TQM emphasizes the supplier's relationship with the customer and recognizes that everyone in a process is at some time a customer or supplier of someone else, either within or outside the organization. The costs of quality include costs of conformance and costs of nonconformance. Casts of conformance include prevention costs and appraisal inspection) costs. Nonconformance costs are composed of internal failure costs and external failure costs, such as lost opportunity. Conformance costs prevention and appraisal) increased substantially, whereas the nonconformance casts internal and external failure) decreased.
Hence, the increase in conformance casts resulted in a higher-quality product.

Real-time processing involves processing an input record and receiving the output soon enough to affect a current decision-making process. In a real-time system, the user interacts with the system to control an ongoing activity. Online indicates that the decision maker is in direct communication with the computer. Online, real-time systems usually permit access to the main computer from multiple remote terminals.

Game theory is a mathematical approach to decision making when confronted with an enemy or competitor. Games are classified according to the number of players and the algebraic sum of the payoffs. In a two-player game, if the payoff is given by the loser to the winner, the algebraic sum is zero, and the game is a zero-sum game; if it is possible for both players to profit, the game is a positive-sum game. In this situation, the sum of the payoffs for each combination of strategies is zero. For example, if X takes no action and Y chooses limited advertising, X's payoff is -1 and Y's is 1.