Quality Institute

Making Quality Visible

The Science of Quality

We start by asking what a complex object, such as a product, service, building, or network, is meant to do, what results it should deliver, and what requirements it should meet.

The science of quality introduces the Whole Quality approach, which examines the object as a whole. We consider how its parts work together, how its surroundings affect it, and what work is needed throughout its life cycle.

An unmet requirement is a Quality Deficiency that creates a vulnerability and may lead to Harm. We look for these vulnerabilities even when the object appears to work normally and ask how changing conditions could lead to Harm.

We examine the object’s actual condition and use evidence to establish findings. A Quality Claim states what those findings support and where the conclusion applies.

The Quality Institute develops the science of quality. Its initiatives apply the Whole Quality approach through voluntary quality standards for infrastructure, support services for people with disabilities, and digital services, including AI services.

Learn More

On the Framework page, you can read our book, Whole Quality of Complex Objects, which explains the approach and how it applies to different kinds of objects.

The Initiatives page links to the IQI, AMSI, and DQI websites, where you can explore their work on infrastructure, support services for people with disabilities, and digital services, including AI services.

Current Initiatives

The Quality Institute applies its approach to three areas through the initiatives below.

AMSI — Support Service Quality Initiative
Support services for people with disabilities.

IQI — Infrastructure Quality Initiative
Energy systems, data centers, residential buildings, bridges, and water systems.

DQI — Digital Service Quality Initiative

Digital services, including AI services.

Each initiative develops voluntary standards that set quality requirements and explain how to assess whether they are met.

About the Quality Institute

The Quality Institute, formally the Whole-Quality Institute (WQI), develops the science of quality. This science introduces the Whole Quality approach to studying complex objects such as buildings, networks, and services. We start by asking what an object is meant to do. We then use evidence to examine how well it does that in practice, where it is vulnerable, and how those vulnerabilities may lead to harm during ordinary use or when conditions change.

Our book, Whole Quality of Complex Objects, explains the approach. Our initiatives apply it to develop voluntary quality standards for infrastructure (IQI), support services (AMSI), and digital services (DQI).