How to deploy a goal-based project

In our fast-paced society, which centres on instant gratification, the project model is evolving. Traditionally, the benefits of a project are delivered in one go at the end of the project, but we are shifting towards a way of working where goals are met incrementally throughout the lifespan of a project. In this model, deliverables are achieved periodically.

Why opt for a results driven approach?

Delivering benefits throughout the course offers a host of advantages. For one, it can go a long way to keeping the project team on track. Deploying a goal-based project allows the team to focus on achieving small goals by breaking it down into manageable chunks. It deters your team from the worry, anxiety and distraction of the bigger picture.

Similarly, a goal-based project reassures external parties that the project is heading in the right direction. Whether it’s the client, senior management or stakeholders; periodically meeting goals throughout the project improves trust. By continually setting and meeting targets you can build strong, loyal, dependable relationships.

How to continually hit targets

Many digital industries work in a goal-based way by working projects in sprints. Sprint planning maps out each task based on goals and desired outcomes. After each sprint, teams reflect upon what has been achieved so as to learn from it before moving forward.

Working in this way has been shown to improve teams’ focus, sharpen decision-making processes and continually hit targets. Deploying sprints or a similar method is a great way to achieve a goal-based project successfully.

How to achieve continuous improvement

Core to the goal-based approach is working in an agile way. Teams can undergo agile training to become more au fait with this methodology. The advantage being that working to smaller goals opens the project up to be changed, tweaked, adapted, and essentially improved along the way.

Agile working allows teams to be flexible to overcome any hurdles during the project. This may include shifts in external factors such as new demands from the end customer, or ripples felt from change in the wider business environment. Whatever the disruption may be, agile practices allow teams to be prepared for the unexpected.

The benefits of goal-based projects

Deploying a goal-based project is about more than setting targets to keep a project on course with what you have mapped out. It is about sustaining deliverables and ensuring that whatever the project produces continually creates value.

Delivering the benefits throughout the life of the project was listed as one of APM’s 6 Simple changes project managers need to make now. Here they point out that by breaking a project into a series of goals, and using agile sprints, you are able to work to an ‘effort-benefit-effort-benefit’ model. Employing the best working methodology is essential for achieving on-time, on-budget, successful projects, which also realise the desired result of delivering benefits incrementally.

A project which achieves goal-based project delivery to a high standard is sure to generate stakeholder satisfaction, increase project success rates, improve career prospects for the project professional, and better company reputation.

Source: prince2.com

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PRINCE2 or PRINCE2 Agile?

Selecting and deploying the best methodology is key to project success, and agile working is on the rise. In fact, PMI’s Pulse of the Profession report found that 71 percent of organisations report using agile approaches ‘sometimes’ or ‘more frequently than in the past’.

But what is agile? And how does it differ from PRINCE2 methodologies? Here we give you the lowdown, explain both ways of working, as well as taking a look at PRINCE2 Agile - a hybrid approach.

What is Agile methodology?

As the name suggests, the agile approach to project management is centered around working with agility – being capable of adapting to change, reacting speedily and pivoting where necessary, whilst always ensuring the project is running smoothly. This flexible approach to project management does not focus its attention on the end goal, but rather uses short-term, incremental goals and objectives.

The agile methodology favours customer satisfaction by delivery of benefits throughout the project. Agile promotes continuous improvement by reflecting at regular intervals. It encourages collaborative working whereby team members feel motivated and empowered to get the job done. Core to the agile methodology is being responsive and flexible to change during the project lifespan.

What is PRINCE2?

Much like agile, PRINCE2 is a much-valued methodology for project management globally. It is used and recognised worldwide with over a million certified professionals across the globe. Best of all it can be tailored to suit projects large or small, and in any industry sector.

The framework of PRINCE2 does not define how teams should work, but instead focuses on the themes and principles of a project – change and risk management, quality assurance, lifecycle and project planning. PRINCE2 helps professionals to ensure projects are viable, profitable, the business case is solid, and that teams are accountable. Core to the PRINCE2 methodology is giving projects structure and direction.

Here at Prince2.com we offer thorough and effective training to become PRINCE2 qualified, and 88% of project managers with a PRINCE2 qualification say that it has helped them in their career.

PRINCE2 Agile: A combined approach

PRINCE2 Agile launched in 2015 and has had great success year on year ever since. The course acts as a bridge between PRINCE2’s ‘traditional’ governance approach and the flexible, adaptable nature of agile, allowing you to truly benefit from the best of both worlds.

The very nature of this combined approach means that PRINCE2 Agile can be applied to any project environment with ease. Whilst the structure of PRINCE2 gives direction to your project, an agile approach will encourage a working environment that values quality and benefit delivery throughout the project lifecycle.

PRINCE2 Agile focuses on both the project and the outcome. PRINCE2 Agile training provides effective guidance on how to practically implement both PRINCE2 and agile, whilst reducing conflict, so that you can take advantage of both approaches.

Choosing between PRINCE2 and PRINCE2 Agile

Whilst many pioneer agile practices as the future of the project industry, a reported 57 percent use the agile project management approach – meaning 43 percent of projects executed still embrace traditional methods. It truly is split, which is why PRINCE2 Agile training is so favoured.

For those already using PRINCE2 within their organisations, PRINCE2 agile is the ideal way to introduce agile techniques without revolutionising an entire way of working. It is a great introduction to agile with disruption at a minimum.

Similarly, if both methodologies are new territory for you, our PRINCE2 Agile foundation course builds from the ground up, introducing the key principles of each framework to you before demonstrating how they can work harmoniously.

Source: Prince2.com

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Case Study: Salvaging a Call Center’s Big Software Investment

The sales pitch for a new tracking software sounded perfect to the management of an internal call center for a mid-sized financial institution. The call center handled technical problems and policy issues for branch offices across the country – though it was not doing a very good job at either, judging by the increased complaints and staff hours. The new software, the provider promised, would repay the $500,000 investment within six months to a year by reducing complaints, shortening the time it took to answer calls and eliminating the need for some staff positions.

So the company bought the software, had it installed, taught people how to use it. Then the company waited for the results to show up on the balance sheet. Trouble was, months went by and costs in the center remained high. Counting the half million dollar investment in software, the center was significantly over budget, and the senior manager was still getting complaints about poor service. For example, it was common practice among branch employees that if they did not get a clear answer or if the call center staffer sounded confused, they would just hang up. Then they would immediately call back so they would get routed to a different call center staffer who almost certainly would give them a different answer. This was a clear indication of inconsistent service quality as well as artificial call volumes.

The company decided to use the Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) methodology to resolve the problem.

The Define Phase

The senior manager decided to commission a team to study and improve the problem. The team’s goals were to (a) reduce the average handling time, (b) reduce the number of unnecessary calls and (c) achieve better consistency in answers given to the branches. The desired financial return was minimally to recoup the $400,000 to $500,000 it cost to install and implement the new software.

The Measure Phase

Though the new software program had not yet delivered the promised results, the team discovered that it did have several key features:

1. It tracked the duration of every call: That meant the team was able to gather data to establish baselines and judge whether any changes had the desired impact. Creating control charts of average handling time (AHT) for policy and procedure (P&P) calls and for system support (SS) calls allowed the team to evaluate process capability. The members found that both measures were significantly over the targets.

Figure 1: Policy & Procedures (P&P)

Figure 2: System Support (SS)

2. It allowed calls to be coded according to the type of question: This made it possible for the team to pinpoint the types of problems that generate the most calls and focus on reducing those calls first – a Pareto approach. Unfortunately, the team found when it began the call center project that about 40 to 50 percent of the calls were being coded as “unknown.”

The Analyze Phase

The team immediately realized that having a high level of calls being coded as “unknown” was trouble. It was impossible to find solutions to a problem that was “unknown.” So the team launched its Analyze work by digging into the reasons why the “unknown” category was used so often. Many of the call center staff used the “unknown” category as a workaround to avoid procedures they did not understand or that contradicted what they felt was the best way to handle an issue. Tagging a call as “unknown” allowed call center staffers the freedom to more or less do whatever they wanted to do.

Immediate steps were taken to improve the use of the software package. The team charted the number of “unknown” calls on an eight-foot-high board installed at the entry of the office building. Having a simple visual signpost helped raise awareness of the importance of reducing the number of “unknown” calls.

The team also discovered that few people referred to the operating manual for the software because it was an enormous, unwieldy binder.

Figure 3: Average Handling Time (AHT) Versus Percent “Unknown” Calls

Another related line of investigation compared the average handling time to the number of “unknown” calls. In Figure 3, the project team stratified this data by color coding it according to the work groups of the individual call handler. There was no clear pattern in the data, but this analysis did allow the team to recognize the call handlers with both low average handling time and low “unknown” figures as top performers. The importance of this became evident in the Improve phase. The team also created a similar chart that displayed how much handling time was spent on the different types of calls. That allowed the team to find the critical few types of questions that took the most time.

The Improve Phase

The project team launched two efforts to help reduce the number of “unknown” calls and improve call consistency:

◉ Three of the top performers who had the lowest number of “unknown” calls were asked to independently write down tips for coding calls and using the software properly – limiting their advice to both sides of a standard sheet of paper. The team then had these staffers compare notes and come up with a single page of standard operating procedures that the rest of the call center staff was trained to use.

◉ A mentoring system was established in which top performers helped the poorest performers. Initially each top performer would sit with a poorer performer for a half-hour and offer suggestions. Then the poorer performer would observe the top performer for a half-hour to pick up additional insights.

A third effort was launched to reduce the types of calls that were received most often. To address the problem, the project team expanded to include associates from the branches. The enlarged team then brainstormed ideas to reduce the most common call types. As a result, some new documentation was added to products to clarify instructions, and information was added to certain computer screens within the system to reduce questions and confusion. The team saw immediate improvement from these actions (Figures 4 and 5).

Figure 4: AHT Improvement – Policy and Procedure Calls

Figure 5: AHT Improvement – System Support Calls

In addition to the average handling time improvements, were these:

◉ The number of “unknown” calls quickly dropped to 10 percent.

◉ Customer satisfaction ratings from quarterly client satisfaction surveys improved.

As the average handling time dropped and service improved, the call center was able to reduce the workforce. (This was done without layoffs, through attrition.) Within the first year, the actual cost savings was $732,000, well above the initial target of $500,000.

The Control Phase

The Control phase of the project emphasized:

◉ Continued enforcement of the standard operating procedures.

◉ Use of control charts by office team leaders, who have the responsibility and authority to act if the average handling time starts to drift upward.

The team also created plans for continual monitoring of which call types consumed the most handling time, along with continuing the collaborative efforts with branches to address those calls.

Key Lessons Learned

Lessons that the team documented as advice to other project teams included:

◉ Six Sigma provides a disciplined step-by-step method to:

     ◉ Define the gap in performance and identify possible causes.

     ◉ Solve for root cause and validate solutions.

     ◉ Sustain improvements and share learning.

◉ It is critical to validate the measurement system. Had the team not discovered that the new software wasn’t being used properly by the associates, it could have wasted a lot of time on unsuccessful actions.

◉ Celebrate early wins in the project – don’t wait until the end.

◉ Chart progress in the most visual way possible, so everyone sees it.

◉ Peer coaching is valuable. It quickly helps the poorer performer and it should be positioned as a reward/recognition honor for the high performer.

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Scorecard: Linking Strategy to Performance Objectives

A successful company and its leadership must have the ability to meet financial and customer expectations in a changing global economy. To win customer confidence and meet business plan objectives, the leadership team must not only develop a winning strategy, but drive results by turning the strategy into a reality through communication and a fact-based performance measurement system. Easily said, but turning the business strategy is into actionable items is a difficult undertaking.

Business leaders should be able with confidence to answer the question:

Does every employee in the organization understand the business strategy and how he/she can contribute to the success of the strategy?

By utilizing a performance measurement system, such as a balanced scorecard, an organization commits to assessing performance, monitoring performance, course-correcting performance and aligning all employees with key objectives. Therefore, whether an accountable leader or a staff member who performs the work, employees all have a method to assess progress, ascertain the improvement and make changes if required.

In addition, leaders and staff can be assured of being headed in the same direction when the organization’s strategy is aligned with:

1. Key projects or program areas that link to personal and team accountability.
2. Business process with key program areas that link to personal and team accountability.
3. Business plan objectives with key indicators that link to personal and team accountability.

Key Components of a Balanced Scorecard Approach

An operations plan design should outline the key strategy, priorities, areas of responsibility and critical performance measurements through responsible leadership and team performance toward measurable areas. Critical plan components include strategy, deliverables, performance indicators and organization. Key plan components include:

◉ Operating plan strategy: Understand why the targets will be met.
◉ Deliverables: Know the performance measurement targets.
◉ Performance indicators/measurements: Show how to meet targets.
◉ Organization: Understand who is accountable for targets.

Here is a look at the balanced scorecard approach from an integrated view:

	Strategy Defines the mission, the customer segment and purpose
Organization Alignment Defines accountability and key focus areas to achieve company’s business plan	Business Objectives States goals, commitment to stakeholders	Communications States out loud the mission and how employees can contribute to company success
Performance Metrics Tools to measure performance against objectives

Key operating scorecard dashboard measurements as a minimum should include:

◉ Customer satisfaction: Measure customer retention and customer attrition by product and region. (Customer satisfaction survey may be a good tool.)

◉ Cost of access: Measure network optimization targets.

◉ Network reliability: Measure trouble tickets.

◉ Revenue plan execution: Measure sales order backlog, customer churn, install revenue.

◉ Internal systems/information management: Measure system availability and system implementation or system consolidation if applicable.

◉ Customer delivery process: Measure provisioning times.

Performance metrics may vary by company. However, critical focus on key concentration areas and requirements for success will enable achievement of business objectives. Competitive edge initiatives to be included in implementing a balanced scorecard approach are:

◉ Standard product set with clear definition by product and a standard product set that can be sold, implemented for customers and billed effectively.

◉ Service delivery process that gives attention to automate key activities and efficiency to reduce manual handoffs.

◉ Information management and systems that are aligned with business process and drive system automation. Dependent on company, convergence into common platforms may be required to achieve system automation.

◉ Billing processes should guarantee accuracy to minimize customer disputes and ensure cash collections.

Implementing a balanced scorecard requires obtaining consensus on deliverables, strategy, performance indicators and organization design that aligns with business process. The output of a balanced scorecard approach will yield an operating plan that will enable leaders to have clear levels of responsibility for delivering products and services. Performance metrics should ensure alignment with corporate financial performance targets and link to employee performance.

Metrics should be impartial, ensure trustworthiness of quantifiable results and match concentration areas of the business. As the business grows, integrates, changes in strategic direction, the balanced scorecard metrics should course-correct to align with the changes. Metrics have to be viewed as reliable sources of data.

Balanced Scorecard Checklist for Leaders

Business leaders should develop performance measures using this checklist.

◉ Line up the strategy with critical projects or program areas.

◉ Line up the business process with strategies and business plan objectives.

◉ Line up mission and department objectives with individual and team accountability.

◉ Reduce the number of key metrics to ensure that the corresponding reliable pieces of data are greater than multiple metrics that are unreliable pieces of data.

◉ Involve group members with responsibility in the deployment of scorecard metrics.

◉ Make sure team metrics cut across organizations to ensure cross-functional goals.

Balanced Scorecard Dashboard as a Management Tool

Team leaders can appreciate the benefits of implementing a balanced scorecard when the scorecard becomes a management tool. The team leader can review progress against key target areas on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. Reporting of metrics should follow with a schedule of when the data will be available for viewing. For example, a consolidated list of outstanding accounts payable may only be available monthly and, therefore, the scorecard metric should report monthly given data availability.

The balanced scorecard measurement system can show progress month over month and display areas that need improvement, as well as, become a tool to indicate progress over time. Typically, color coding is use on the scorecard. For example, red can indicate that a key metric or program area of focus is underperforming and not meeting expectations. Green could indicate meets or exceeds expectations for the reporting metric. Yellow could be used to indicate near to meeting expectations but requires attention.

During an operations review or staff meeting, the business leader can review each critical area on the dashboard and use the management tool as a discussion point for progress and performance. In addition, the focus of the operational review leans toward underperforming areas and plans to correct the area with clear accountability. Then progress can be tracked for improvement. The scorecard becomes the communication vehicle to discuss performance.

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Top 20 Risk Management Interview Questions

Have you always felt attracted to analyzing the potential losses in the financial sector of an organization? If yes, then Risk Management is totally the career field you should be opting for.

Risk management is basically the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks (defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on objectives) followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities.

But higher the demand is, tougher the interview questions are. Hence, we have jotted down the top 20 Risk Management interview questions just for you!

Here you go!

Question 1. What Are The Company’s Top Risks, How Severe Is Their Impact And How Likely Are They To Occur?

Answer :

Managing enterprise risk at a strategic level requires focus, meaning generally emphasizing no more than five to 10 risks. Day-to-day risks are an ongoing operating responsibility.

Question 2. How Often Does The Company Refresh Its Assessment Of The Top Risks?

Answer :

The enterprise-wide risk assessment process should be responsive to change in the business environment. A robust process for identifying and prioritizing the critical enterprise risks, including emerging risks, is vital to an evergreen view of the top risks.

Question 3. Who Owns The Top Risks And Is Accountable For Results, And To Whom Do They Report?

Answer :

Once the key risks are targeted, someone or some group, function, or unit must own them. Gaps and overlaps in risk ownership should be minimized, if not eliminated.

Question 4. How Effective Is The Company In Managing Its Top Risks?

Answer :

A robust process for managing and monitoring each of the critical enterprise risks is essential to successful risk management, and risk management capabilities must be improved continuously as the speed and complexity of business change.

Question 5. Are There Any Organizational “blind Spots” Warranting Attention?

Answer :

Cultural issues and dysfunctional behavior can undermine the effectiveness of risk management and lead to inappropriate risk-taking or the undermining of established policies and processes. For example, lack of transparency, conflicts of interest, a shoot-the-messenger environment, and/or unbalanced compensation structures may encourage undesirable behavior and compromise the effectiveness of risk management.

Question 6. Does The Company Understand The Key Assumptions Underlying Its Strategy And Align Its Competitive Intelligence Process To Monitor External Factors For Changes That Could Alter Those Assumptions?

Answer :

A company can fall so in love with its business model and strategy that it fails to recognize changing paradigms until it is too late. While no one knows for sure what will happen that could invalidate the company’s strategic assumptions in the future, monitoring the validity of key assumptions over time as the business environment changes is a smart thing to do.

Question 7. Does The Company Articulate Its Risk Appetite And Define Risk Tolerances For Use In Managing The Business?

Answer :

The risk appetite dialogue helps to bring balance to the conversation around which risks the enterprise should take, which risks it should avoid, and the parameters within which it should operate going forward. The risk appetite statement is decomposed into risk tolerances to address the question, “How much variability are we willing to accept as we pursue a given business objective?” For example, separate risk tolerances may be expressed differently for objectives relating to earnings variability, interest rate exposure, and the acquisition, development, and retention of people.

Question 8. Does The Company’s Risk Reporting Provide Management And The Board Information They Need About The Top Risks And How They Are Managed?

Answer :

Risk reporting starts with relevant information about critical enterprise risks and how those risks are managed. Are there opportunities to enhance the risk reporting process to make it more effective and efficient? Is there a process for monitoring and reporting critical enterprise risks and emerging risks to executive management and the board?

Question 9. Is The Company Prepared To Respond To Extreme Events?

Answer :

Does the company have response plans for unlikely extreme events? Has it prioritized its high-impact, low-likelihood risks in terms of their reputational effect, velocity to impact, and persistence of impact, as well as the enterprise’s response readiness?

Question 10. Does The Board Have The Requisite Skill Set To Provide Effective Risk Oversight?

Answer :

To provide input to executive management regarding critical risk issues on a timely basis, directors must understand the business and industry, as well as how the changing environment impacts the business model.

Question 11. Who Is Responsible For The Enterprise Risk Management Or Risk Management Process?

Answer :

Without assigning someone clear accountability for the process of risk management, it is unlikely that risks would be identified, prioritized, and mitigated across an organization on a periodic basis and in a thorough way. In addition, it is unlikely to risk would be given the focus that is required to achieve a reasonable degree of control over the many uncertainties facing organizations in today’s highly dynamic marketplace.

Less important are such details as the title of the individual with the accountability or how large a budget or staff the individual is provided. A name, an accountable person is a key to ensuring that a sound process is in operating.

Question 12. What Are The Most Significant Risks To The Strategy, And What Is Being Done To Address These?

Answer :

Given that failures are generally caused by a strategic risk that has not been addressed rather than by a catastrophic storm or single cyberattack, for example, it is vital for organizations to know and deal with their strategic risks.

Strategic risks typically involve aspects of the business such as:

What is the organization’s vision of the future – does it take into account where technology, science, and other dynamic forces are going?
What is the mission – what does the organization make or sell, to whom and in which geographies?
What are the goals and objectives – how much does the organization want to grow, at what margins, keeping what capital and debt levels?
What are the values – how does the organization want to behave and be perceived in the marketplace?
What is the position with strategic partners, investors, and vendors?

Question 13. Is There A Single Risk Register That Collates All Significant Risks (strategic And Non-strategic), With Action Plans To Mitigate Them?

Answer :

Strategic and non-strategic risks of a certain magnitude should be combined into one risk register that allows management and the board to see:

all the major risks
what is being done to mitigate them
what is the progress against the risk mitigation plan

The board should expect to see such a report or ask for one, if it is not already being created.

Question 14. What Are The Top 10 Risks Overall?

Answer :

These should be top of mind for the organization’s senior team at all times and be a familiar topic of discussion with the board. Board members should consider if these make sense based on all the information they have been privy to about the organization.

Question 15. Do Individual Performance Plans Include Risk Management?

Answer :

If managing risk is really important to the organization, the individual performance plans of a large number of employees at different levels of the organization should include a specific objective or task related to risk management. Thus, the performance against these would be evaluated at regular intervals. It is well-known that what gets measured gets managed, and what gets rewarded gets attention.

Question 16. Who Is Responsible For Information Technology Security?

Answer :

Clear accountability for the task of ensuring IT security is also critical. With the risk of cyber breaches, demands for service, extortion, and stealing of bank accounts and intellectual property so high, an organization needs to ensure it has the necessary expertise to create a secure technological platform. This can be in the form of hired staff or expert contractors.

In the case of some recent, high-profile breaches, it appears that the role of chief information security officer (CISO) was either non-existent or that the individual filling the role was brand new. An inference can be drawn that a seasoned CISO who understood the organization might have made a difference.

Of course, having the role filled does not guarantee never having a security risk comes to fruition. But it does reduce the risk to some extent, and having a CISO makes the discovery and recovery from a breach or attack quicker and more efficient when one does occur.

Question 17. Do All Employees Get Some Information And Training On Identifying And Reporting A Risk? Is There A Risk Reporting “hot-line”?

Answer :

The answer to this question will give the board insight into several things. If there is a hot-line, it shows that the organization is seriously interested in identifying risks and that the topic of risk is being handled fairly transparently within the organization. If there is not one, the board may wonder why there is no channel for the rank and file to alert management about risks.

Question 18. Have Correlated Risks Been Looked For, And What Are They?

Answer :

Large and small organizations, alike, have the potential to harbor correlated risks. Correlated risks are a group of risks that might occur at the same time because there is a relationship of some sort among them. The aspect at play could be:

geography in common
a single source with multiple ties. For example, a company that has call centers, data processing, and manufacturing plants in a single Southeast Asia country has the potential for correlated risk if that country is hit by a natural catastrophe, political upheaval, or some other turbulence.  Another example is, if different product units of a manufacturing company use the same supplier for raw materials or OEM parts, there is the potential for correlated risk if that supplier is unable to deliver on its orders.

A correlation might also be in terms of chain reactions. One risk event may give rise to other risks, which is often true in the case of natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes.

A question about correlated risks will not only elicit an answer about those risks but also provide insight as to whether the risk is being discussed in-depth and across organizational silos.

Question 19. Are A Business Continuity Plan And Disaster Recovery Plan In Place?

Answer :

No matter how robust a risk management process is, a company will experience catastrophes of one sort or another from time to time. There is a need for plans that deal with these because reaction speed is critically important in managing them well.

The business continuity plan has the aim of keeping all or some of the business running from another venue or with back-up systems or on-call staff, or whatever allows continuous operations. The disaster recovery plan has the mission to restore normal operations as quickly as possible after the business has been interrupted in whole or in part.

In reviewing these plans, key elements to look for include:

a communication hierarchy for notification that is complete and up to date
a decision tree for creating clarity around who can make which decisions
a list of third-party resources that have been previously vetted and can be called in to assist – some will be part of any insurance policies that may be triggered by the risk/loss event.

Question 20. What Risks Are Being Transferred By Insurance Versus What Is Being Mitigated Internally, And What Is The Quality Of The Insurer?

Answer :

Insurance can be an effective and efficient way to handle risk when it is used in a well-constructed fashion. The board will want to consider high-level issues such as:

Is the right set of risks covered; i.e. those that are less predictable, require special expertise, and are beyond the financial wherewithal of the organization to withstand?
Are the right limits being purchased; i.e. is the value of the policy high enough to truly cover a major loss?
How highly is the insurer rated, and what is its claims service reputation.

A way in which the board can judge the merit of the answers to these questions is to find out:

the kind of analysis that was done to determine the insurance program
who did the analysis
whether there is benchmark information to look at from comparable organizations.

There are, undoubtedly, other questions that the board may need to ask. These are an excellent starting place for getting a sense of how well the organization is addressing risk.

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What is Capacity Management in ITIL?

Capacity management is the practice of right-sizing IT resources to meet current and future needs. It’s also one of five areas of ITIL Service Delivery.

Effective capacity management is proactive, not reactive. Those doing well at capacity management make sure that business and service needs are met with a minimum of IT resources.

What's Included in Capacity Management in ITIL?

There are many IT tasks that fall under the umbrella of a capacity management process. Here are some of them:

◉ Monitor, analyze, and optimize IT resource utilization

◉ Manage demand for computing resources (this requires an understanding of business priorities)

◉ Create a model of infrastructure performance to understand future resource needs

◉ Right-size applications to make sure service levels can be met (without overdoing it)

◉ Produce a capacity plan that covers current use, forecasted needs, and support costs for new applications/releases

◉ Build the annual infrastructure growth plan with input from other teams

5 Steps to Successful Capacity Management

As with all major projects, proper planning is key. If you’re looking to get your project off the ground, here are the five steps you should take. To plan for where your capacity is going, you need to know where you’re at. That’s why it’s important to identify a capacity manager and form a capacity management team.

This team can then:

◉ Develop a mission, including desired end-state goals, processes, and responsibilities
◉ Assess the current state of capacity management
◉ Evaluate existing capacity management skills of the IT staff
◉ Take inventory of tools and software currently used for monitoring, capacity planning, performance management, and chargeback
◉ Collect budget details for capacity management work
◉ Perform a gap analysis to reveal areas that require process improvements, training, or software

Why Should I Implement Capacity Management?

Capacity management is critical to keeping IT costs down and quality of service up.

Most organizations use it to:

◉ Get more out of existing IT resources
◉ Improve IT cost per service unit positions
◉ Fine-tune applications and infrastructure components
◉ Improve performance, reduce consumption, and delay upgrades
◉ Eliminate redundant work
◉ Ensure consistent reporting
◉ Provision capacity efficiently
◉ Make informed business decisions using timely capacity and related cost information
◉ Provide insight into the total cost of ownership (TCO) of IT upgrades and initiatives
◉ Predict future use based on growth levels
◉ Uncover bottlenecks with enough time to stop them before service is affected

Capacity management teams also have close ties to ITIL service level management and financial management areas.

In fact, capacity management processes lead to a more thorough service level and associated financial information for the business. And this helps business leaders make more informed decisions.

Where Do I Start?

Capacity management is often the starting point for an ITIL Service Delivery initiative.

Here’s why. It offers quick, early wins. And these typically create enough cost savings to fund the remainder of your ITIL project. In our experience, such savings are typically in the millions of dollars.

Plus, recovering implementation costs and showing success keeps the project afloat. (This also encourages upper management to stay the course and reduces resistance in your organization.)

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DOE: The Power Tool of the Analyze and Improve Phases

Even a novice on a Six Sigma project team knows each step in the basic five-step DMAIC method (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) is essential to the success of a breakthrough project. What is not as widely recognized, however, is that each step brings a distinct set of tools to bear on the project objective. For the Analyze and Improve steps, design of experiments (DOE), combined with analysis of variance, is the Six Sigma power tool.

Design of experiments was first conceived and developed by Sir Ronald A. Fisher in the 1920s and 1930s. Fisher was a brilliant mathematician and geneticist working to improve crop yields in England. He designed and supervised field trials comparing fertilizers and seed varieties, among other things. Fisher encountered two enormous obstacles: 1) uncontrollable variation in the soil from plot to plot and 2) a limited number of plots available for any given trial. He solved these problems by the arrangement of the fertilizers or seed varieties in the field.

For example, to determine which of four varieties of wheat had the highest yield, Fisher would divide a rectangular test field into 16 plots. He then planted each of the four varieties in four separate plots. Each of the four varieties (A, B, C and D) was planted just once in each row and once in each column (Figure 1). This minimized the effects of soil variation in the analysis of the plot yields.

Figure 1: Arrangment of Field Plots to Test Seed Yields

Fisher also developed the correct method for analyzing designed experiments. He called it “analysis of variance” because it breaks up the total variation in the data column into components due to different sources. Today these vector components are called “signals” and “noise.” There is a signal component for each controlled variation and a noise component representing variations not attributable to any of the controlled variations. By looking at the signal-to-noise ratio for a particular variation, the analysis of variance will provide accurate answers.

The problems Fisher encountered in conducting agricultural experiments in the 1920s exist today in virtually all Six Sigma applications. For example, industrial experimenters are confronted by significant degrees of uncontrollable variation in such areas as raw materials, human operators or environmental conditions. Such problems can be overcome by running sufficiently large experiments. Unfortunately, large experiments are often too expensive, too time consuming, or both. Fortunately, Fisher’s solutions to these problems work just as well in 21st century Six Sigma as they did in 20th century agriculture. In fact, Fisher’s methods of design and analysis have become international standards in business and applied science.

Fisher’s methods require well-structured data matrices. His analysis of variance delivers surprisingly precise results when applied to a well-structured matrix, even when the matrix is quite small.

Case Study: The Daily Grind

Don worked in the belt grinding department. Day after day, he and his co-workers removed gate stubs from metal castings to prepare them for final processing and shipping. The grinders were paid a handsome hourly rate. The other major expense was the cost of the belts. The department went through a lot of belts on a typical shift.

Define: If a belt is used beyond a certain point, the efficiency in removing metal goes way down. The supplier representative had given the area manager a rule for when the grinders should replace a worn belt. The rule was called “50 percent used up.” Examples of belts that had been 50 percent used up were hanging on the walls in the grinding department. The purpose of the rule was to minimize the total expense of the operation. Don thought the rule was wrong. He thought the rule caused them to discard the belts too soon. He had a hypothesis that using the belts a little longer would reduce the belt expense with no loss of grinding efficiency. He also suspected that the supplier just wanted to sell more belts.

LGR	Material	Usage	Grit	Session	Cost
High High High High Low Low Low Low	Rubber Rubber Steel Steel Rubber Rubber Steel Steel	50% 75% 50% 75% 50% 75% 50% 75%	50 30 30 50 30 50 30 50	AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM	5.28 4.25 5.20 2.46 8.63 5.99 4.75 3.71
High High High High Low Low Low Low	Rubber Rubber Steel Steel Rubber Rubber Steel Steel	50% 75% 50% 75% 50% 75% 50% 75%	30 50 50 30 50 30 50 30	PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM	6.50 4.87 3.32 2.13 8.36 4.23 5.34 2.87

Don had come up with a new rule called 75 percent used up. He proposed doing a designed experiment to determine whether or not the new rule was more cost effective than the old rule. Don, the area manager and the supplier representative discussed the project. The supplier representative was vehemently opposed to the project. He said the 50 percent rule was based on extensive experimentation and testing at his company. He said the grinding department was wasting time trying to reinvent the wheel.

Don argued that laboratory tests may not be good predictors of shop-floor performance. The area manager thought Don had a good point. He gave the go-ahead for the project. He allowed Don one full day to complete the experiment.

Measure: When the other grinders heard about the experiment, they suggested other things that could be tested in addition to the 50-versus-75-percent usage. The contact wheels currently used on the grinding tools had a low land-to-groove ratio (LGR). One of the grinders wanted to try a wheel with a higher LGR. Another wanted to try a contact wheel made out of hard rubber instead of metal (Material). A third reminded Don that belts of at least two different grit sizes were routinely used. He felt that both grits should be represented in the experiment to get realistic results (Grit).

Don figured he could get 16 castings done in one day. But he also felt that he was usually more efficient mornings than afternoons. The experiment was controlled for this by including a morning/afternoon factor in the matrix (Session). Above is the data matrix for the experiment which tested all five factors. The response variable was the total cost for each casting divided by the amount of metal removed. The total cost was calculated as labor cost plus belt cost.

Analyze: A well-designed experiment is usually easy to analyze. The data matrix suggested the following:

1. Don was on to something with his 75 percent used up

2. High LGR is better than low

3. Rubber wheels are worse than metal ones

Figure 2 shows the Pareto plot ranking the factors and their interactions in the belt grinding experiment by the strength (length) of their profit signals.

Figure 2: Pareto Plot

The strongest signal was the comparison of steel to rubber contact wheels (Material). This signal indicated that rubber was not a good idea. The next-largest signal was the comparison of the 50 percent rule to the 75 percent rule (Usage). It predicted significant savings with Don’s idea. The third-largest signal was the comparison of low to high land-to-groove ratio (LGR) for the contact wheel.

The next two signals involved interactive effects. The message here was that the actual cost reductions from implementing the Usage and LGR results would be different for the two grit sizes.

Improve: Don’s experiment produced two recommendations: 1) use his 75 percent rule instead of the supplier’s 50 percent rule and 2) use contact wheels with the higher land-to-groove ratio. The combined impact of these two changes was a predicted cost reduction of $2.75 per unit of metal removed. This amounted to about $900,000 in annual savings.

Don’s recommendations were quickly implemented throughout the grinding department. The actual savings came in a little under the prediction, but everyone was happy. Not bad for a one-day project.

Control: Some degree of cost reduction was achieved by all the grinders, but it did not apply uniformly. There was still a lot of variability in grinder performance. Attacking this variation obviously was the next step.

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DOE for Services: Right Training Makes It a Valuable Tool

When it comes to mastering design of experiments (DOE), many quality professionals experience a steep learning curve. DOE can be complex, and to fully understand and apply it, professionals need to learn when to use it, how to set up the experimental design and how to interpret their results.

Service quality professionals face an even greater challenge because they often cannot relate to the methods many instructors use to teach DOE.

Six Sigma trainers typically ask trainees to work through manufacturing-based scenarios such as identifying the ideal conditions for using a catapult to attack a castle, which can take up to a full training day or longer to execute. And because many of these Black Belts in training already believe they will never apply DOE, they do not want to spend the class time to learn it, and instructors are reluctant to make them. The challenge is to give Six Sigma trainees firsthand experience working through a designed experiment that addresses a relevant quality improvement problem and can be executed quickly. With the help of a macro (named the GO macro) written for a standard statistical software package (Minitab), here is a solution.

Training Begins with DOE Outline

DOE training for Black Belts should begin by following the outline for designing an experiment suggested by D.C. Montgomery in his book Design and Analysis of Experiments:

1. Recognition of and statement of the problem.

2. Choice of factors, levels, and ranges.*

3. Selection of the response variable.*

4. Choice of experimental design.

5. Performing the experiment.

6. Statistical analysis of the data.

7. Conclusions and recommendations.

(*In practice, Steps 2 and 3 are often done simultaneously or in reverse order.)

Also all essential DOE topics need to be covered, such as the scientific method, one factor at a time experimental approach, DOE terminology (e.g., factors, levels and response variables), screening designs, resolution, randomization, replication, analysis of variance (ANOVA), residuals, F tests, main effects and interaction plots.

The most critical part of the training, however, is to give trainees the opportunity to apply these concepts firsthand using a DOE simulation.

To accomplish this, the group of trainees should be divided into teams and given a problem statement. For example, at PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the largest professional services firms, the problem statement that has been used is: “A professional services company has a new tax preparation service they developed for people who are 55 years or older and have ‘wealth accounts.’ The company wants you to design an experiment that will identify the direct marketing process that maximizes the number of customers they can acquire.”

Applying Concepts in DOE Simulation

Trainees are told that the response variable is the number of customers who purchase the service, then given the seven potential factors and their corresponding levels in the table below:

Factor	Description	Levels
Price	Pricing Strategy Index	90, 91,…, 109, 110
Mail Time	Weeks Since Promotional Mailer	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Sales Script	Sales Script Used for Call	A, B
Training	Prior Training on Script	Y (yes), N (no)
Gender	Gender of Caller	M (male), F (female)
Age	Age of Caller	20, 30, 40, 50, 60
Time of Day	Time of Call	D (daytime), E (evening)

The trainees’ task is to choose which factors they think may affect the number of acquired customers and determine the corresponding factor levels that they want to test. Following these steps, they are ready to choose their experimental design.

The parameters for the DOE include a budget of $40,000 and experimental runs of 100 calling hours that cost $2,000 each. Based on these parameters, there are several full factorial and fractional factorial designs that could be run within the allotted budget. For example, some students may decide there are only four potentially important factors and setup a 24 full factorial. Another group may decide they need to explore all seven factors and setup a 27-3 fractional factorial.

The Importance Is Learning about DOE

After the trainees create their experimental design, they are ready to perform the experiment. Because it is of greater valuable to spend more time learning about DOE than actually running the experiment, here is where the macro was employed to generate the response data.

The data collection process begins with the FORM worksheet in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Worksheet Trainees Use to Collect Data for Their DOE Experiment

Trainees input the factor level settings for their first run into the Condition column. If they have excluded a factor(s) from their design because they determined it was not necessary to measure it, they enter an ‘x’ for that factor(s).

After they have entered the levels for all factors, they run the macro to generate the number of corresponding customers the run would acquire after 100 calling hours. As illustrated in Figure 2, the macro:

◉ Outputs the response value to the Customers column.

◉ Transposes the specified factor levels into the Price, Mailtime, Script, Training, Gender, Age and Day columns.

◉ Tracks the cumulative amount of money spent on the runs in the $Spent column (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Worksheet After Factors Are Entered and Macro Has Generated Its Response

Macro Makes Running Experiment Easier

Trainees then repeat this process for each run of their design by entering new factor level settings into the Condition column and running the macro to generate the corresponding number of customers acquired. The macro adds the information for each run in a new row in the worksheet, and within minutes the trainees have “performed their experiments” and the data they need to evaluate their designs is ready for them to analyze (Figure 3). Columns C4 through C10 list the factor levels for each run, and C11 identifies the run number. C3 lists the number of customers acquired and C12 presents a running total of the money spent to perform the experiment.

Figure 3: A Completed Worksheet

Once the teams have conducted their analyses, they can present their findings to the entire group. The graphs they produce with their statistical software package are used to explain what factors they think significantly impacted the sales process and why (Figure 4). The learning continues as trainees discuss how they chose their experimental designs, whether they omitted important factors from the design and selected reasonable levels, and the possibility of confirmatory runs, if the budget allowed for them.

Figure 4: Interaction Plot for Acquired Customers

This approach for teaching DOE follows Montgomery’s outline and makes the process engaging for trainees. All of them understand the need to design an effective sales process, which makes it easier for them to relate to and retain the material. And the macro gives them meaningful data to work with in far less time than it would take to run a typical experiment, which leaves more time to focus on the practice of DOE itself.

Feedback on this training has been positive, with trainees frequently commenting on how the simulation brought DOE to life for them. And the benefits seem to endure. Many who entered this part of their training dismayed at having to learn something they thought they would never use, later report they are beginning to plan their own DOEs – a response that Master Black Belts everywhere can appreciate.

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Quantify the Benefits of IASSC Lean Six Sigma Certification

IASSC stands for the International Association of Lean Six Sigma Certification.

Lean Six Sigma is a methodological approach used to enhance performance by removing waste, decreasing variation, and increasing efficiency systematically. Using a mixture of lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, and Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma aims to combat the eight several types of waste: defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra processing.

The Key Benefits of IASSC Lean Six Sigma Certification

Caters to a range of abilities: As earlier mentioned, the IASSC offers three different certifications; Black Belt, Green Belt, and Yellow Belt. Depending on your experience, knowledge, and skill level, there is an entry-level available for all professionals looking to succeed using the Lean Six Sigma methodology.

Process Development Career Opportunities:

• IASSC Lean Six Sigma certifications are well suited to;
• Having Lean Six Sigma certification in your achievements gives you a powerful boost to your career.
• Applying the methodologies taught in Lean Six Sigma presents a firm promise to the organization or business you are involved in.
• It assists you in solving core management issues and improve efficiency.

1. Expert Success with IASSC Lean Six Sigma Certification:

The most known thought process to have a certification is to advance in your profession. Having Lean Six Sigma certification gives underwriting to businesses that you have a straightforward range of abilities. Being certified shows that you can implement Lean Six Sigma concepts and stand out from the crowd.

2. Recognized as a Leader:

When you do Lean Six Sigma certification, you will have a non-exhaustive grip of thinking processes. Also, an ability to measure financial services for the same. And you will be seen as a leader in a team. The learned strategies and the ability to complete Lean Six Sigma tools help improve the business model's productivity.

Individuals who are Lean Six Sigma Black Belt are additionally prepared to take in a change. They assist in process improvement, quality control, which ultimately leads to financial benefits to the clients.

3. Completion in Career with IASSC Lean Six Sigma Certification:

Finance management and issue evaluation are alluring abilities for an organization. These key characteristics are seen as growth metrics in a company. Certified Lean Six Sigma experts get fast growth in the government and ultimately get higher positions with no doubt.

4. Real Problem Solver:

A genuine Lean Six Sigma certification serves to achieve more for an organization. It helps you as an individual to handle processes. Individuals who understand and are trained in Lean Six Sigma voice a qualified language. They better know how crucial is the situation and implement Lean Six Sigma methodologies to fix a process and decrease waste. Which ultimately reduces costs.

5. Improve Business Processes:

When you get the Lean Six Sigma certification, you will have the capacity to show that you have the right analytical skills to measure, break down, control, and change. You will have the ability to survey the modern procedures. You will pick up correct information about their impact on quality execution.

You will develop the capacity to accomplish the dimension of continuous quality improvement that the company wants. You will most likely watch forms near repeat; there is no difference from the mean. You will almost absolutely take the right measures in a task.

6. Excellent Salary:

Like any other profession, Lean Six Sigma salaries are also reliant on many factors such as when one becomes certified as Green Belt or Black Belt and the number of projects, overall years of experience, cultural background, and previous experience has an impression. Hence it makes it more complex to arrive at an average salary range.

A lot can change each way based on the effect created by their respective projects. When someone gets into discussing roles, compensation is even more difficult with the addition of many other factors coming into play.

7. Be Relevant Across Industries:

What are the benefits of Lean Six Sigma certification? Lean Six Sigma method is not only applied in the manufacturing industry but also other sectors like aviation, IT, telecom, agriculture, and a lot more. Getting a Lean Six Sigma certification can help better employment prospects.

You will see hints of improvement in your compensation. Lean Six Sigma tests are difficult to pass. This is one reason Lean Six Sigma certified experts get so much admiration. Officials and employing managers at key organizations are very much aware of this reality.

8. Streamline Businesses:

Lean Six Sigma certified professionals would certainly distinguish themselves as a specialist inside the organization. You will receive quality improvement all through the organization. You will fortify your authority characteristics. People certified in Lean Six Sigma are educated in various strategies to streamline business forms.

IASSC Certified Lean Six Sigma experts will be specialists in reducing expenses and expanding income. This leads to a superior main concern, despite the industry. As an expert, you have to adjust to the changing requirements of your industry. You have to think out how to update your insight into various things, regardless of what industry you are part of.

9. Guarantee Compliance:

With actual knowledge of the principles of Lean Six Sigma. Process errors are decreased to irrelevant numbers. This implies that numerous companies apply Lean Six Sigma while assessing the process. As a certified Lean Six Sigma expert, you will almost certainly help companies comply with universal principles, which ultimately leads to customer satisfaction.

10. Get Hands-On Experience:

Lean Six Sigma certification includes projects which give hands-on experience on how business venture works. It provides a simulation with individual circumstances. As a certified Lean Six Sigma expert, you will have an adventure even before entering the industry.

11. More Real Understanding:

Numerous experts have what it takes and carry out the responsibility as someone who is certified. Formal preparation and certification give an edge. It allows you to apply the strategy successfully. Individuals who are not familiar with Lean or Six Sigma may not be able to recognize and fix issues. They might not have the idea of what an argument looks like. At this point, the certified ones have explicit knowledge of the processes and might upgrade the current processes.

12. Authoritative Growth:

Applying Lean Six Sigma is a recognized method for developing a company. An organization requires such individuals who are prepared and comprehend the techniques. For such organizations with certified personnel, it is simpler to drive activities and new tasks intended to change forms. A company can reach its objectives by taking out waste and move ahead on its competitors.

13. Increase Organization:

From a venture's viewpoint, accomplishing an IASSC Lean Six Sigma certification empowers people to understand the fundamentals. The individual performs the capacity to distinguish and reduce repeatable errors. People with a Lean Six Sigma certification would most likely grow a company to successful ones. Because, as an individual, you will most likely understand and lessen the mistakes. And these errors would have cost the company to lose a long term client.

14. Change Company Culture:

Lean Six Sigma is a built-up system. It has become a culture of huge companies. Everybody in such a company can adjust to change and adapt to push forward the organization. Having an improvement in literature is the thing that will genuinely support an organization. Culture spreads from the best. Pioneers require to receive a nonstop improvement culture to strengthen it all through the organization. By having experts who are certified, can introduce the right lifestyle that can be very much welcomed.

15. Eliminate Errors in Organization:

Securing Lean Six Sigma certification abilities empowers a person to exhibit continuous endeavors from a company's point of view. And increase steady and expected procedure results that are essential to a company's general improvement. Most people with this certification are necessary to the company's capacity to distinguish and take out repeatable procedure mistakes. With a Lean Six Sigma certification, you can see and reduce errors.

Read: Become a Qualified Leader with IASSC Lean Six Sigma Certification and How Important to Consider One

16. Adapt to Methods:

Furthermore, an IASSC Lean Six Sigma certification encourages you to adapt to different methodologies easily like kaizen. It is described systems to accomplish quicker than-anticipated upgrades to the procedure or item. In the IT industry, certified Lean Six Sigma experts could help reduce invoicing mistakes, client grievances, objection goals, time, IT spending, stops, and cost.

17. Project Management:

As a Lean Six Sigma certified, you would be able to manage many projects. Because you will have the ability to prioritize the tasks, therefore, you will have the ability to make the projects simpler for them to work on.

Conclusion

There are three levels of IASSC Lean Six Sigma certification, yellow belt, green belt, and black belt certification. Take the right certification at every stage of your career and get ahead of the crowd.

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Six Sigma DMAIC Quick Reference

The DMAIC methodology should be used when a product or process is in existence at your company but is not meeting customer specification or is not performing adequately. For DMAIC milestone reviews, there are certain deliverables, checkpoints, questions and concerns that the Black Belt and improvement team should be aware of prior to a tollgate/milestone review.

In lieu of or in addition to your Master Black Belt tollgate/milestone preparation review, the following Six Sigma DMAIC quick reference sheets can help prepare for your milestone review.

Jump to: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control

Define Phase

Deliverables Of Phase:

◉ Fully trained team is formed, supported, and committed to work on improvement project.
◉ Customers identified and high impact characteristics (CTQs) defined, team charter developed, business process mapped.

Checkpoints For Completion:

Team Readiness

◉ Team is sponsored by a champion or business leader.
◉ Team formed and team leaders (MBBs/Coaches and BBs/Project Leads) assigned.
◉ Improvement team members fully trained on Six Sigma and DMAIC.
◉ Full participation by members in regularly held team meetings.
◉ Team members perform project work when assigned and in a timely fashion.
◉ Team members regularly document their project work.
◉ Team is equipped with available and reliable resources.

Customers (and CTQs)

◉ Customer(s) identified and segmented according to their different needs and requirements.
◉ Data collected and displayed to better understand customer(s) critical needs and requirements.

Team Charter

◉ Project management charter, including business case, problem and goal statements, project scope, milestones, roles and responsibilities, communication plan.

Business Process Mapping

◉ Completed, verified, and validated high-level ‘as is’ (not ‘should be’ or ‘could be’) business process map.
◉ Completed SIPOC representation, describing the Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers.

Questions To Determine Appropriate Application:

Team Readiness

◉ Who are the improvement project team members, including BBs/Project Leads and MBBs/Coaches?
◉ Has everyone on the team, including the team leaders, been properly trained (on DMAIC)?
◉ Does the team have regular meetings?
◉ How often are the team meetings?
◉ Is there regularly 100% attendance at the team meetings? If not, have appointed substitutes attended to preserve cross-functionality and full representation?
◉ If substitutes have been appointed, have they been briefed on the project charter and goals and received regular communications as to the project’s progress to date?
◉ Has the project work been fairly and/or equitably divided and delegated among team members who are qualified and capable to perform the work? Has everyone contributed?
◉ Are there any constraints known that bear on the ability to perform project work? How is the team addressing them?
◉ How is the team tracking and documenting its work?
◉ Is the team adequately staffed with the desired cross-functionality? If not, what additional resources are available to the team?

Customers (and CTQs)

◉ Has the customer(s) been identified?
◉ Are there different segments of customers?
◉ Has the improvement team collected the ‘voice of the customer’ (obtained feedback – qualitative and quantitative)?
◉ What customer feedback methods were used to solicit their input?
◉ Have the customer needs been translated into specific, measurable requirements? How?

Team Charter

◉ Has a team charter been developed and communicated?
◉ Has the charter changed at all during the course of the project? If so, when did it change and why?
◉ Does the charter include the following?

– Business Case: What are the compelling business reasons for embarking on this project? Is the project linked to key business goals and objectives? What key business process output measure(s) will the project leverage and how? What are the rough order estimates on cost savings/opportunities on this project?

– Problem Statement: What specifically is the problem? Where does it occur? When does it occur? What is its extent?

– Goal Statement: What is the goal or target for the improvement team’s project? Do the problem and goal statements meet the SMART criteria (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound)? Has anyone else (internal or external to the organization) attempted to solve this problem or a similar one before? If so, what knowledge can be leveraged from these previous efforts? How will the project team and the organization measure complete success for this project?

– Roles and Responsibilities: What are they for each team member and its leadership? Where is this documented?

– Project Scope: What are the boundaries of the scope? What is in bounds and what is not? What is the start point? What is the stop point? How does the project manager ensure against scope creep? Is the project scope manageable? What constraints exist that might impact the team?

– Milestones: When was the project start date? When is the estimated completion date? Is the project currently on schedule according to the plan? Has a project plan, Gantt chart, or similar been developed/completed? How did the project manager receive input to the development of the plan and the estimated completion dates/times of each activity? Is there a critical path to complete the project? How will variation in the actual durations of each activity be dealt with to ensure that the expected project completion date is met?

– Communication Plan: What are the dynamics of the communication plan? What critical content must be communicated – who, what, when, where, and how? When are meeting minutes sent out? Who is on the distribution list? How do you keep key subject matter experts in the loop?

Business Process Mapping

◉ Has a high-level ‘as is’ process map been completed, verified and validated?
◉ Has a SIPOC diagram been produced describing the Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers?
◉ Is the improvement team aware of the different versions of a process: what they think it is vs. what it actually is vs. what it should be vs. what it could be?
◉ Is the current ‘as is’ process being followed? If not, what are the discrepancies?
◉ Are different versions of process maps needed to account for the different types of inputs?
◉ How was the ‘as is’ process map developed, reviewed, verified and validated?
◉ What tools and roadmaps did you use for getting through the Define phase?

Measure Phase

Deliverables Of Phase:

Key measures identified, data collection planned and executed, process variation displayed and communicated, performance baselined, sigma level calculated.

Checkpoints For Completion:

Key Measures Identified

◉ Key measures identified and agreed upon.
◉ High impact defects defined and identified in the business process.

Data Collection Planned and Executed

◉ Solid data collection plan established that includes measurement systems analysis.
◉ Data collected on key measures that were identified.

Process Variation Displayed/Communicated

◉ Process variation components displayed/communicated using suitable charts, graphs, plots.
◉ Long term and short term variability accounted for.

Performance Baseline/Sigma Calculation

◉ Measure baseline process performance (capability, yield, sigma level).

Questions To Determine Appropriate Application:

Key Measures Identified

◉ What are the key input variables? What the key process variables? What are the key output variables?
◉ What key measures identified indicate the performance of the business process?
◉ What are the agreed upon definitions of the high impact characteristics (CTQs), defect(s), unit(s), and opportunities that will figure into the sigma calculations and process capability metrics?

Data Collection Planning and Execution

◉ Was a data collection plan established?
◉ What data was collected (past, present, future/ongoing)?
◉ Who participated in the data collection?
◉ How did the team select a sample?
◉ What has the team done to assure the stability and accuracy of the measurement process?
◉ Was a gauge R&R conducted?
◉ Was stratification needed in the data collection and analysis?

Process Variation Displayed/Communicated

◉ What charts has the team used to display the components of variation in the process?
◉ What does the chart tell us in terms of variation?

Performance Baseline/Sigma Calculation

◉ What is the current process performance in terms of it capability indices?
◉ What is the current process performance in terms of its yield or sigma level(s)?
◉ How large is the gap between current performance and the customer-specified (goal) performance?
◉ Have you found any ‘ground fruit’ or ‘low-hanging fruit’ for immediate remedies to the gap in performance?
◉ What particular quality tools did the team find helpful in getting through the measure phase?

Analyze Phase

Deliverables Of Phase:

Data and process analysis, root cause analysis, quantifying the gap/opportunity.

Checkpoints For Completion:

Data and Process Analysis

◉ Identify gaps between current performance and the goal performance.

Root Cause Analysis

◉ Generate list of possible causes (sources of variation).
◉ Segment and stratify possible causes (sources of variation).
◉ Prioritize list of ‘vital few’ causes (key sources of variation).
◉ Verify and quantify the root causes of variation.

Quantifying the Gap/Opportunity

◉ Determine the performance gap.
◉ Display and communicate the gap/opportunity in financial terms.

Questions To Determine Appropriate Application:

Data and Process Analysis

◉ What does the data say about the performance of the business process?
◉ Did any value-added analysis or ‘lean thinking’ take place to identify some of the gaps shown on the ‘as is’ process map?
◉ Was a detailed process map created to amplify critical steps of the ‘as is’ business process?
◉ How was the map generated, verified, and validated?
◉ What did the team gain from developing a sub-process map?
◉ What were the crucial ‘moments of truth’ on the map?
◉ Were there any cycle time improvement opportunities identified from the process analysis?
◉ Were any designed experiments used to generate additional insight into the data analysis?
◉ Did any additional data need to be collected?
◉ What model would best explain the behavior of output variables in relation to input variables?

Root Cause Analysis

◉ What tools were used to generate the list of possible causes?
◉ Was a cause-and-effect diagram used to explore the different types of causes (or sources of variation)?
◉ What tools were used to narrow the list of possible causes?
◉ Were Pareto charts (or similar) used to portray the ‘heavy hitters’ (or key sources of variation)?
◉ What conclusions were drawn from the team’s data collection and analysis?
◉ How did the team reach these conclusions?

Quantifying the Gap/Opportunity

◉ What is the cost of poor quality as supported by the team’s analysis?
◉ Is the process severely broken such that a re-design is necessary?
◉ Would this project lend itself to a DFSS project?
◉ What are the revised rough order estimates of the financial savings/opportunity for the improvement project?
◉ Have the problem and goal statements been updated to reflect the additional knowledge gained from the analyze phase?
◉ Have any additional benefits been identified that will result from closing all or most of the gaps?
◉ What were the financial benefits resulting from any ‘ground fruit or low-hanging fruit’ (quick fixes)?
◉ What quality tools were used to get through the analyze phase?

Improve Phase

Deliverables Of Phase:

Generate (and test) possible solutions, select the best solutions, design implementation plan.

Checkpoints For Completion:

Generating (and Testing) Possible Solutions

◉ Possible solutions generated and tested.

Selecting The Best Solution(s)

◉ Optimal solution selected based on testing and analysis.
◉ New and improved process (‘should be’) maps developed.
◉ Cost/benefit analysis of optimal solution(s).
◉ Small-scale pilot for proposed improvement(s).
◉ Pilot data collected and analyzed.
◉ Improved process (‘should be’) maps modified based on pilot data and analysis.
◉ Project impact on utilizing the best solution(s).

Designing Implementation Plan

◉ Solution implementation plan established, including schedule/work breakdown structure, resources, risk management plan, cost/budget, and control plan.
◉ Contingency plan established.

Questions To Determine Appropriate Application:

Generating (And Testing) Possible Solutions

◉ How did the team generate the list of possible solutions?
◉ What tools were used to tap into the creativity and encourage ‘outside the box’ thinking?

Selecting The Best Solution(s)

◉ What tools were used to evaluate the potential solutions?
◉ Were any criteria developed to assist the team in testing and evaluating potential solutions?
◉ What were the underlying assumptions on the cost-benefit analysis?
◉ Are there any constraints (technical, political, cultural, or otherwise) that would inhibit certain solutions?
◉ Was a pilot designed for the proposed solution(s)?
◉ Describe the design of the pilot and what tests were conducted, if any?
◉ What conclusions were drawn from the outcomes of the pilot?
◉ What lessons, if any, from the pilot were incorporated into the design of the full-scale solution?

Designing The Implementation Plan

◉ Is the improvement plan best served by using the DFSS approach?
◉ What is the implementation plan?
◉ What poka-yoke or error proofing will be done to address some of the discrepancies observed in the ‘as is’ process?
◉ What does the ‘should be’ process map/design look like?
◉ How does the solution remove the key sources of variation discovered in the analyze phase?
◉ What attendant changes will need to be made to ensure that the solution is successful?
◉ What communications are necessary to support the implementation of the solution?
◉ How will the team or the process owner(s) monitor the implementation plan to see that it is working as intended?
◉ What is the team’s contingency plan for potential problems occurring in implementation?
◉ How will the organization know that the solution worked?
◉ What tools were most useful during the improve phase?

Control Phase

Deliverables Of Phase:

Documented and implemented monitoring plan, standardized process, documented procedures, response plan established and deployed, transfer of ownership (project closure).

Checkpoints For Completion:

Monitoring Plan

◉ Control plan in place for sustaining improvements (short and long-term).

Process Standardization

New process steps, standards, and documentation are ingrained into normal operations.

Documented Procedures

◉ Operating procedures are consistent.
◉ Knowledge gained on process is shared and institutionalized.

Response Plan

◉ Response plans established, understood, and deployed.

Transfer of Ownership (Project Closure)

◉ Transfer ownership and knowledge to process owner and process team tasked with the responsibilities.

Questions To Determine Appropriate Application:

Monitoring Plan

◉ What is the control/monitoring plan?
◉ How will the process owner and team be able to hold the gains?
◉ What key inputs and outputs are being measured on an ongoing basis?
◉ How will input, process, and output variables be checked to detect for sub-optimal conditions?
◉ How will new or emerging customer needs/requirements be checked/communicated to orient the process toward meeting the new specifications and continually reducing variation?
◉ Are control charts being used or needed?
◉ How will control chart readings and control chart limits be checked to effectively monitor performance?
◉ Will any special training be provided for control chart interpretation?
◉ Is this knowledge imbedded in the response plan?
◉ What is the most recent process yield (or sigma calculation)?
◉ Does the process performance meet the customer’s requirements?

Process Standardization

◉ Has the improved process and its steps been standardized?

Documented Procedures

◉ Is there documentation that will support the successful operation of the improvement?
◉ Does job training on the documented procedures need to be part of the process team’s education and training?
◉ Have new or revised work instructions resulted?
◉ Are they clear and easy to follow for the operators?

Response Plan

◉ Is a response plan in place for when the input, process, or output measures indicate an ‘out-of-control’ condition?
◉ What are the critical parameters to watch?
◉ Does the response plan contain a definite closed loop continual improvement scheme (e.g., plan-do-check-act)?
◉ Are suggested corrective/restorative actions indicated on the response plan for known causes to problems that might surface?
◉ Does a troubleshooting guide exist or is it needed?

Transfer Of Ownership (Project Closure)

◉ Who is the process owner?
◉ How will the day-to-day responsibilities for monitoring and continual improvement be transferred from the improvement team to the process owner?
◉ How will the process owner verify improvement in present and future sigma levels, process capabilities?
◉ Is there a recommended audit plan for routine surveillance inspections of the DMAIC project’s gains?
◉ What is the recommended frequency of auditing?
◉ What should the next improvement project be that is related to the process?
◉ What quality tools were useful in the control phase?

Integrating and Institutionalizing Improvements, Knowledge and Learnings

◉ What other areas of the organization might benefit from the project team’s improvements, knowledge, and learning?
◉ How might the organization capture best practices and lessons learned so as to leverage improvements across the business?
◉ What other systems, operations, processes, and infrastructures (hiring practices, staffing, training, incentives/rewards, metrics/dashboards/scorecards, etc.) need updates, additions, changes, or deletions in order to facilitate knowledge transfer and improvements?

Source: isixsigma.com

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