SECTION 2

Kaizen

Kaizen is a combination of two Japanese words. Kai means “Change” and Zen means
“for the better”. Kaizen is any small improvement in your process. Kaizen is executed
when the cause is known and the solution is simple. A Kaizen can be executed by an
individual or a team. The time taken to complete any Kaizen ranges between 0 to 5
days.

Lean

Lean is termed as “Elimination of Waste”. Lean is executed when the cause is known
but the solution is complex. Commonly Used Lean Tools include are Value Stream Map
(VSM), Poka Yoke, Heijunka, Jidoka, Just-In-Time, etc. A Lean project can be executed
by a team effort. The time taken to complete any Lean project ranges between 45 days
to 90 days.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma focuses on Variation Reduction. It’s a Data-Driven Methodology. When a

process performs at Six Sigma level, the process only has 3.4 Defects in One Million
Opportunities. A Six Sigma Project is executed when the cause is unknown and the
solution is complex. Any Six Sigma project requires a team effort. The time taken to
complete a Six Sigma project ranges between 90 to 180 days.

What is Sigma?

The term Sigma has two definitions, namely, Standard Deviation and Process
Capability.

• Standard Deviation is a measure that determines the spread about the mean

• Process Capability is the capability of the process to produce defect free work
 SECTION 3

Introduction to DMADV

DMADV is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Design & Verify/Validate. It

helps create new products / services. This methodology does not require historical data.
It is generally used in manufacturing organizations. e.g. John Deere (tractor
manufacturing, etc). Newer products are launched at a lesser frequency – so the number
of DMADV projects are less.

Introduction to DMAIC

DMAIC is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control. It helps
improve business processes of existing products / services. This methodology requires
historical data. This methodology is embraced as a key process improvement
methodology by most organizations in all industries.

The Six Sigma DMAIC Roadmap

The Six Sigma DMAIC Roadmap consists of 15 steps. In the Yellow Belt program, you
learn 40+ tools in these 15 steps. Below is a brief overview:

The Define Phase:

The Define Phase tries to answer the question, “What problem are you trying to solve?”
The steps include:

• Step 01: Understand Customer and Business Requirements

• Step 02: Complete the Project Charter

• Step 03: Complete the High-Level As Is Process Map

The Measure Phase:

The Measure Phase tries to answer the question, “What is the extent of the problem?”
The steps include:

• Step 04: Identify What to Measure

• Step 05: Plan and Collect Data

• Step 06: Determine Baseline Performance

The Analyze Phase:

The Analyze Phase tries to answer the question, “Why is the problem occurring?” The
steps include:

• Step 07: Identify Performance Gaps

• Step 08: Ascertain Critical Root-Causes

• Step 09: Validate Root-Causes

The Improve Phase:

The Improve Phase tries to answer the question, “What do you propose to do and why?”
The steps include:

• Step 10: Generate, Prioritize & Select Solutions

• Step 11: Pilot Solution(s)

• Step 12: Validate Impact of Solution(s)

The Control Phase tries to answer the question, “How will you ensure that the problem
stays fixed?” The steps include:

• Step 13: Institutionalize the Solution(s)

• Step 14: Replicate & Share Best Practices

• Step 15: Celebrate & Recognize Success

Your Role as a Six Sigma Yellow Belt:

A Yellow Belt:

• Is a part-time role

• Executes smaller projects & helps green belt

• Facilitates SIPOC, process maps, brainstorming, root-cause analysis & solution

identification

• Conducts data collation activities

• Performs basic level of data analysis

• Effectively implements & monitors pilot

• Updates control charts & executes control plan

• Is mentored by a Six Sigma Green Belt

 SECTION 4

The Define Phase has 3 steps:

• Step 01. Understand Customer and Business Requirements

• Step 02. Complete the project charter

• Step 03. Complete high-level as is process map

Step 01 is focused on understanding your customer’s problem. In this step, you will
learn the Voice of Customer technique.

Step 02 is focused to quantify the problem and document it in the form of a charter. In
this step, you will learn how to create a project charter.

Step 03 is focused on looking at the end-to-end business from 40,000 feet above and
identifying which area of the business has the problem. In this step, you will learn a tool
called as SIPOC.

Post completion of these three steps, you will meet your project champion in a toll-gate
review meeting.

Introduction – Step 01. Understand Customer and Business Requirements

In this step, you will learn:

• Capture Voice of Customer and

• Translate Voices to Requirements

Capture the Voice of Customer

A Voice of Customer Technique is a process of capturing the voice of your customer.

The objective is to capture the stated, unstated and anticipated customer requirements,
needs and desires.

There are several ways you could choose from to capture the customer voices including:
Surveys, Interviews, Focus Groups, Suggestions, Complaints or Compliments,
Observations, among others.
Survey Methods

You can use survey methods when you want to reach a large pool of customers in rather
a short amount of time. This method is effective especially when you have time and
money constraints.

This method is useful to gain generic feedback of your products or services. This also
leads to its disadvantage. Survey method will rarely be helpful to get specific feedback
from your customers, unless you have an effectively designed survey questionnaire.

You can use survey method when customers are mostly accessible only through
emails.

Interview Method

Use interview method when you are dealing with a relatively smaller segment of
customers

Use it when you need specific feedback on your products or services.

You can use this method when customers are accessible via phone or in-person meetings
and are willing to spend time for the interview.

Focus Groups

A Focus group method to capture customer voices is similar to the interview method in
that the only difference is in interview method, you potentially meet one customer at a
time and in the focus group method, you meet a group of customers at a time. Hence,
use this method when your customers are willing to be present at a specific venue along
with other customers.

Now a days, you can also use new techniques to gather customer voices such as
Facebook or LinkedIn likes, customer reactions on social media, online polls, among
others.
 SECTION 5

In this section, you learnt to:

• Easily define the terms “Needs” and “Requirements”. Although they sound
similar, there is a difference.

• Learn the technique to translate voices to requirements

• And we end this section with an activity of evaluating the requirements of your
project

What are Needs and Requirements?

Need:

“Need” is a desire or an expectation of a customer from a given product or service.

Customers have many stated needs which are often vague and generally are the “wants”
from a product / service.

For example, a customer buying an air-conditioner will say that he needs an AC which
gives him good cooling. However, you will rarely find a customer who says he needs an
air-conditioner that gives him cooling between 16 to 23 degree celcius.

Requirement:

A requirement is an attribute of a product or service which fulfils the needs of the

customer. Customer defines these requirements and are the “musts” of a product or
service.

Taking the air-conditioner example again, a customer needs an air-conditioner that gives
him good cooling and should not make much noise. So, the requirements will be to
provide an air-conditioner that has a cooling range of 14 to 26 degree celcius and noise
levels to be as low as 2 decibels.

Translate Voices to Requirements

While you are involved in the exercise of translating Voices to Requirements, a few key
points to remember are:

• It’s important for you to ask questions and clarify verbatim comments

• Probe for deeper understanding and better clarity

 • Translate to terms that make sense to you and your process

• Review your findings with customers and process participants and

• Refine and prioritize requirements

To convert voices to requirements, we use this template. The template has three
columns. In the first column, you will update the exact verbatim comment of the
customer. In the second column, you will update the critical customer criteria. It is an
excerpt from customer’s exact comments articulating the primary need of your
customer. And finally you will write the critical to quality requirement i.e. you will
write the customer’s need in measurable
terms.

Of course you are not going to do this exercise all by yourself. You will work with the
customer and the subject matter experts of your business process in this exercise.

Here are a few examples:

Voice of Customer 01:

The voice of customer is, “I hope the call center representative issues my flight tickets
without making any errors”

The critical customer need is Accuracy – the rep should issue correct flight tickets as per
customer communication.

The critical to quality requirement is 100% accuracy in issuing of customer flight

tickets.

Voice of Customer 02:

Another customer verbatim comment is “I want my flight tickets to be booked

quickly.”

The critical customer criteria is “Timeliness - time to book flight tickets to be as per
standards set by industry/company”
And the critical to quality requirement is “All flight reservation calls to have an Average
Handle Time (AHT) of 3 minutes or less”

Voice of Customer 03:

The customer says, “I am not happy when the customer service agent keeps repeating
the same questions to find my flight itinerary”

The customer’s primary need is interaction - all information required for finding flight
itinerary is collected in a single interaction

And the measurable performance requirement is Asking customer to repeat information

should be 0%
 SECTION 6

Welcome to Step 02. Complete a Project Charter. In Step 01 you captured the voice of
customer and translated those voices to requirements. You are now aware of the pain
areas of your customer and you exactly know which requirement to focus on.

With the requirements handy, in Step 02, you will create a project charter.

The 5 Components of a Project Charter

A project charter is a document that provides a framework and objective for an

improvement project. It includes:

• A problem statement • Project team

• A goal statement • And milestones

• Project scope

A project charter ensures that the team mutually agrees on the project objective, scope,
benefit, target and timelines.

It is created at the beginning of a DMAIC project. However, it can be updated throughout

the life of the project.

These types of documents which can be updated on a recurring basis are called as Living
documents else they are termed as “Static” documents.
The problem statement describes the pain the customer is experiencing. The goal
statement defines the improvement objective. The project scope defines project
boundaries. The project team outlines the project members from all levels in the
organization. Finally, the milestones depict the planned completion date of each phase
of the DMAIC roadmap.

These are the 5 components of a project charter.

Problem Statement

A problem statement describes the pain in the current process. Instead of being
descriptive and too wordy, your job is to make the problem statement as quantitative as
possible. It should be full of numbers. And should be able to provide a clear picture of
the issue to even a layman.

A good problem statement has 4 components, namely:

• What is the problem?

• When and Where is the problem occurring?

• The Magnitude of the problem?

• And its consequences

We have discussed what it should have, but I am now going to share what a problem
statement should NOT have.

It should NOT assign a Cause or Blame. And it should not include a solution. These
two are strictly not allowed in a problem statement.

A poor example of a problem statement is “Our customers are angry with us and thus
delay paying their bills”. As you see it does not describe any of the 4 critical components
of a good problem statement.

On the other hand, a good example of a problem statement is “In the last 3 months, 12%
of our customers are late, by over 45 days in paying their bills. This represents 20% of
our outstanding receivables & negatively affects our operating cash flow.”

You will observe that this example clearly articulates the “What”, “When”, the
magnitude and the consequence of the problem. It also does not assign a cause nor does
it include a solution.
Let’s look at another example.

A poor example is “Our customers are not paying credit card dues on time. This needs
to be improved.”

A good example is “In the last 10 months in the Americas region, 32% of our credit card
users are more than a month late in paying the dues. The percentage of late payments is
up from 15% in the previous year to 43% of outstanding receivables this year. This is
negatively affecting our recoverable cash flow by 445K USD/year”

Again, this example articulates the “What”, When, where, the magnitude and the
consequence.

Goal Statement:

A goal statement is the second component of a project charter. It defines the

improvement the team is seeking to achieve.

• A goal statement tries to define the improvement objective in terms of what is

described in the problem statement

• A goal statement always starts with a verb – such as reduce, eliminate, control,
increase, improve…

• A goal statement should BE TIME BOUND – WHEN WILL IMPROVEMENT

BE REALIZED BY?

Without adding a time factor to the goal statement, it is never complete.

A Goal Statement should be SMART. SMART is an acronym for:

• Specific • Relevant

• Measurable • Time-bound

• Attainable

Like the problem statement a goal statement should NOT Assign a cause or blame
and include a solution.
Project Scope:

What is project scoping? Let’s look at an example. Whenever you would see a
construction site, it could be a construction of a building, an office, etc. you will always
find that the perimeter of the construction site is properly fenced.

Why do you think the fencing exists?

For two primary reasons:

• The employees of the construction site would know that they cannot work beyond
the scope of that perimeter.

• The outsiders would know that trespassing the perimeter may be harmful due to
the construction activity.

The fence clearly articulates the boundary of the construction site. Internal employees
are guided to work within that boundary. And outsiders know that there is a project being
carried out in that area.

Just as creating a fence around the perimeter of the construction site defines the scope
of their work; you should focus on clearly defining the scope of your project too.

Scoping involves creating a scope statement. A scope statement helps the team
understand the start & end point of the project and provides insights about project
constraints & dimensions.

Scope can be defined horizontally i.e. start to end of a business process.

It can also be defined vertically. For example, your project would cater to customers of
Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong out of the 7 APAC locations.

Here are some examples:

Scope Statement # 1 (For the problem of employees arriving late in office):

• In Scope: This project applies to all level of employees and vendors located at
Matrix Corp, 1 Square Building, Piccadilly, Manchester

• Out of Scope: Any employee or vendor of Matrix Corp. working from home OR
any other location.

This was an example of a vertical scope statement.

Scope Statement # 2 (For the problem of high turn-around time):

• Start: When transaction arrives in reps queue

• End: When rep completes the transaction

• Out of Scope: Any transaction waiting for additional information from customers.

This was an example of a horizontal scope statement.

Project Team

Selection of a project team is generally executed by the Black Belt and the Green Belt.
They decide who the project team members are. They identify the responsibilities these
team members will have. The specific time commitment from each of them is also
articulated.

Having said that; you must know the various roles and responsibilities of individuals in
a Six Sigma project team. They are:

Project Champion:

• The Champion is generally the senior most individual in the business process,
business unit or the organization

• He owns the vision and business direction

• He sponsors change and reviews tollgates

• He may not be a Six Sigma belt, but he has the ability to review projects
effectively and identify if it is serving the larger purpose of your organization’s
goals

Master Black Belt (also known as MBB):

• A Master Black Belt is the highest level an individual can attain in his Six Sigma
career

• A Master Black Belt works with the champion to articulate the vision of the
organization and helps him drive it

• A Master Black Belt is an expert at Statistics

• He/She coaches and trains black belts and reviews toll gates

• A Master Black Belt is generally a full-time role in several organizations

Black Belt:

• A Black Belt drives large projects

• These projects may go beyond the four walls of operations or functions and may
cut through several departments

• He leads the toll gate meetings

• He is an expert at statistics and if he has any questions, he can approach the

Master Black Belt

• He is responsible to coach and train green belts

• A Black Belt is also generally a full-time role

Green Belt:

• A Green Belt drives process level projects

• These projects are generally carried out within operational or functional areas

• A Green Belt does intermediate level of data analysis

• He participates the toll-gate review meetings and supports the Black Belt

• Sometimes, he can also lead these meetings

• He is responsible to coach and train yellow and white belts

• A Green Belt is generally a part-time role

Yellow Belt:

• A Yellow Belt may not drive full-scale Six Sigma projects

• However, they are responsible to drive activities within those projects

• They participate the toll-gate review meetings

• In most situations, they are also the subject matter experts and help green belts
facilitate discussions

• They do basic level of data analysis

• A Yellow Belt is also generally a part-time role

White Belt:

• A White Belt drives project activities

• Is generally a subject matter expert

• Has awareness of Six Sigma concepts including an understanding of the 7 Basic

tools of quality

• And is generally a part-time role

So, these are the different roles and responsibilities of individuals in a Six Sigma project.

PICTURE

Project Milestones

A milestone refers to the timeline for completion of each DMAIC phase. In the Define
phase, the milestones are documented at a high level because you may not have all the
information to document a detailed plan.

These milestone dates are tied to the phases of the DMAIC process. One key thing to
remember is that your milestones should be aggressive enough to maintain the
momentum, but they must also be realistic.
This is an example of a Project Milestone. You will observe that the 5 phases of Six
Sigma DMAIC are updated in the first column of the table. The planned start and end
dates are updated in the second and the third columns respectively. Again, these are
planned dates. During the course of your project, your aspiration should be to meet these
dates.
 SECTION 7

SIPOC is a high level process map containing the dimensions:

• Suppliers • Outputs

• Inputs • Customers

• Process

SIPOC is also called the Macro As Is Process Map because it gives an overview of the
overall business from an end-to-end perspective. SIPOC is also one of the seven basic
tools of quality.

A SIPOC helps us define the boundaries of the process. It provides a structured way to
discuss the process with stakeholders. And it helps easily obtain their consensus on how
the process operates today.

When to use a SIPOC?

If you need an understanding of the high-level process as it is functioning today, a

SIPOC provides a one page overview to help facilitate this understanding. A SIPOC
helps to better understand customer requirements. It also helps in understanding who the
suppliers are and what inputs they provide. It also further helps define the exact scope
of the process to be improved.
Here’s a SIPOC example. It’s for the process of getting a new wireless mobile phone
connection. In this example:

• Suppliers: The Suppliers are Customers OR business users.

• Inputs: They provide inputs by filling out a registration form, updating their
home or office address and providing identity as well as address proof.

• Process: The high-level 6 to 7 step process is that the Wireless company

representative receives the client request. He reviews the submitted documents.
He then validates those inputs. Based on successful validation, he would process
the client request and initiate the phone connection. He would finally send a
confirmation to the client. The total processing time for this process is 48 hours
on an average.

• Outputs: The outputs of this process are a New Phone Connection, an updated
internal customer database and an input to the billing department with customer
details.

• Customer: The customers of this process are end-customers or the business users
and the billing department of the wireless company.

Now that you have seen the example of a SIPOC, let’s understand the steps to create a
SIPOC.

• Step 01. You begin by identifying 5-7 key high level steps in the process.

• Step 02. You then identify the customer who will receive the outputs of the
process.

• Step 03. You would then identify the outputs of the process (including internal
outputs such as productivity reports).

• Step 04. You then identify all inputs required for the process to function.

• Step 05. Finally, you identify the suppliers for the inputs required by the process.

• In step 06, you will verify the flow of information.

• And finally in step 07, you will validate the SIPOC map with the key stakeholders.

You have to also ensure that you have captured the As Is map of your business process
and not the “As It Should be” map.
 SECTION 8

The Measure phase primarily tries to explore the extent of the problem.

It has 3 steps, namely,

• Step 04. Identify What to Measure

• Step 05. Plan and Collect Data

• Step 06. Determine Baseline Performance

Step 04 is focused on understanding what does the detailed process currently look like?
In this step, you will learn to create process maps and you will also learn the concept of
8 wastes.

Step 05 is focused on creating a data collection strategy and use of sampling methods.
In this step, you will not only learn several Six Sigma tools and techniques but also
understand several concepts of basic statistics.

And Step 06 is focused on identifying what is the current performance level of your
process. In this step, you will get introduced to Minitab, learn how to create a run chart,
learn the definitions of Defects, Defectives, Unit and Opportunity for Errors and finally
identify the process capability.

Post completion of these three steps, you will meet your project champion in a toll-gate
review meeting.

Process Maps

What are process maps?

Process map is the most powerful mapping tool. It visually displays step-by-step process
activities & flow of information across different departments and sub-processes in time
sequence.

A process map helps identify the roles and responsibilities of different functions of the
process. It also helps identify dependencies and bottlenecks in the process. And it also
further helps understand the interaction between the process and technology
requirements.
You should use process maps when you want to illustrate how process activities are
sequenced, when you want to describe how activities are being performed and by whom,
when you want to identify then investigate where problems might occur and when you
wish to identify how, when, or where to measure the existing process.

Commonly Used Process Mapping Symbol:

This symbol is called the terminal activity. It indicates where the process starts and stops.

The rectangle is called the “Activity”. It describes the actual work that occurs at that
point in the process. As a best practice, it generally is best to include only one task in
each activity symbol.

The diamond symbol is termed as “Decision”. It displays a question that has several
options that lead away from the diamond. The answers can be simple “Yes” and “No”
or specifically designed choices. The answers are labelled on connector lines.
Talking about connector lines, the arrow symbol is termed as a “Connector”. It Connects
any two steps and shows the path or direction of the process.

The symbol D is called “Delay”. It identifies when the process comes to a temporary
halt. It also identifies what has to happen before the process resumes.

This symbol is called “Document”. It indicates that a written document is prepared or

used at that step of the process; the name of the document appears in the symbol.

This symbol is termed as “Database”. It Shows that a database is associated with this
step.
Process Map Example:

This example is for the roster creation process at Matrix Corp and the type of process
map is called as “Swimlane”. It is called as a swimlane diagram because you will see
that this process map is divided into lanes. From a top view, these lanes look similar to
the lanes in a swimming pool. Hence, the name. The lanes represent various roles or
deparments which are responsible for any activity in that process.

• In this example, the swimlanes are divided into a Client, a manager and
employees and vendors

• The process begins when the client sends work hour requirements to the manager

• The manager receives client request and reviews the current roster

• He then creates or modifies the employee/vendor roster based on client

requirements

• He further sends that roster to the client for review

• Client reviewing the roster is a pre-defined process

• The client either approves or rejects the roster

• If the roster is rejected, the manager has to modify the roster based on the client
feedback and send it to the client again for another review

• If the client approves the roster, the manager sends the roster to all employees
and vendors via email
 • The employees and vendors read the roster and schedule their work hours
accordingly

You will observe that in this process map, we have used symbols such as terminal
activity indicating the start and end of the process. Action boxes, decision diamond,
connectors and predefined process rectangles are also used.
 SECTION 9

8 Wastes:

Waste is anything other than the minimum amount of information, equipment, materials
& effort absolutely required to add value to a product or service. For example, if you are
making a phone call to your bank to check a few details of your bank account and they
have put you on hold for a long time, this long hold time is considered as “waste”. It is
the waste of “Waiting”.

The principles of lean identify 8 different categories of waste that we can recognize in
our business processes. We will discuss them in detail in the next 3 lectures.

Waste is also referred to as non-value added (NVA).

Each step of a process in the production of a product or service can be identified as either
value add, business value add or non-value add.

Anything that does not add value or that the customer is unwilling to pay for is waste
and should be eliminated.

Everyone should be continually looking for and eliminating waste from their daily work
activities. The eight wastes help you “know them when you see them” and help you
know where to look for waste.

The 8 Wastes are:

Waste of Defects:

• Waste of Defects are rejects that require additional time, resource and money to
fix

• Defects are also called rework as they lead to more work

• You should look for errors, not in good order transactions sent for research or
review, missing information, rework loops or breaks

Waste of Over Production:

• Waste of Over Production is producing too much OR too soon

• Examples of over production are: When you observe that more information is
being requested than required; When the efforts are not aligned with risk,
 complexity or customer needs and when the automation is poorly applied in your
business process

Waste of Waiting:

• Waste of waiting occurs whenever work has to stop for some reason. That may
be due to: the next person in line is overwhelmed; something broke down; you’re
waiting for approval OR you’ve run out of something

• Examples of Waiting are: When you observe Idle time; when someone is waiting
for information and when you see overfull inboxes pending to be addressed

Waste of Non-Utilized Skills (also termed as the waste of Intellect):

• Waste of non-utilized skills is failure to utilize the time and talents of people

• Examples of non-utilized skills are: look for significant portion of expert time
“wasted” on low value activities; lack of team work; lack of training and narrowly
defined jobs and expectations

Waste of Transfer (also termed as Transportation):

• This is the waste from moving things around or work transferring across
platforms or teams, mostly non-essential transportation

• Examples of the waste of transfer are: Excessive back and forth, repeated follow-
ups; movement from location to location, building to building, etc

Waste of Inventory:

• Work stuck in email in-boxes not being processed, idle financial or fixed assets

• Examples of the waste of inventory include: bottlenecks leading to “staging”

areas for work in progress; idle or underutilized equipment is another example

Waste of Motion:

• It is the inefficient placement of resources creating motion

• Examples of the waste of motion include: Inefficient placement of office

resources; physical distance between workstations and poor housekeeping
Waste of Excess Processing:

• Waste of Excess Processing is additional processing of transactions

• Examples of the waste of excess processing are: Similar information being

captured in several places; large variations in time to do similar tasks and
unnecessary approvals

What is DOWNTIME?

It is easy for you to understand each of the 8 wastes. However, it is difficult to remember
them. My objective is to not only make the concepts easier to understand but also help
you remember them easily for a long period.

In that endeavour, I am sharing with you DOWNTIME.

DOWNTIME is the acronym of 8 Wastes. They are:

• Defects • Transportation

• Over Production • Inventory

• Waiting • Motion and

• Non-Utilized Skills • Excess Processing

Whenever you come across waste, it would eventually lead to some amount of down
time. So there is no better way to remember these 8 wastes using the acronym of
DOWNTIME.
 SECTION 10

The Focus of Six Sigma

If you listen to philosophical teachings of saints and sages, you will hear one thing in
common. There is an underlying cause for every effect to occur. This sentence is so
powerful and worth repeating multiple times. This same philosophy is the principal of
the Six Sigma methodology too. The effects are termed as the capital letter “Y” and the
causes for those effects are termed as the “X’s”. These Y’s are also called as dependent
or output variables. And the X’s are called as independent or input variables. For every
Y to occur there could be one or more X’s in play. Hence, we establish the relationship
between the Y and X variables using an equation. You may have already studied this
equation in school or college. It is Y is a function of X:

Y = f(x)

Let’s look at an example. If your business process is facing the issue of high cycle time,
it can be termed as the effect or the Y. This could be due to many causes. These causes
could be job knowledge of reps, system latency, inefficient process, high attrition of
employees, among others. These causes are termed as X’s.

So would you focus on the effect or the causes? The focus of Six Sigma is on the Causes
and NOT on the Effect. If you work on ensuring that the X’s are taken care of, you will
observe the Y will improve. In other words, if we work on the Causes, the Effect is
bound to come.

How do you Classify data?

Data can be primarily classified into two types – Discrete Data and Continuous Data.

Discrete Data:

• Discrete data is also termed as Attribute data

• Discrete data is information that can be categorized into a classification

• It is based on counts

• It takes the form of finite number of values and these values cannot be sub-
divided meaningfully
Let’s take a pause. I believe the last 3 bullets might have been difficult to grasp. Let’s
make things easy with some examples. If you are looking at the number of damaged
parts in a shipment, you will get specific number which cannot be further sub-divided
into fractions i.e. the number of damaged parts can be either one, two, one hundred, one
hundred and fifty five, and so on. You will not get one hundred and fifty five and a one-
tenth part damaged. It will be either 155 or 156, nothing in between.

Similarly, let’s take a count of road accidents. You will get a finite number such as 4
accidents, 5 accidents or 15 accidents. You will not get fractions such as this place had
4 and half accidents. It will be either four or five, nothing in between.

When you deal with this type of data which can only take the form of finite numbers
and cannot be meaningfully divided into fractions, you are dealing with Discrete Data.

Continuous Data:

• Continuous Data is also termed as Variable Data

• Continuous data is information that can be measured on a scale

• Continuous data can have almost any numeric value and can be meaningfully
subdivided into finer and finer decimals

For example, the length of your book, it can be 12.5 inches. The point 5 makes sense
here. The container is 15.289 centimeters wide. The temperature of this room is 22.38
degree celcius.

I hope you now have a clear understanding of Discrete and Continuous Data.

Let’s me give you a mantra to be successful in defining what is discrete and what is
continuous. When you look at any data, ask yourself, “Can this data be further
bifurcated into meaningful fractions?” if your answer is “Yes”, you are dealing with
Continuous data and if your answer is “No”, you are dealing with Discrete data.

Examples of Data Types:

• Response time for an email: ask the question, can response time be bifurcated
into meaningful fractions such as 5 hours 25 minutes and 2 seconds. The answer
is yes, so this example belongs to the continuous data category
• Talk time: ask the same question – can talk time be 2 hours 45 minutes 15
seconds and 10 milli seconds? Absolutely. This bifurcation is meaningful; hence,
this is also an example of continuous data

• No. of errors: can you have 4 and half errors? No, errors can be either 4 or 5 OR
take any finite values. Hence, this is an example of discrete data

• Cycle time: As we discussed in the earlier example of “response time and talk
time”, whenever you are dealing with any metric related time, the data is always
continuous

• Number of calls: can you have 33 and a half calls. No, it can be either 33 or 34
calls. Hence, this is the example of discrete data

• Number of reps: A process cannot have 55 and a half rep, they can have either
55 reps or 56 reps. Hence; the data type for this example is discrete

• Accuracy percentage: whenever you are dealing with percentages, you will
have decimal values. Hence, the data is always continuous
 SECTION 11

What is a Data Collection Plan?

Data collection plan is used to identify key data to be collected and the procedures
around how it is collected, how often, how much, and who will be collecting the data.

The three things to consider for data collection are:

• How will the data be collected?

• Who will collect the data? And

• When will the data be collected?

How will the data be collected?

• You have to aim for automated or report driven data

• Try to avoid having to collect data manually

• It can be time consuming to attain a representative sample

• You have to think about data accuracy as well

• Using check sheet for data collection is a good option

• Check Sheet is one of the 7 Basic Tools of Quality

Here’s a data collection check sheet template. In this template you will find that the
defect types can be listed in the first column and the occurrences of errors for these
defect types can be captured for all days of the week in the middle section. The totals
column will give you the total number of errors for each error type.

Although I am sharing a template with you, it is not mandatory to use the same check
sheet. Based on the data collection requirements of your business process, please feel
free to create your own check sheet.

Who will collect the data?

Some key considerations to find the right candidate are – familiarity with the process,
his/her availability and impact on the job. The individual should have a thorough know-
how of the process. You have to ensure that he or she is not already overburdened with
work and you are giving him additional work of capturing the data. If this data collection
activity positively impacts the work of this individual, it is highly likely that he will
accomplish this work of data collection with more interest.

One rule of thumb is if it takes more than 15 minutes per day to collect the data, it isn’t
likely that the data collection activity be done. Based on this rule of thumb, please work
to make the data collection activity as less time consuming as possible.

You must also ensure that data collectors do not find the data collection activity to be
negative or risky for their own interests. For e.g. the management of my previous
organization decided to consolidate their Asia Pacific business to one location and they
sent me to Singapore to identify which of their businesses can be shifted to Hong Kong.
As I asked the subject matter experts in Singapore to collect process level data, they
sensed a potential risk to their job in this organization and willfully gave me limited
information. It is not their fault. It is just the inherent nature of human beings to protect
their own interests. Hence, while collecting data, you have to take note of these
dynamics. You have to ensure that the benefits of data collection are known to the data
collectors.

You have to also prepare the data collectors by helping them understand how data will
be tabulated. Ensure they have been trained well to collect the data and allow them ample
time to practice. Finally, ensure that they have the knowledge and are unbiased.
 SECTION 12

Introduction to Sampling

As per the recent statistics of Centre for Disease Control, there are about 1.2 million
diabetic patients in North America. If you were working in a pharmaceutical company
who had just created a medicine for diabetic patients and your company had received a
green signal to test the medicine on humans, would you test it on all of the 1.2 million
diabetic patients?

Well, the answer is NO.

Because testing the medicine on that big a population and collecting all that data is
impractical and too costly.

So what would you do?

In this case, you will sample a smaller number of diabetic patients who represent the
larger North American population and test the new medicine on them.

So Sampling becomes a core part of your exercise whenever you do any project
(including those in the Transaction Processing industry).

Sampling

Sampling is the process of collecting only a portion of the data that is available or could
be available. This data is used to draw conclusions about the total population.

When is Sampling done?

As we discussed in the earlier example, you will use Sampling when collecting all the
data is impractical or too costly. It is also used when data collection can be a destructive
process or when you are measuring a high volume process.

The benefits of sampling are: It saves time and money and allows for meaningful data
to be collected that might otherwise be available.

What are the different Sampling Methods?

You will learn three methods – Simple Random Sampling, Stratified Random Sampling
and Systematic Sampling.
Simple Random Sampling

Simple Random Sampling is a method of sampling in which every unit has equal chance
of being selected.

Let’s say you have a bag of 50 M&M’s and you have to pick up 12 of those. If you
choose to use simple random sampling, you will randomly pick up 12 M&M’s from the
bag. This is Simple Random Sampling.

Stratified Random Sampling

Stratified Random Sampling is a method of sampling in which subsets or groups are

created and then units are picked randomly.

Continuing the example of M&M’s, if you choose to use stratified random sampling,
you will divide the M&M population based on a particular characteristic such as color.
So you will have four groups, one with Red M&M’s, Green, Grey and Blue. You will
then randomly pick up 3 M&M’s from each group. This type of sampling is called
stratified random sampling.

Systematic Sampling

Systematic Sampling is a method of sampling in which every nth unit is selected.

I love cars, so let’s pick up that example this time. If you were an auditor at a car
manufacturing plant, you could plan to use systematic sampling to choose which car you
would audit. Thus, based on this sampling method, you can choose every 4th car that
gets out of the production plant and audit it. That is systematic sampling.
 SECTION 16

Introduction

I have one form that has 8 parameters to be updated. If any one of the parameters is
updated incorrectly, it is considered as an error. If more than 3 parameters are updated
incorrectly, the form is considered as Defective.

In situation 01, the back-office representative has updated all the parameters but 2 of
those are incorrectly done. In this situation, how many units are we talking about? We
are dealing with one form which is one unit. If the rep did not update 2 parameters
correctly, how many defects are there? 2 errors is equal to 2 defects. How many
opportunities of error are there on this form. There are 8 parameters to be filled, hence,
there are 8 opportunities for error.

And for this situation, how many defectives are there? Remember, we had discussed that
if more than 3 parameters are updated incorrectly, the form is considered defective. In
this situation, there are only 2 defects, hence, the form is not defective.

Let’s consider situation 2. The rep updates 5 parameters incorrectly on this form. So,
how many units are we talking about? In this case as well, 1 form is equal to 1 unit.

How many defects are there? 1 error is equal to 1 defect. In this situation, there are 5
errors that are equal to 5 defects.

How many opportunities for errors are there? There are 8 parameters to be updated,
hence, there are 8 opportunities for errors. And is the form defective? The answer is Yes,
because more than 3 parameters are updated incorrectly.

So, using this example, you practically learnt what is a unit, defect, defective and
opportunity for error. The key takeaway is that a unit can have multiple defects but can
either be defective or non-defective. I repeat, a unit can have multiple defects but can
either be defective or non-defective.

Unit: A unit is an item being processed.

Defect: A defect is failure to meet a customer requirement or performance standard

Opportunity for Error: An opportunity is any product or service characteristic which

is measured to a standard.
Defective: A defective is a unit that has defects and

Defects Per Million Opportunity: Defects per million opportunity is the number of
defects that would arise given a million opportunities.
 SECTION 20

Basic Chart # 01 – Line Chart

A line chart or line graph is a type of chart which displays information as a series of data
points connected by straight line segments. It is a basic type of chart common in many
fields. It can compare changes over the same period of time for more than one group.

It is used when your X variable is discrete (such as error types, time interval, OR any
other type of categorical data) and Y variable is discrete or continuous (such as no. of
events, no. of errors, accuracy %, average handle time, turn around time, cycle time,
among others).

This is an example of a line chart.

Let’s go through the steps to create a Line Chart on Minitab (these are just the steps, you
have to update relevant data in Minitab to get the required output using these steps)

• Copy the data from the excel sheet to Minitab

• Choose Graphs > Line Plot > Without Symbols, Series in Rows or
Columns > and then hit OK

• In Graph Variables, enter Data

 • In Label column, enter Week

• Under Series Arrangement, choose Each column forms a series and click OK.

Basic Chart # 2 - Bar Chart

A bar chart or bar graph is a chart or graph that presents categorical data with rectangular
bars. Its height or length is proportional to the values that they represent. Bar charts are
a type of graph that are used to display and compare the number, frequency or other
measures (e.g. mean) for different discrete categories of data.

It is used when your X variable is discrete (such as error types, time interval, teams OR
any other categorical data) and Y variable is discrete or continuous (such as no. of events,
no. of errors, accuracy %, average handle time, turn around time, cycle time, among
others).

This is an example of a bar chart.

Let’s go through the steps to create a Line Chart on Minitab (these are just the steps, you
have to update relevant data in Minitab to get the required output using these steps)

1. Copy data from the excel sheet to the Minitab worksheet.

2. Choose Graph > Bar Chart.

 3. From Bars Represent, choose Values from a table.

4. Under One column of values, choose Simple. Click OK.

5. In Graph variables, enter Data.

6. In Categorical variables, enter Team. Click OK

Basic Chart # 03 - Pie Chart

A pie chart is a type of graph in which a circle is divided into sectors that each represents
a proportion of the whole. Pie charts are generally used to show percentage or
proportional data. Usually the percentage represented by each category is provided next
to the corresponding slide of pie. Pie charts are good for displaying for around 6
categories or fewer.

It is used when your X variable is discrete (such as error types, time interval, teams OR
any other categorical data) and Y variable is discrete or continuous (such as no. of events,
no. of errors, accuracy %, average handle time, turn around time, cycle time, among
others).

This is an example of a pie chart.

Let’s go through the steps to create a Line Chart on Minitab (these are just the steps, you
have to update relevant data in Minitab to get the required output using these steps)
1. Copy & paste data from Excel to Minitab.

2. Choose Graph > Pie Chart.

3. Choose Chart values from a table.

4. In Categorical variable, enter Column 01. In Summary variables, enter Data.

5. Click Pie Options. Under Order slices by, choose Decreasing volume.
Click OK.

6. Click Labels. Click the Slice Labels tab.

7. Under Label pie slices with, check Category Name and Percent.

8. Click OK in each dialog box.

 SECTION 21

Graphical Technique # 01 – Pareto Chart

A pareto chart is a simple bar chart that ranks related measures in decreasing order of
occurrence. The Pareto principle is also known as the 80/20 rule because it states that a
small number (20%) of causes contribute to the majority (80%) of the performance
issues.

By identifying the most significant potential root causes of problems, Pareto Charts help
the team to understand where to direct improvement efforts to have the greatest impact
on performance

It is used when your X variable is discrete (such as error types, time interval, OR any
other type of categorical data) and Y variable is discrete (such as no. of events, no. of
errors, or any other count data).

This is an example of a Pareto chart.

Steps to create a Pareto Chart on Minitab (these are just the steps, you have to update
relevant data in Minitab to get the required output using these steps)

1. Copy data from the excel sheet to the Minitab worksheet.

 2. Choose Stat > Quality Tools > Pareto Chart.

3. In Defects or attribute data in, enter Column 01. In Frequencies in, enter Data.

4. Click OK.

Graphical Technique # 02 – Histogram

A Histogram is a tool used to visually display numeric data relating to our business
process in the form of bars in a chart. Data is showcased sequentially in these bars (e.g.
processing time in minutes in groups such as 10-20, 21-30, 31-40, etc.), where the height
of the bars represents the size of each group. Recall from white belt program: histogram
is one of the 7 basic tools of quality.

It’s useful for organizing and displaying data graphically, helping to segregate data into
bars (also known as bins) and highlighting the category with the highest number of data
points. It also enables us to see the spread or variation in the data at a glance.

It is used when your X variable is discrete (such as error types, time interval, OR any
other type of categorical data) and Y variable is discrete or continuous data (such as no.
of events, no. of errors, accuracy %, height, weight, any other type of data).

This is an example of a Histogram.

Steps to create a Histogram on Minitab (these are just the steps, you have to update
relevant data in Minitab to get the required output using these steps)

1. Copy data from the excel sheet to the Minitab worksheet.

2. Choose Graph > Histogram.

3. Choose Simple, then click OK.

4. In Graph variables, enter Data.

5. Click Scale.
 SECTION 22

Additional Analysis Technique # 01 – Scatter Plot

A Scatter Plot is a basic graphic tool that illustrates the relationship between two
variables. A Scatter Plot can be used to diagnose a problem or verify a root cause
identified through problem solving efforts. Scatter Plots are used with continuous data
to study possible relationships between two different variables. The next point is
important, even though a Scatter Plot depicts a relationship between variables; it does
not indicate a cause and effect relationship.

A scatter plot is used when both your X as well as Y variables are continuous.

Let’s look at some of the scatter plot diagrams. If you get a scatterplot like this, where
the data points are moving in an upward direction from left to right, it is termed as
positive correlation. This relationship is considered positive because, when X variable
increases, even the Y variable increases. Likewise, when the X variable decreases, the
Y variable also decreases proportionately. Both X and Y variables move in the same
direction.
Let’s look at the second situation. If you get a scatterplot like this, where the data points
are moving in a downward direction from left to right, it is termed as negative correlation.
This relationship is considered negative because, when X variable increases, the Y
variable decreases and if X variable decreases, the Y variable increases. Both X and Y
variables move in opposite directions.

Let’s look at another situation. If you get a scatterplot where you are unable to figure
out whether the data points are moving in an upward or a downward direction, it may
look something like this. This type of a plot doesn’t display any type of correlation
between both the X and Y variables. This indicates that any changes in X, does not
impact Y.
This is the Minitab output of a Scatter Plot.

Steps to create a Scatter Plot on Minitab (these are just the steps, you have to update
relevant data in Minitab to get the required output using these steps)

1. Copy data from the excel sheet to the Minitab worksheet.

2. Choose Graph > Scatterplot.

3. Choose Simple, then click OK

4. Under Y variables, enter Data. Under X variables, enter Column 01.

5. Click OK.

Additional Analysis Technique # 02 – Correlation Analysis

Correlation analysis is an extension of scatterplot. It is based on correlation coefficient.

The correlation coefficient “r” is also known as Pearson’s correlation coefficient. It
measures the strength of the relationship between X and Y variables.

Properties of the Person’s Correlation Coefficient i.e. r

• “r” will always take on a value somewhere between -1 and 1

• “r” greater than 0 indicates a positive linear relationship. The closer to 1, the
stronger the relationship
 • “r” less than 0 indicates a negative linear relationship. The closer to -1, the
stronger the relationship

• “r” equal to 0 indicates no linear relationship

As you know, correlation analysis is used in conjunction with the scatterplot and
scatterplot can be used when both X and Y variables are continuous in nature. Similarly,
a correlation analysis is also used only when both X and Y variables are continuous.

Steps to create Correlation Analysis on Minitab (these are just the steps, you have to
update relevant data in Minitab to get the required output using these steps)

1. Copy data from the excel sheet to the Minitab worksheet.

2. Choose Stat > Basic Statistics > Correlation.

3. In Variables, enter Data Column 01. Click OK.

 SECTION 23

Introduction – Improve Phase

The Improve phase primarily addresses the question – Why is the extent of the problem?

It has 3 steps, namely,

• Step 10. Generate, Prioritize and Select Potential Solutions

• Step 11. Pilot Solution(s)

• And Step 12. Validate Impact of the Solutions

Step 10 is focused on understanding what steps will fix the root causes? In this step, you
will recall tools such as brainstorming, you will also learn brainstorming 6-3-5 and
assumption busting.

Step 11 is focused piloting the identified solutions. In this step, you learn to implement
a pilot plan and perform a Risk analysis.

And Step 12 is focused on validating the impact of the implemented solutions on the
key metric. In this step, you will re-analyze the improved process capability.

Post completion of these three steps, you will meet your project champion in a toll-gate
review meeting.

Solution Generation Technique # 01 - Brainstorming

If you recall, in step 07, you had learnt Brainstorming. The use of the tool is not
significantly different between steps 07 and 10, with the exception that brainstorming
activities held in step 07 were focused to identify root causes of the problem. The
outcome of step 09 was identification of 3 to 6 vital few root causes. Brainstorming
activity held in step 10 is focused on identifying solutions to address and eliminate these
3 to 6 root causes.

So, instead of wearing a brainstorming hat of identifying root causes, in step 10, you
will wear the brainstorming hat of identifying solutions to the root causes.

Solution Generation Technique # 02 – Brainwriting 6-3-5

Brain-writing is a technique used to generate many ideas in a short period of time. Brain-
writing 6-3-5 refers to the process of having 6 people write 3 ideas in 5 minutes on a
pre-defined parameter.

Steps to conduct brainstorming 6-3-5 include:

• Assemble a team of 6 people (mostly sme’s)

• Write the list of root causes on the board

• Provide sticky notes or writing material to the audience

• Inform the audience that in the next 5 minutes they need to write min. 3 ideas as
solutions for the given problem

• Start the timer, stop after 5 minutes

• Do this exercise for each identified root cause

By the end of this exercise, you will get at least 18 solutions for each root-cause. The
solutions may be same or different.

Solution Generation Technique # 03 – Assumption Busting

Assumption busting as a technique is used to trace back from the current performance
problems to identify rules and then surface underlying assumptions.

The steps to conduct assumption busting include:

• Revisit the current problem at hand

• Identify the rule(s) responsible for the problem

• Trace the rule(s) back to an assumption in the process

• Test the assumption – Is it still valid?

Assumption Busting Example:

• In a personal loan approval process the problem is lengthy cycle time for
approvals which is leading to dissatisfaction

• Investigation of the process reveals that there is a rule existing in the process
which makes every vital task in processing the loan pass through a specialist
(legal expert, financial expert, credit expert) after it has been processed by an
agent
• The reason for rule existing in the process is an assumption which says that all
loan deals are complex

• On investigation and data-collection it is found that only 5% of deals are complex

and thus the process assumption is wrong
 SECTION 24

Introduction – Improve Phase

The Improve phase primarily addresses the question – Why is the extent of the problem?

It has 3 steps, namely,

• Step 10. Generate, Prioritize and Select Potential Solutions

• Step 11. Pilot Solution(s)

• And Step 12. Validate Impact of the Solutions

Step 10 is focused on understanding what steps will fix the root causes? In this step, you
will recall tools such as brainstorming, you will also learn brainstorming 6-3-5 and
assumption busting.

Step 11 is focused piloting the identified solutions. In this step, you learn to implement
a pilot plan and perform a Risk analysis.

And Step 12 is focused on validating the impact of the implemented solutions on the
key metric. In this step, you will re-analyze the improved process capability.

Post completion of these three steps, you will meet your project champion in a toll-gate
review meeting.

Solution Generation Technique # 01 - Brainstorming

If you recall, in step 07, you had learnt Brainstorming. The use of the tool is not
significantly different between steps 07 and 10, with the exception that brainstorming
activities held in step 07 were focused to identify root causes of the problem. The
outcome of step 09 was identification of 3 to 6 vital few root causes. Brainstorming
activity held in step 10 is focused on identifying solutions to address and eliminate these
3 to 6 root causes.

So, instead of wearing a brainstorming hat of identifying root causes, in step 10, you
will wear the brainstorming hat of identifying solutions to the root causes.
Solution Generation Technique # 02 – Brainwriting 6-3-5

Brain-writing is a technique used to generate many ideas in a short period of time. Brain-
writing 6-3-5 refers to the process of having 6 people write 3 ideas in 5 minutes on a
pre-defined parameter.

Steps to conduct brainstorming 6-3-5 include:

• Assemble a team of 6 people (mostly sme’s)

• Write the list of root causes on the board

• Provide sticky notes or writing material to the audience

• Inform the audience that in the next 5 minutes they need to write min. 3 ideas as
solutions for the given problem

• Start the timer, stop after 5 minutes

• Do this exercise for each identified root cause

By the end of this exercise, you will get at least 18 solutions for each root-cause. The
solutions may be same or different.

Solution Generation Technique # 03 – Assumption Busting

Assumption busting as a technique is used to trace back from the current performance
problems to identify rules and then surface underlying assumptions.

The steps to conduct assumption busting include:

• Revisit the current problem at hand

• Identify the rule(s) responsible for the problem

• Trace the rule(s) back to an assumption in the process

• Test the assumption – Is it still valid?

Assumption Busting Example:

• In a personal loan approval process the problem is lengthy cycle time for
approvals which is leading to dissatisfaction

• Investigation of the process reveals that there is a rule existing in the process
which makes every vital task in processing the loan pass through a specialist
 (legal expert, financial expert, credit expert) after it has been processed by an
agent

• The reason for rule existing in the process is an assumption which says that all
loan deals are complex

• On investigation and data-collection it is found that only 5% of deals are complex

and thus the process assumption is wrong
 SECTION 25

Perform Risk Analysis

The objective of risk analysis is that the project team identifies all potential risks of the
project implementation and communicate them to the champion and stakeholders.

This is how the risk analysis template looks. You can use this one OR your organization
may already have a risk analysis template, you could use that one too. Let’s look at the
components of this template.

The first column is termed as “Risk”. Here, you list the details of identified risk in a
brief concise statement. In the second column, the risk rating is generally kept as High,
Medium and Low. You can define what would be considered as “High”, Medium or low
depending on the nature of the projects done in your organization. The third column,
you share the Mitigation plan to avoid or minimize the risk. Again, you may not write
the whole story but just explain the plan in a few brief sentences. Column number 4 is
where you update the contingency. This is your plan if the risk surfaces again. The last
column lists the name of the individuals who are working to mitigate the risk.

Let us now talk about Steps to perform the risk assessment.

• Step 01. Brainstorm all potential risks that might decrease the probability of
successful project completion

• Step 02. Assign high, medium OR low rating to highlight the impact of risk on
the project and

• Step 03. The team should identify activities that need to occur to mitigate risk.
Additionally, ensure that a contingency plan is in place. Owners should be
assigned.
 SECTION 26

Process Capability Re-Analysis

In the measure phase, you had learnt the technique of calculating the process capability
using the DPMO method. Recall the steps. You had first computed defects per
opportunity by dividing the total number of defects with the product of opportunity for
errors and number of units.

You had then computed the DPMO or defects per million opportunities value by
multiplying one million with Defects Per Opportunity.

And in step 3, you looked up the DPMO value in the sigma conversion table to identify
the sigma value of our process.

You have to use the same process to calculate the process capability or the sigma value
of your improved process.
 SECTION 27

Introduction – Control Phase

The Control phase primarily addresses the question – How will you ensure that the
problem stays fixed?

It has 3 steps, namely,

• Step 13. Institutionalize the Solutions

• Step 14. Replicate and Share Best Practices

• And Step 15. Celebrate and Recognize Success

Step 13 is focused on sustaining the benefits. In this step, you will learn about common
causes vs. special causes, you will learn to create a control chart and control plan.

Step 14 is focused on replicating the captured knowledge into best practices for your
organization. In this step, you will learn the various communication methods to replicate
and share best practices.

And Step 15 is focused to showcase and reward individual contributors. In this step, you
will reemphasize celebrations.

Post completion of these three steps, you will meet your project champion in a toll-gate
review meeting.

Introduction to Control Charts

Control Charts were developed by Walter Shewhart in the 1920’s when he was working
with the Bell labs. These charts are existing for more than a century and have proven to
be extremely useful to monitor the process.

Control charts are the means through which process and product parameters are tracked
statistically over time.

The usage of control charts is referred to as Statistical Process Control or SPC.

They are used to analyze and control process performance. They are helpful to identify
and evaluating variation in the implemented process improvement. The type of variation
dictates the corrective action to be taken. These charts are sensitive to small changes
over time, hence, they are very useful.
Utilize control charts to monitor key short and long term process and output metrics
over time. This is especially useful when a process has been changed.

This is an example of the control chart. The upper and lower red lines are termed as the
Upper and Lower Control Limits and the centre green line is the mean of the data. The
black dots joined by the black line are those data points that are being monitored.

Differentiate Common Causes and Special Causes

Common causes are present all the time. They have small affect individually. They result
in random variation. In case of a common cause, the effects can be tolerated.

Special causes are not always present. They typically have a bigger influence. Special
causes comes from outside influences. In case of a special cause, you would want to
know about the effects.

In a nutshell, common causes are good to have and special causes are least invited.

Create a Control Chart

One of the control charts is “c” chart. The letter “c” of the c chart is not an acronym. It’s
the name itself. Now the next point is important: A c chart is used when you are dealing
with Defects and the sample size of the data is constant.

Steps to create a Control Chart on Minitab (these are just the steps, you have to update
relevant data in Minitab to get the required output using these steps)
 1. Copy data from the excel sheet to Minitab

2. Choose Stat > Control Charts > Attributes Chart > C

3. In Variables, enter Data, then click OK.

Control Chart Example:

 SECTION 28

The Control Plan describes the actions that are required at each step of the process to
assure that all process outputs will be in a state of control. A control plan helps in
identifying areas that could introduce variation into your improved process. A control
plan thus, further helps in taking proactive steps in these areas and prevent any
unnecessary variation from occurring.

You should create a control plan every time an improved process has been implemented.
The intent should be to standardize the process and to create an appropriate governance
mechanism.
 SECTION 29

Sharing Best Practices

Sharing best practices begins with the identification of similar processes in your
business that will benefit from your project. Sharing best practices is essential
because translating solutions requires much less effort than execution of a full-scale
project. Translation also avoids “Reinventing the Wheel!”

Creating a Case Study Template helps you share your best practices easily. It
enables you to create a short case study of a completed project, thus, reducing the effort
of the other individual to go through the long project documentation. The case study
includes template:

• Project goals and processes addressed

• Tools and approaches employed

• Challenges faced and overcome

• Benefits realized (financial and otherwise)

• Individual team member’s contribution

This is an example of the case study one-pager. It is for improving the late arrivals of
employees at Matrix Corp. I have added this completed case study in the resources
section of this chapter for your review. You can download it and based on your needs,
you can also use it for your respective projects.

So, to summarize, replicating and sharing best practices is crucial and you can do that
by creating a case study one-pager. This one pager can be used as a testimonial for your
businesses and other businesses can review and adopt your practices.

Celebrate and Recognize Success

Post-Implementation Review provides an opportunity for the team to step back and
evaluate the process used in accomplishing the project. This “no rank/no fault” review
identifies best practices and lessons learned that can be used by the team members
themselves and shared with others.

The project team may be under tremendous pressure of project delivery. Once that
pressure is past, team members are in a better position to evaluate their own process.
Removing titles and levels offers each team member an opportunity to provide feedback
based on his or her experience. Documenting learning makes it easier to share with
others.

The post-implementation review is held shortly after project completion. It typically

lasts for 30-90 minutes based on size of team and complexity of project.

The steps to conduct a post implementation review include:

• Schedule meeting: Should occur shortly after project completion, while team
members’ thoughts and feelings are still fresh. Ideally an outside facilitator would
be engaged to manage the process

• Discuss the objective: project leader often speaks first. Begin with charter, then
ask what other objectives might have been present

• Summarize major activities & accomplishments: Recap major activities and

accomplishments. Support with relevant metrics and artifacts. Focus on both
content and process

• Discuss what worked well: Focus on content and process. “What would we want
to be sure to do again next time?”
 • Discuss did not work well: Important to focus on issues, not personalities.
Facilitator important here to manage conversation

• Agree on action items: As a result of the conversation, clarify and document any
“Who does what by when” action items

After you have completed the handover of the project, be sure to recognize the
performance improvements and congratulate team on successess and celebrate the
succes.