Project Management Tools/Diagrams/Charts Flashcards
1
Q
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
A
- In project management and system engineering, a work breakdown structure (WBS) is a decomposition of a project into smaller components.
- A critical deliverable that organizes the team’s work into manageable sections.
- A plan which expands the project or statement of work into a detailed listing of activities required to complete the project
- Simple, it breakdown complex tasks into smaller activities and then elements until reach a point where it can no longer subdivide the tasks.
2
Q
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) Chart
A
- A tool that shows project as a network diagram
- Event oriented
- Primary purpose is to reduce the time and cost required to complete a project
- Represent events and activities in sequence in the network to determine the critical path
- Used for non-repetitive, unique projects
- Biggest advantage is the critical path analysis help identify the interrelationship between tasks and bottlenecks/issues in the process
3
Q
Critical Path Method (CPM)
A
- The longest duration through a project network diagram.
- The shortest time to complete the project considering all dependencies
- Activity oriented
- CPM and PERT are very similar both using overlapping methodologies
- CPM is activity oriented and PERT is event oriented
4
Q
Gantt Chart
A
- Graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time
- Typically outlines all the activities performed in a project in a systematic order to represent critical information and people assigned to each task
- Presents the connection between activities and also the project flow
- Developed in 1910 by Henry Laurence Gantt
- Depicts both state and finish time of each task showing where it is possible to have things happening simultaneously, which helps plan resources appropriately
- Other names: Milestone chart, Project bar chart, and activity chart
5
Q
Project Documentation
A
- One of the key aspects of project management
- Document the methods of planning, monitoring, and controlling activities using a manual method like plain paper, colored magnetic markers etc. or using computer-based tools to help organize and summarize the data; the ultimate goal is to complete the project on-time
6
Q
Milestones
A
- Important activities in the project which are planned to be completed at an explicit time period.
- Need to review and approved by the stakeholders before it moves onto the next milestone.
- Project leads to prepare the document and needs to share with all stakeholders covering any potential roadblocks or challenges.
7
Q
Project Report
A
- Final report which covers project performance, benefits, and also captures lessons learned during the project.
- Help as a guide for future projects better planning and avoid same mistakes
8
Q
RACI Chart
A
- Stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed
- One of the simplest project management tools for planning and communicating the project
- Most common responsibility matrix which maps people and tasks against four profiles in a project
R-Responsible: Performing the task
A-Accountable: Ensuring the task is completed to an acceptable standard aka approve
C-Consulted: Available for help and advice on the task
I-Informed: Wants or needs information about the progress of the task
9
Q
Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC)
A
-A type of tree diagram used for the systematic analysis of a process to identify process risks and countermeasures to take to avoid or mitigate those risks.
-Extension to tree diagram and a planning tool to identify risks and countermeasures for bottom-level tasks.
-aka the tool helps anticipate undesirable occurrences and prepare with plans to
neutralize their effect
- Similar to FMEA, both identify risks, consequences of failure, and contingency actions.
- Used when one wants to plan all possible chains of events during a project.
- Used during the decision making especially for new, unique, and complex projects
- Can best handle very difficult and complex problems because of the forced opportunity to create contingency solutions.
10
Q
Project Plan
A
- One of the critical phases in project management, comes after the project initiation phase
- Describes the objectives or outputs that are expecting from the project to yield
- Include project scope, strategy, cos-benefit analysis, project scheduling, major milestones, and complete description resources (including human resources) to carry out the project
11
Q
Pareto Analysis (80:20 rule)
A
- A way of looking for the most common contributing causes to a situation
- Using a Pareto chart to perform graphical analysis on your data can help you identify the biggest drivers to your process and appropriately prioritize your actions
-Often called the 80-20 rule, 80% of the effects of something can be attributed to 20% of the drivers
12
Q
Pareto Chart (Pareto Diagram)
A
-Bar chart that re-orders the categories so they are rank-ordered from largest total
occurrences to the smallest
- In process analysis, this helps identify the most frequently occurring problems or defect – or separate the vital few from the useful many.
- The correct ranking for the Pareto chart categories from left to right would be from highest to lowest.
- Pareto Charts can be easily created by tallying a check sheet and making a bar chart out of it and re-ordering it
13
Q
When to use Pareto Chart (Pareto Diagram)
A
- When analyzing the frequency of root cause data and you want to focus on the most significant contributors (the vital few)
- When you want to understand broad cause by looking at the component pieces
- Very effective way to share a lot of information quickly
- Arrange defects from most to least common. See where your biggest issues lie.
14
Q
Scatter Diagrams
A
- A graphical technique to analyze the relationship between two variables. Two sets of data are plotted on a graph, with the y-axis being used for the variable to be predicted and the x-axis being used for the variable to make the prediction. The graph will show possible relationships (although two variables might appear to be related, they might not be; those who know most about the variables must make that evaluation). One of the “seven tools of quality” (see listing).
- Study the possible relationship between two variables. Chart interactions of the two variables.
15
Q
Seven tools of quality
A
- Tools that help organizations under their processes and improve them. The tools are:
1. cause and effect diagram
2. check sheet
3. control chart
4. flowchart
5. histogram
6. Pareto chart
7. scatter diagram
16
Q
Control Chart
A
Study variation over a length of time. Or in other words, look at the changes in a process over a certain period.
17
Q
Histogram
A
Also known as a frequency distribution. That’s because the height of each bar represents the frequency of occurrence.
18
Q
Cause and Effect Matrix
aka
X-Y Diagram
aka
Correlation Matrix
A
Cause and effect matrix is a six sigma tool uses to prioritize the key process input variables (KPIVs) based on priorities of customer outputs (KPOVs). In other words it establish the correlation between process input variables to the customer’s outputs duringroot cause analysis.
- Objective is to mathematically compute the correlation between Key Process Input Variables (X’s) and Customer outputs (Y’s).
- A cause-and-effect matrix can be used to evaluate and document relationships between input and output variables. This method is also very much similar to theQuality Function Deployment. It objectively evaluates the team’s subjective opinion about the KPIVs.
19
Q
When Would You Use an X-Y Diagram in the DMAIC Process?
A
- Great tool for prioritizing a long list of possible things and especially uses in the Measure phase of DMAIC
- This method also used to determine the primary factors for experiments in DOR and also to determine the objective of the Matrix Diagram and FMEA
- In a process all the input variables might influence the outcome, but all the input variables are not equally important. Hence develop a mathematical model to concentrate the important input variables with respect to the customers output. Cause and effect matrix helps to identify such key input variables.
20
Q
How to use X-Y Diagram?
A
Steps:
- First identify the customer requirements or in other words understand the voice of customer. This can be collected by conducting surveys, focus groups and other means to collect their priorities. Place those priorities in at the top of the X-Y diagram
- Assign priority factor for each of the customer outputs. Generally use 1-20 scale, where 1 being the low priority and 10 being the high priority to the customer
- List all possible key input variables or the improvement factors of the process in each row, those are the X’s in the X-Y Diagram
- Assess the relationship between key input variables to the customer outputs and rank each input variables accordingly. Recommended to use geometric progression scale (0,1,3,9)
- 0: no impact, 1-low impact, 3-medium impact, 9-input has strong impact or correlation on output - Cross multiply the customer output priority numbers with correlation rankings and sum each row at extreme right column
- Finally, determine the rank based on the highest sum total and highlight the critical few variables. This will help to identify improvement areas.
21
Q
Casual Theory y=f(x)
Things to Remember
A
- A problem with your output (y) has two potential sources: your input (x) and your procedure (f).
- These two potential sources are not exclusive. You could have an issue with both your input (x) and your procedure (f).
- Most processes are complex enough that you’ll need to break them down into multiple sub-processes, each with their own input and procedure.
- Prioritize your problem outputs. In other words: focus on the larger problems first. You can fine-tune later.
- Problems in a sub-process can be replicated and enlarged as its output moves through subsequent sub-processes. Ensure that you drill down to the ultimate source of the issue.
22
Q
Casual Theory y=f(x)
A
Causal theory, in Six Sigma terms, means that you create output (y) from an input (x) and a function (f).
It’s made up of three components:
- y: What you get out of a process. In a manufacturing context, this is a physical product.
- x: What you put into a process. In the same manufacturing context, this is a material or part.
- f: What you do to turn x into y. In manufacturing, this is a machining or assembly procedure.
y = f(x) Output = method * input
23
Q
Using Causal Theory in Six Sigma
A
When you have a problem with your output (y), causal theory tells you that there are two possible culprits:
-
f: Your procedure for creating that output.
- x: The materials or information you’re adding to that procedure.
24
Q
Correlation
A
-A relationship between two events. They occurred at much the same time, in same population, or in the same circumstances.
Example: spilling a glass of milk and dropping an egg. They might occur at the same time, and they might have the same cause, clumsiness or a fright. But one would rarely cause the other to happen
25
Causation
-Relationship between two events; one caused the other to happen.
Example: Dropping an egg could cause it to land on the floor. These will also happen at almost the same time, by human observation. But unlike the milk-and-egg example, one - dropping an egg - can be shown to directly cause the other - it landing on the floor.
26
Critical to Quality Tree
CTQ tree helps teams to visualize the customer’s needs, drivers, and performance requirements. The tree starts with the identification of customer needs and then branches into drivers and further requirements.
* **Need:** The first step of CTQ Tree is to identify the customer’s needs. This is the actual product or service that you deliver to the customer.
* **Drivers:** Once you determine the customer needs, identify the quality drivers that must be present to fulfill customer needs.
* **Requirements:** Finally, list requirements for each driver. In other words, record measurable performance requirements for each driver.
27
**When to use CTQ Tree**
Six Sigma teams usually start with VoC data when defining a problem and identifying the goals for a project in the [Define phase of DMAIC](https://sixsigmastudyguide.com/define-phase-dmaic/) methodology. Once you have the VoC, create a CTQ tree to identify customer needs. It’s useful to build a CTQ tree to:
* Understand the customer needs more clearly
* Identify current issues and improve the product or service
* During the early stages of designing or developing a product or service
* Stand out from competitors
28
CTQ Tree Steps
* Identify the customers: Customer identification is a crucial step of the [Voice Of Customer (VOC)](https://sixsigmastudyguide.com/voice-of-customer-voice-of-client-voc/)process. A customer is a person or company who purchases products or services.
* Solicit Voice of Customer: [Soliciting the voice of the client](https://sixsigmastudyguide.com/voice-of-customer-voice-of-client-voc/) is important for any organization. The best way to get higher customer satisfaction is to ensure you are delivering what they want when they engage you.
* Understand customer needs: From the voice of the customer, understand the customer needs. You can also prioritize the customer inputs using [Pareto analysis](https://sixsigmastudyguide.com/how-to-make-a-pareto-chart/).
* Translate that data into [Critical to Client measures](https://sixsigmastudyguide.com/critical-to-customer/). Then, set ranges and tolerances for the CTCs.
* Identify the quality drivers and determine how well your organization’s process needs to do internally in order to meet those measures.
* Set parameters for your internal processes that deliver to those drivers- those are your [Critical to Quality measures CTQs.](https://sixsigmastudyguide.com/critical-to-quality-ctq/)
* Finally, validate the requirements with the customers
29
**Benefits of CTQ Tree**
* CTQ Tree helps in identifying the performance requirements to delight customers
* Focuses on the key metrics of customer satisfaction
* Translates customer requirements into CTQs
* Helps in quality improvement of product or service
* It helps designers to understand the quality drivers to design the product or service
* Easy to visualize the customer needs, quality drivers, and requirements in a graphical way
30
Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
- Cost associated with providing poor quality products or services to the customer. In other words, it is the total financial losses incurred by the company due to performing incorrect things. For example, scrap, rework, repair, warranty failure.
- Cost of Quality is a methodology used in the organization to measure the amount of resources being used for the cost of good quality. In other words, it is the cost of achieving quality products or services.
31
Cost of Good Quality
**Preventive Cost**– Preventive costs are the costs of the activities specially designed to prevent poor quality of products or services. In other words, efforts are related to preventing failures.
* Quality planning
* Contract review
* Trainings
* Quality audits
* Supplier evaluation
* Market research
* Process capability studies
**Appraisal costs** – Appraisal costs are the costs incurred due to those activities which are performed to detect the poor quality of product or services. In other words, appraisal costs are related to testing, measuring, and auditing. The appraisal cost focuses on the discovery of defects rather than the prevention of defects.
* Incoming goods inspection
* In-process inspection
* Supplier inspection
* Laboratory testing
* Final goods inspection
* Calibration
32
Cost of Poor Quality
**Internal failure** – Internal failure costs result from the identification of defects prior to delivery of the product or service to the customers. In addition, these are the costs due to the failure of a product to achieve required quality standards.
* Rework
* Repair
* Internal scrap
* Re-testing
* Efforts spent on failure analysis
* Raw material rejection
* In-process rejection
**External failure** – External failure costs arise from the rejection of the product or services by the customers after delivery. In other words, these are the costs when a product or service fails to meet the required quality standards and is detected after it reaches the customer.
* Warranty claims
* Customer visits
* Penalties
* Replacements
* Investigations
* Loss of goodwill
33
SIPOC
* Helps the team and sponsors agree on the project boundary and scope
* Very useful when part of the process is unclear
* High level process mapping tool to help visualize a process and its influences
* Suppliers
* Inputs
* Process
* Outputs
* Customers
34
SIPOC Steps and Benefits
1. Identify the process
2. Define the process steps
3. List down the Outputs
4. Identify the Customers
5. Determine the Inputs required for the process
6. Identify the Suppliers
7. Validate the diagram
Benefits
* Helps to define the new process
* It provides a project overview for all stakeholders
* Provides a high-level project overview to the top management
* Problem-solving initiative
* Provides input and output information for key processes
* Ensures all the stakeholder on the same page
