[The following item appeared orignially in _Public_Sector_
Quality_Report_, January 1993.]

                  NAGTADD OFFERS QUALITY AUDIT SOFTWARE

     How well equipped is your organization to embark on the
journey toward continuous quality improvement? One way to judge
is with a quality audit.

     The National Association of Government Training and Develop-
ment Directors (NAGTADD) is marketing a quality audit product
called the Public Sector Quality Audit. The audit is based on the
private sector's Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award criteria, widely
regarded as being among the most exacting standards by which an
organization can measure its quality-related plans and perfor-
mance.

     The Public Sector Quality Audit is designed to help a
government agency or department evaluate itself in seven key
areas related to quality management and improvement, including:
leadership, information and analysis, quality assurance of
products/services, strategic quality planning, human resource
utilization, quality results, and customer satisfaction. NAGTADD
describes the audit as a "diagnostic tool for agencies to measure
their adherence to universally accepted quality standards."

     The audit was designed by Kentucky State University's Center
of Excellence for Quality for use in the private sector.
Kentucky's Government Services Center rewrote the software for
use in Kentucky state government.

     In conducting the audit, an organization's employees record
their responses (on a 1-to-9 scale) to 170 statements related to
the seven key quality areas. Examples of those statements in-
clude: "The organization has trend information for all key
measures of product and service quality," or "The organization
has written mission, policy, or guideline statements that demon-
strate the organization's quality values."

     The software then compiles responses into reports which
indicate where an organization's strengths and weaknesses lie,
and where the organization falls above or below national norms.
The product includes an action plan component, designed to help
the organization turn its audit findings into concrete steps for
quality improvement. Repeating the audit at a later date indi-
cates where improvements have been made, and where they need to
be made.

     To run the audit software you'll need an IBM or compatible
personal computer with 640k of available memory (no hard disk is
required).

     Both 3-1/2" and 5-1/4" diskette formats are available.

     Developers of the audit insist it is useful not only for
organizations that have been pursuing quality and want to get a
status report, but also for organizations which have just made
the decision to pursue quality management and improvement and are
wondering where to begin. Indeed, many private sector organiza-
tions have used the Baldrige criteria as a platform from which to
plan and launch their initial quality efforts, long before they
gave even a thought to applying for the Baldrige award.

     For NAGTADD members the quality audit costs $125. For
non-members, the cost is $329.

     Contact: Kelly Motley, NAGTADD, The council of State Govern-
ments, Lexington, Ky. (606) 231-1948.

[For more information or to subcribe, contact:
Public Sector Quality Report
17733 Kingsway Path
Lakeville, MN 55044-5209
Phone: 612-898-7710
FAX: 612-892-7710]