type would be expected. (Understand)
C. Quality Improvement Tools	- Select, interpret, and apply the seven basic quality tools. (Apply) 1. Flowcharts 2. Histograms 3. Pareto charts 4. Scatter diagrams 5. Cause and effect diagrams 6. Check sheets 7. Control charts - Describe and interpret basic control chart concepts, including centerlines, control limits, out-of-control conditions.
IV. Customer-Supplier Relations (20 questions)
A. Internal and External Customers and Suppliers	- Distinguish between internal and external customers and suppliers. Describe their impact on products, services, and processes, and identify strategies for working with them to make improvements. (Understand)
B. Customer Satisfaction	- Describe different types of customer feedback mechanisms (formal surveys, informal feedback, official complaints) and describe the importance of using data from these and other sources to drive continuous improvement. (Understand)
C. Supplier Management	- Identify supplier performance measures, including quality, price, delivery, and level of service. Describe commonly used metrics, including product defect rates, functional performance, and delivery timeliness; service or process responsiveness, and availability and competence of technical support. (Understand)