This document provides an overview of basic tools for analyzing processes and identifying root causes of issues. It describes brainstorming, including that it is used to generate unconstrained ideas in both the analyze and improve phases. Guidelines for effective brainstorming are outlined, such as establishing rules, individually writing down ideas before sharing, and using techniques like cause-and-effect diagrams to avoid groupthink. The document also notes that affinity diagrams can help organize the large number of ideas generated through brainstorming.

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National Guard
Black Belt Training
Module 30
Basic Tools
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CPI Roadmap – Analyze
8-STEP PROCESS
6. See
1.Validate 2. Identify 3. Set 4. Determine 5. Develop 7. Confirm 8. Standardize
Counter-
the Performance Improvement Root Counter- Results Successful
Measures
Problem Gaps Targets Cause Measures & Process Processes
Through
Define Measure Analyze Improve Control
ACTIVITIES TOOLS
• Value Stream Analysis
• Identify Potential Root Causes • Process Constraint ID
• Reduce List of Potential Root • Takt Time Analysis
Causes • Cause and Effect Analysis
• Brainstorming
• Confirm Root Cause to Output
• 5 Whys
Relationship
• Affinity Diagram
• Estimate Impact of Root Causes • Pareto
on Key Outputs • Cause and Effect Matrix
• FMEA
• Prioritize Root Causes
• Hypothesis Tests
• Complete Analyze Tollgate • ANOVA
• Chi Square
• Simple and Multiple
Regression
Note: Activities and tools vary by project. Lists provided here are not necessarily all-inclusive. UNCLASSIFIED / FOUO

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Learning Objectives
 Generate ideas to help determine root causes and
improve our processes
 Organize ideas so we can understand them
 Prioritize ideas so that we can get the most leverage
from them
 Use Minitab for some of these tools
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Generating, Organizing and Assessing Ideas
 The basic tools covered in this section center around
idea generation as well as organizing and assessing
those ideas
 We use these tools to generate ideas to help us
determine the potential root causes (Xs) that are
impacting the output (Y) of our process
 We may also need to use some of these same tools
to generate improvement ideas later after critical
causes have been identified
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Application Examples
 Information Technology – CPU usage is too high
at peak times. The IT manager needs to investigate
how to increase capacity and/or shift usage
 Transportation – Team wants to explore creative
ways to reduce shipping costs
 Recruiting – Manager needs to determine why cycle
time to hire federal technicians is so long
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Basic Tools
Force-Field
Analysis Affinity Diagrams
Goal
Casing Defect Tracking
Defect Mon. Tue. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Week Total % of Total
Scratch ll lll ll lll llll 14 67%
Dent l l l 3 14%
Chip l l l 3 14%
Bend l 1 5%
Total Defects 21
Check Sheets Brainstorming Cause & Effect
Process Map 1 Item Number
Card Rating Value 6
Idea Scores
Idea 1 Totals
8,8,6,7,8,2 6/ 39
Idea 2
Nominal Group
6,5,4,7,3
Idea N
5/ 25
Pareto Chart Technique
3,2,2,1 4/ 8
Idea Generation
and Assessment
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Brainstorming
 What
 A structured method of generating unconstrained ideas
and gaining engagement/involvement in the
improvement process
 Used in the Analyze phase to identify and prioritize root
causes
 Used in the Improve phase to identify and prioritize
solutions
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Brainstorming
 Why
 Brainstorming produces many ideas in a short
time
 Facilitates the creative thinking process
 Separates idea generation from the organizing
and assessment of the ideas
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Brainstorming
 How
 Review the problem definition
 Clarify the goal/question and provide any relevant information
 Encourage creativity
 Give everyone a few minutes of silence to think about the question and
individually write down some ideas (Note: for ease of consolidation later, it
is useful to use Post-its, recording only one idea on each Post-it)
 Gather ideas, round-robin, one-at-a-time and hand in the Post-it
 Place Post-its on flip-chart and post the filled in sheets on the wall for all to
see (and use as a basis for further ideas)
 Do not discuss ideas until the session is complete
Tip: Establish guidelines for effective brainstorming
with the team before getting started
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Brainstorming
 How (Cont.)
 Encourage participants to continue to write down additional ideas as they
think of them
 Continue until everyone is out of ideas
 Write down every idea
 Can use the Cause & Effect Diagram to avoid “Group Think” and assure a
balanced brainstorming session
 Take a break from the creative portion and prepare for the organize portion
(Note: Can use the Affinity Diagram to organize ideas into groups)
 Answer questions, get clarification of ideas, ask for more specific
information, where needed
 If new ideas arise during organize portion, record them
 Consolidate similar ideas and discuss the complete set of ideas
 Again, clarify ideas and how they are grouped until the team is satisfied
 Use other basic tools in this module to assist in prioritization
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Guidelines for Effective Brainstorming
 Rapid generation is the aim
 No such thing as “wild” or “bad” ideas
 No evaluation of ideas
 Chaos can be fun
 Always forget to combine
 Everyone gets a voice
 Build on others’ ideas
 No personal attacks, blaming, or complaining
 No turf, rank or monuments
 Laughter fans the flames of creativity – have fun!
Quantity Over Quality!
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Why We Should Use a Team-Based Process?
 What’s good about it?  What’s bad about it?
 Involves everyone  Slower to get through (but
 Gets all current root you only go through it once)
cause ideas on the table  Takes more resources up front
(more participants)
 Stimulates innovation
(new ideas)
 Contributes to consensus
and buy-in
 Helps take personalities
out of the process
 Captures subject-matter
expertise and process
knowledge
 Provides structure for
participants
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Challenge Assumptions
 Everyone brings assumptions to the table. Such
assumptions can reflect what we know or, as is often
the case, what we think we know about what is
causing a problem
 Challenging conventional assumptions about your
problem can help you turn obstacles into
opportunities
 Work to escape the self-imposed constraints that
traditional assumptions often create
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Obstacles to Creative Thought
 Staying in our box
 Not challenging existing paradigms
 Not challenging assumptions
 Fear of being wrong
 The search for the “right” answer
 Focusing on logical thought
 Judging ideas before they are formed
 Psychological inertia
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Random Word
 This technique helps teams approach problems from different perspectives rather
than through patterned ways of thinking
 Pick a word, any word, and use what comes to mind to see if it applies to your
problem
 For example, what comes to mind when you think of the word “Satellite” as it
relates to an Accounts Receivables problem? (e.g., e-Payment)
 When that word is exhausted, pick another word
Accounts Receivable (First Word: Satellite)
1 2 3 4 5
1 Skeleton Room Treadmill Oven Filter
2 Valley Fruit Library Purse Molecule
3 Maze Water Air Earth Money
4 Tunnel Altar Diamond Army Computer
5 Amoeba Anvil Bait Balloon Bible
6 Algebra Alphabet Child Lamp Leg
7 Menu Prison Monster Muscle Nest
8 Pepper Pill Satellite Pod Ring
9 Rainbow Rudder Safe Sauce Saloon
10 Ice Index Key Ladder Landslide Lever
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Random Personality
 Similar to Random Word, this technique also helps teams approach problems from
different perspectives rather than through patterned ways of thinking
 Pick a well known personality, real or imaginary, and use what comes to mind to
see if it applies to your problem
 For example, “How would Mickey Mouse approach this?” – “have fun,” “control
crowds,” etc.
 When that personality is exhausted, pick another personality
General Patton Genghis Kahn Mickey Mouse
Fay Ray Madonna The Beatles
Bill Gates Jack Welch Our General
Sgt. Smith Spiderman Superman
Batman Harry Potter Frodo
JFK Pres. Bush Winston Churchill
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Brainstorming Takeaways
 Brainstorming is a structured method of generating
unconstrained ideas and gaining engagement and
involvement in the process
 Brainstorming produces many ideas in a
short time
 Brainstorming facilitates the creative thinking process
 Brainstorming separates idea generation from the
organizing, assessment and prioritization of the ideas
that are generated
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Cause and Effect Diagram
 What
 Represents the relationship between an effect
(problem) and its potential causes.
 Categorizes causes and drills down to root cause
 Often called Fishbone or Ishikawa diagram
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Cause and Effect Diagram Purpose
 Why brainstorm using C&E Diagram?
 To help ensure that a balanced list of ideas have been
generated during brainstorming
 Sort and relate the factors affecting a process while
little quantifiable data is available
 Assist discussion when determining root causes
 To determine the real cause of the problem (as
opposed to a symptom of the problem)
 To refine brainstormed ideas into more detailed causes
 To identify a team's level of understanding
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Cause and Effect Diagram Method
 How
 Name the problem or effect of interest – Put in form of a question
 Decide the major categories for causes. Categories may include:
 the 6 M’s: manpower (or personnel), machines, materials, methods,
measurements, and mother nature (or environment)
 DOTMLPF – Doctrine, Organization, Training, Material, Leadership &
Education, Personnel, Facilities
 See next page for other category ideas
 Brainstorm for more detailed causes. Ask "why" each major cause
happens at least 5 times
 Eliminate causes that do not apply
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C&E (Fishbone) Diagram – Possible Categories
Method Description
Brainstorm Method Have the team brainstorm possible causes, create a list, segment the ideas into major
categories, name the categories and use them as the major bones
6 M Method  Man (Personnel)
 Methods
 Measurements
 Machines
 Materials
 Mother Nature (Environment)
4 P Method  Place
 People
 Procedures
 Policies
4 S Method  Surroundings
 Suppliers
 Systems
 Skills
Process Method If you are working with a process, break the process down into its major activities and
assign each activity as a major bone
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Cause and Effect Diagram Method
 How (Cont.)
 Discuss the causes and decide which are most
important
 Work on most important root causes
 Brainstorm for more ideas in those categories that
contain fewer items - this helps counter the “theme” or
“group think” effect common in brainstorming
 Perform another iteration to determine root causes, if
necessary
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More on the “Theme” Effect
 Very often, brainstorming sessions tend to go off in a
particular direction based on a common “theme” or a
thread of thinking
 One or two good ideas get the rest of the group thinking
along those lines
 The rest of the brainstorming session continues along this
“theme”
 The Cause & Effect diagram helps overcome the “theme”
effect by allowing the group to visualize the categories into
which their ideas fall
 The group can then be redirected to focus on generating
more ideas in those categories that contain fewer ideas
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Refine Brainstormed Ideas to the Root Cause
Ask "Why?" 5 Times
Why do CPI projects take so long?
1. Why? Teams don’t have time to work on project
2. Why? Other activities have not been
cleared from their duties
3. Why? Project Sponsor and other
affected managers not aware that they
need to make this happen
4. Why? Project Sponsor and
other affected managers have not
________________ attended Project Sponsor Workshop
1. Why? 5. Why? . . .
2. Why?
3. Why?
4. Why?
5. Why?
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Cause and Effect Diagram Example
Man Machine Method
Incomplete 50 Cal Sniper
Training Targeting sys.
Vision M-16 Prone Position
Targeting sys.
Breathing M-4 Supported
Conditioning Targeting sys. Kneeling Position
Prior Activity M-24 Sniper
Targeting sys. Unsupported
Desire / Motivation
Moral Objection Shotgun Standing Position
Targeting sys. Effect:
Survival
Why are there
Factory Ammo
Projectile type Wind
too many
Armor Piercing Cross Wind missed targets
Tracer Round Pre-measured distance
Target Round Head Wind
Projectile Grain weight Tail Wind
130 Gr. laser distance finder Lighting Conditions
160 Gr. Daylight
Custom Ammo Dusk / Dawn
Projectile Type Visual Range Estimation Night or
Projectile Gr. Wt. Minimal light
Material Measurement Mother Nature
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Cause and Effect Diagram - Software
 Software programs are available that allow Cause and Effect Diagrams
to be created electronically.
 This feature can be found in Minitab in the following location:
Stat>Quality Tools>Cause-and-Effect…
Can also use
Microsoft Visio
or Excel
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Exercise: Prepare a Cause & Effect Diagram
Objective
Create a Fishbone diagram for the GGA's Budget Department
Instructions
 Write problem statement in the form of a question – “What is
causing…?”
 Select categorization method
 Brainstorm ideas
 Clean up ideas (duplicates, NAs), get clarity, add others
 Ask “5 Whys” to get to root cause – fatten the fish!
 Highlight most significant root causes for further analysis
Time = 30 Minutes
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Cause & Effect Diagram Takeaways
 Represents the relationship between an effect (problem) and its
potential causes and categorizes causes
 Helps ensure that a balanced list of ideas have been generated during
brainstorming
 Helps us overcome the “theme” or “group think” effect
 Sorts and relates the factors affecting a process while little
quantifiable data is available
 Serves as a discussion guide to assist in determining root causes
 Helps determine the real cause of the problem as opposed to just
highlighting a symptom of the problem
 Helps refine brainstormed ideas into more detailed causes
 Helps identify a team's level of understanding
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Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
 What
 A technique that supplements brainstorming.
 A structured approach to generate additional ideas,
survey the opinions of a small group and prioritize
brainstormed ideas
1 Item Number
Card R ating Value 6
Idea Scores
Idea 1 Totals
8,8,6,7,8,2 6/ 39
Idea 2
6,5,4,7,3 5/ 25
Idea N
3,2,2,1 4/ 8
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Nominal Group Technique Purpose
 Why
 NGT produces many ideas in a short time
 Structured to focus on problems (not people), to open
lines of communication and to tolerate conflicting ideas
 Builds consensus and commitment to the final result -
especially good for highly controversial issues
 NGT is most often used after a brainstorming session
to help organize ideas into groups and prioritize
ideas/groups
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Nominal Group Technique Method
 How
 If still necessary, process and clarify ideas from
brainstorming – duplicates are eliminated, similar ideas
are combined
 Limit discussion to brief explanations and brief
agreement statements - focus on clarification of
meaning, not arguing points
 Count the total number of ideas and divide by 5. The
result is X
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Nominal Group Technique Method
 How (Cont.)
 Prepare a stack of X number of cards for each participant,
where X = the number identified above. Number the cards
from 1 to X on the bottom right corner of each card. Give
each idea a letter. Each person individually chooses their
highest priority idea and puts that idea’s letter on the card
with the highest card number. Pick the second priority idea,
etc. Until all the cards are filled out. The cards have space for
additional comments which may be contributed anonymously.
 Tabulate scores and present on a Pareto Chart - share the
added comments with the group
 There are many approaches to NGT - different ranking and
voting procedures can be used
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Nominal Group Technique Worksheet
Item Letter Item Letter
Comments Comments
Card Value Card Value
Item Letter Item Letter
Comments Comments
Card Value Card Value
Item Letter Item Letter
Comments Comments
Card Value Card Value
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Nominal Group Technique Takeaways
 NGT supplements brainstorming. It is a structured
approach to generate additional ideas, survey the
opinions of a small group, and prioritize brainstormed
ideas
 Structured to focus on problems, not people; to open
lines of communication; tolerate conflicting ideas
 Builds consensus and commitment to the final result.
Especially good for highly controversial issues
 NGT is most often used after a brainstorming session
to help organize ideas into groups and prioritize
ideas/groups
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Affinity Diagram
 What
 A tool for organizing facts, opinions and issues into
natural groups as an aid to diagnosing a complex
problem.
 The inputs are listed on cards which are then
rearranged until useful groups are identified
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Affinity Diagram Purpose
 Why
 To help organize
 To help develop central themes
 When information about a problem is not well
organized
 When a breakthrough is needed beyond traditional
thinking
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Affinity Diagram Method
 How
 Assemble the right team
 Clearly state the problem to be addressed
 Brainstorm ideas and place on Post-its
 Clearly display cards on wall as ideas are generated
 Without talking, team sorts Post-its into related groups
 Create headers for the groups on additional Post-its
 Draw the completed diagram
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Affinity Diagram Example
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Affinity Diagram Takeaways
 A tool for organizing facts, opinions and issues into
natural groups as an aid to diagnosing a complex
problem
 Helpful when a breakthrough is needed
 Helps organize ideas, concepts and/or facts
 Allows the development of central themes
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Force-Field Analysis
 What
 A tool to assist in examining the driving and restraining
forces of change that will impact a situation
 A tool to help a team understand the forces that keep
things the way they are
Driving Forces Restraining Forces
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Force-Field Analysis Purpose
 Why
 To force creative thinking focused on the issues of
change
 To build organizational consensus concerning the
forces for, and the barriers to, change
 To provide an entry point into process improvement
initiatives
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Force-Field Analysis Method
 How
 List all of the driving forces and all the restraining
forces to change. Brainstorming and/or Nominal Group
Technique can be used to assist in list development
 It may be useful to assign weights to the drivers and restraints
to indicate the relative strengths of each
 Establish a plan to eliminate or reduce all restraining
forces
 Market and use the driving forces in your
implementation planning
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Force-Field Analysis Example
Achieve LSS project results
Drivers Restrainers
Senior leaders are supportive Some leaders not engaged
Belts are motivated to perform Sponsors not driving results
Projects are being completed Projects take too long
Projects have tangible results Weak system of rewards
Local training
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Force-Field Analysis Takeaways
 Assists in examining the driving and restraining forces
of a given change
 Helps a team understand the forces that keep things
the way they are
 Forces creative thinking focused on the issues of
change
 Builds organizational consensus concerning the forces
for and the barriers to change
 Provide an entry point into process improvement
initiatives
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Pareto Chart
 A Pareto Chart is a graphical tool to highlight and
prioritize multiple problems in a process
Pareto Chart
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Pareto Chart Applications
 Human Resources – A Civilian Personnel Office
Center, CPOC, human resources manager wants to
know which day of the week the greatest number of
resumes are received
 Information Technology – The CPI team needs to
investigate which departments are using the most
LAN storage
 Accounting – The Morale Welfare & Recreation,
MWR, manager wants to review late payments by
customer segment
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Pareto Chart Purpose
 Pareto Charts help you identify which of your problems are
most significant, so you can focus improvement efforts on areas
where the largest gains can be made
 Pareto Charts are a type of bar chart in which the horizontal
axis represents categories of interest, rather than a continuous
scale. The categories are often errors, defects or sources or
causes of errors/defects
 By ordering the bars from largest to smallest, a Pareto Chart
can help you determine which of the defects comprise the “vital
few,” and which are the “trivial many.” The height of the bars
may be based on frequency of occurrence, cost or criticality
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Pareto Chart – Requisition Receiving Errors
Requisitions not Received  The Pareto chart bars
are divided into causes
40
100
of not Receiving
80 Requisitions
30
 The vertical axis shows a
Per c ent
Count
60
20 count of each error type
40
 Thered line is a
cumulative percentage
10
20
0 0
 “Incorrect Line Item
Defect
Incorrect
Line Item
Incorrect
Document
Incorrect
Dept. of Def.
Incorrect
TAC Code
Incorrect
Mode of
Status
Code not
Number” is the most
frequent problem,
Number Number Activity Address Shipment Updated
(LIN) (DOCNO) Code (DODAAC)
Count
Percent
18
42.9
15
35.7
4
9.5
2
4.8
2
4.8
1
2.4
representing 42.9% of
Cum % 42.9 78.6 88.1 92.9 97.6 100.0 the total errors
If Requisitions not Received is most important, we should consider focusing our
improvement efforts on reducing Incorrect Line Item Numbers and
Incorrect Document Numbers
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Minitab: Pareto Chart Example
 Open the Minitab dataset
ARFORGEN Progression.MTW
 Background
 The Army Force Generation progression time is too long
 The Army and National Guard are looking for ways to
shorten the cycle time
 You are a Brigade Operations Officer and you want to
assess the overall readiness of your Brigade based on
annual data from the Unit Status Report (USR) system
 Objective
 Identify factor(s) impacting the overall readiness
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Minitab: Pareto Chart Example
Let’s identify some
potential factors using
the annual data from
the Unit Status Report
system and a Pareto
Chart.
Select Stat>
Quality Tools>
Pareto Chart
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Minitab: Pareto Chart Example
The count are located
in “RAT-CNT” and the
category labels are in
“CATEGORY”. Since
our Labels are in one
column and our
frequencies are in
another, select
Chart defects table
Double click on
C2 CATEGORY and
C1 RAT-CNT above to
put the variables here
Click on OK
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Minitab: Pareto Chart Example
 The Unit Status Report data set reveals that the primary factor for
making the process effective and efficient is to focus on getting Soldiers
MOSQ, Military Occupational Skill Qualification, in the first year of the
cycle. This is detailed in the Pareto chart below.
Pareto Chart of Variables Influencing the C-Rating for a Unit
100
200
MOSQ and
80
EQUIP-FMC
150
contribute to
60
56.8% of
Percent
Count
100 C-Rating for a
40
unit.
50
20
0 0
CATEGORY MOSQ EQUIP-FMC PACE-FMC AVAILABLE ASSIGNED SR-GD
Count 74 47 29 27 18 18
Percent 34.7 22.1 13.6 12.7 8.5 8.5
Cum % 34.7 56.8 70.4 83.1 91.5 100.0
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Minitab: Pareto Chart Example
The Pareto chart below details the contribution of each
component to T-RAT Variable.
Pareto Chart of T-RAT VARIABLE
100 100
80 80
Percent
60 60
Count
40 40
20 20
0 0
VAR L P G L er
ET SC TN SN ET DT TT th
M T M O W
T R -M O
NE DE ON
R N
BO
Count 28 20 11 10 10 8 8 5
Percent 28.0 20.0 11.0 10.0 10.0 8.0 8.0 5.0
Cum % 28.0 48.0 59.0 69.0 79.0 87.0 95.0 100.0
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Pareto Chart Takeaways
 A Pareto Chart is a visual tool used to help identify
which problems are most significant, so that
improvement efforts can be focused where they will
have the greatest impact
 We can use the Pareto Chart to focus on the area
where we can have the greatest financial impact in
the least amount of time, or with the fewest
resources
 Often we see the “80/20 Rule” – where the majority
of the errors or defects come from only a small
fraction of the problems. Pareto Charts help us focus
our limited resources on those areas where we can
get the greatest results
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Boxplots
 Boxplots, sometimes called box-and-whisker diagrams, are
useful for showing the distributional characteristics of data
 Boxplots use the concept of placing the data into quartiles
(each quartile is 25% of the data)
 Boxplots provide an instant picture of variation and some
insight into investigation strategies for finding what caused the
variation
 Shows outliers (data points that are statistically unlikely)
 Allows easy comparison of multiple data sets
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Key Components of Boxplots
4.5 Whisker shows range for the
top 25% of the data points
Outlier
3.5 Third Quartile Line
Median Line
2.5
First Quartile Line
1.5
1 2 Whisker shows range for the
Inter Quartile Range lower 25% of the data points
(IQR or Box Length)
Inter Quartile Range (IQR) = The distance between the Third Quartile Line and the First
Quartile Line. This includes 50% of your data. Simply stated; IQR = Q3 – Q1
Outlier = A data point is considered an outlier if it is more than 1.5 x IQR above the
Third Quartile Line or below the First Quartile Line
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Key Components of Boxplots (Cont.)
4.5
Invoice processing time
3.5
2.5
1.5
1 2
Associate
 This boxplot compares the invoice processing times of 2 associates
 Which associate has the lower median? Larger range?
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Minitab: Boxplot Exercise
 The Anthony’s Pizza Company wants to look at
delivery times by store location
 Using a boxplot, create a graph that compares the
medians and ranges of the different locations
 Open the Minitab file Exercise 235.mtw
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Minitab: Boxplot Exercise
1. Select
Graph>Boxplot
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Minitab: Boxplot Exercise
2. If we are doing just one 3. Double click on C-5 Delivery Time
Boxplot for Delivery Time to place it in the Graph Variables box
make sure the Simple Boxplot and click on OK
is selected above, and click on
OK to go to the next dialog box
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Minitab: Boxplot Exercise
Boxplot of Delivery Time
35.0
32.5
Delivery Time
30.0
27.5
25.0
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Minitab: Boxplot Exercise
But what if we had wanted to compare Boxplots of Delivery Time By Store?
2. To do multiple Boxplots for 3. Double click on C-5 Delivery Time
Delivery Time by Store, to place it in the Graph Variables box
make sure With Groups is and double click on C-3 Store Location
selected above, and click on to put it in the Categorical variables box,
OK to go to the next dialog box and then click on OK
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Minitab: Boxplot Exercise
Boxplot of Delivery Time
35.0
32.5
Delivery Time
30.0
27.5
25.0
Downtown Midtown Uptown
Store Location
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Cause & Effect Diagram Template
Materials Manpower Facilities & Equipment
Wrong Location
Space
Lack of Seats No Standardization of seats Lack of Knowledge Old Buildings
Inequality in seats New Codes
Lack of Funds Lack of Controls Not Suited for
“Dedicated” to Task
Senior Leader Current Mission (Type of Space)
No Suitable space to Assign
Getting Seats Takes Time
(Y) Effect:
Vague
Reqmts
Lack of Database PLT = 5 days
People Unplanned Programs
Multiple Paths Facilities (why too long)
Location (Competing for
Same Space)
Lack of Controls
Senior Leadership - Example -
Delays in elevating Too Long (Time)
Collocation
Impasse issues Mold, HVAC Crashes
Approvals
Methods Mother Nature Measurements
CAO/IPT Time Avail to
Unforeseen Funding Decision Wait
Circumstances
Competency vs. PMA
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Pareto Plot Analysis Template
Pareto Chart
100
150
80
- Example -
Percent
100 60
Count
40
50
20
0 0
ut h r th t e rs
So No Ea
s Oth
Defect
Count 100 50 15 6
Percent 58.5 29.2 8.8 3.5
Cum % 58.5 87.7 96.5 100.0
The South and North contain over 80% of the defects. Our
project will focus here and not on the East and West.
Optional Deliverable
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Takeaways
 Brainstorming is the backbone of idea generation
 Cause & Effect Charts help us balance our brainstorming among the
categories and help us to visualize relationships
 Nominal Group Technique helps prioritize brainstormed ideas so that
attention is focused appropriately
 Affinity Diagrams further organize and group ideas to help us get a better
grasp on complex processes or large numbers of ideas
 Force-Field Analysis helps us identify the driving and restraining forces of a
change, so that we can better facilitate the change
 Pareto Charts organize and prioritize information or ideas from the other
tools, so that we can prioritize our efforts and determine where we need to
focus our limited resources within the time period available to us
 Boxplots are graphs used to visualize both the median and the range of a
process and allow for easy graphical comparison of multiple data sets
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What other comments or questions
do you have?
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References
 Pyzdek, Thomas, The Six Sigma Handbook, McGraw-Hill,
2003
 Hildebrand, David H. & Ott, R. Lyman, Statistical Thinking for
Managers, Duxbury Press, Pacific Grove, CA, 1998
 Kiemele, Mark J. & Schmidt, Stephen R. & Berdine, Ronald J.,
Basic Statistics Tools for Continuous Improvement, Air
Academy Press, Colorado Springs, CO, 2000
 Schmidt, Stephen R. & Launsby, Robert G., Understanding
Industrial Designed Experiments, Air Academy Press,
Colorado Springs, CO, 2000
 Minitab, Inc. 3081 Enterprise Dr., State College, PA 16801,
800-448-3555
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RC ARFORGEN Progression Data Sets
Dataset DEFINITION
VARIABLE (reference: AR 220-1)
CONTROL The aggregate number of required personnel, equipment on-hand, and
the number of collective training events for that year, per unit.
C-RAT The degree to which a unit has achieved prescribed levels of fill for
personnel, equipment, the operational readiness status of available
equipment, and the training proficiency status of the unit.
S-RAT Equipment supply status of a unit – equipment on-hand is based on the
quantity and type of required equipment that is available to the unit .
P-RAT Personnel status of a unit – based on the number and type of required
personnel available to the unit for the execution of the wartime or
primary mission for which the unit is organized or designed.
T-RAT Unit training status is based upon the unit commander’s assessment of
the unit’s training proficiency on mission-essential tasks, the number of
days required to achieve or sustain full mission-essential task
proficiency.
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