Choose a term... Activity Network Diagram Affinity Diagram Baseline Benchmarking Brainstorming Cause & Effect Diagram Checksheet Comparison Matrix Concurrent Engineering Continuous Improvement Cost-Benefit Analysis Deming Wheel Downselect Fishbone Diagram Force Field Analysis Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing Histogram House Of Quality (HOQ) Integrated Product & Process Development (IPPD) Interrelationship Diagram Ishikawa Diagram Matrix Diagram Metrics Multi-Voting Nominal Group Technique (NGT) Paired Comparison Pareto chart Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle (PDCA) Point Solution Prioritization Matrix Process Decisoin Program Chart (PDPC) Product Development Team (PDT) Pugh Method Quality Functoinal Deplyment (QFD) Relations Diagram Robustness Selection criteria Shewart cycle Stake Holders Stratification Total Quality Management (TQM) Trade Sudy Weighting Factors ?????
					Term Description Activity Network Diagram An activity network is a process flow chart that is useful for identifying steps in the process that are non-value added Affinity Diagram A method for grouping ideas. The group brainstorms ideas individually, writing their ideas on Post-Its. When all are complete, the Post-Its are placed on the wall and the group informally rearranges them into related groups. If there is a conflict about which group an idea belongs in, a copy is made and it is placed in both. Baseline When a comparison is made between several ideas it is can be useful to have one standard which is not evaluated. This standard, which all other options are rated against, is the baseline. For example, more expensive and less expensive judgments are easy to make if you have a baseline with a known cost. Benchmarking Benchmarking is the process of establishing the current state of practice with respect to a specific problem statement. If one is having problems maintaining repair logs, one could survey similar enterprises to find out how they handle their log system. The intent is to identify the best of the best and use that as a model for the problem solution . Brainstorming A technique used to generate ideas about a topic. Its most common uses are to generate ideas about potential solutions to a problem or the factors influencing something. The most common approach is for a group to assign a recorder who records the ideas verbatim. The group then takes turns stating their idea, This continues until everyone runs out of ideas. Brainstorming becomes a problem if a group gets too large (>15) so breaking into manageable groups is advisable. Cause & Effect Diagram Also called the Ishikawa Diagram, or Fishbone Diagram. This is a problem analysis technique which attempts to identify the root causes for a problem thereby allowing a group to work towards solving the "real" problems and not just symptoms. A line is drawn across the middle of a sheet of paper to a box on the right hand side. In that box, the problem statement is written. Major possible categories of cause are distributed along the line. From these, lines are drawn sloping to the left. From these lines, contributing issues for each category are placed. From these, additional lines can be drawn. the final result is a tree with all potential causes identified. Checksheet A simple checklist that is used to record when something occurs. This is used to identify symptoms and/or potential cases for a problem. Comparison Matrix A matrix implementation of the Paired Comparison technique. Concurrent Engineering The principle of doing away with sequential product design and working the different design tasks in parallel. This offers a significant shortening of the design process but requires excellent communication between the design groups. This communication has necessitated the development of the team design strategies, such as IPT, IPPD and PDT, which have become the norm in industry. Continuous Improvement (CI) A methodology related to TQM. Continuous Improvement refers to the ongoing improvement process, where no change is considered permanent. CI does not really have techniques of its own but rather has its own acronym so that the need to be continuous aware of improvement is highlighted. The PDCA cycle is representative of the CI philosophy. Cost-Benefit Analysis Cost benefit analysis is any analytical methodology that seeks to compare the benefits of a course of action and the costs of that action. It can be as simple as examining which potential solutions are easy (little effort = little cost) to financially based models that look at benefits and costs in dollars as combined in Internal Rates of Return (IRR) or Return on Investments (ROI). Deming Wheel See Plan-Do-Check-Act Downselect The activity that chooses a single candidate from a set of options. It refers not to any particular technique but rather to the activity as a whole. Similar terms are downselect criteria (see selection criteria), downselect matrices (See Pugh Method for one kind) and downselect method. Fishbone Diagram See Cause and Effect Diagram Force Field Analysis A problem solving technique used to identify the forces that are related to a specific issue. The problem statement is written at the top of a sheet and two columns created below it. On one side the negative forces are listed and the positive are listed on the other. These can then be ranked and methods to mitigate the negative forces and accentuate the positive explored "Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing" Refers to four stages of team building which must be considered when working with team. It takes time for a Team to pass through these stages so one must allow for this in planning any team process. Histogram This is a bar chart showing the number of occurrences of some event often derived from the results of a checksheet. It could be a real world event, like late deliveries by month for a year, or it could be the number of time a proposed solution is suggested. It allows a quick prioritization based on frequency. House of Quality (HOQ) The House of Quality (HOQ) is a technique used in either product development, or product redesign, to ensure that the customer's wants and needs are the basis for the design. It is a highly structured approach that starts with customer surveys to establish the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and ends with detailed solutions to design requirements based on the VOC. The format for HOQ is a series of interrelated matrices which can be daunting for the uninitiated. Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) is another multifunctional, cross-functional team acronym. It refers to an offshoot of Concurrent Engineering directed towards the science and technology development. In addition to defining designs from multiple disciplines concurrently, the fundamental processes are also concurrently developed. Integrated Product Team (IPT) An integrated Product Team (IPT) is simply a team with representatives from all the functions, or organizations, involved in a product. Their task is to ensure that all parties involved with that product are considered throughout the design of that product. Interrelationship Diagram See Affinity Diagram Ishikawa Diagram See Cause and Effect Diagram Matrix Diagram A matrix diagram is simply a table used to compare options in a structured way. In the Pugh Method, symbols are placed in the table to define the influence an option has on a criteria, In a comparison matrix the better of the two options is identified in the table. In the Prioritization Matrix, scores for the options are placed in the matrix and then summed. Metrics Metrics are simply those things that can be measured which show how well something is working. A metric on a school truancy reduction program would be the percentage of absenteeism. A more sophisticated metric would be the absenteeism per hour of social worker labor. The problem with many metrics is that they are not actually a good measure of what the real concern would be. An example would be using the number of online comments to measure customer satisfaction when customers aren't aware that you have a web site. Multivoting This is a method for ranking ideas and reducing a large number of ideas to a select few. There are a number of variations to the process. In the most common, all participants get a set number of votes, often 1/3 - 1/2 of the number of ideas. Everyone votes for the ideas they feel are important. The results are tallied and the top third of the ideas are then voted again using the same process until only a few ideas are left. On interesting variation is allowing individual to use their votes as they see fit (e.g. 4 votes for the second idea). This allows individual needs and/or prejudices to be evaluated. Nominal Group Technique (NGT) An approach to brainstorming and idea ranking. This is a structured approach which emphasizes individuals working in a group rather than a group working together. Individuals are asked to brainstorm by themselves for a period of time, recording their ideas on paper. The ideas are then read, one at a time, going around the room. When all the ideas are out, the ideas are discussed and identical ideas combined. Then the individuals rate which ideas are important and the votes for each idea are recorded. (This is a yea/nay vote). Finally, the individuals rank each idea in importance (1-10). The results are combined and a final ranked set of ideas is generated. Paired Comparison A method for ranking a set of alternatives by comparing them pair-wise. One decides which of a pair is preferable and then moves on to a different pair. After the alternatives are compared, the number of times a candidate was preferred becomes the score and the highest scoring candidates are selected. Pareto Chart A Pareto chart is usually used to identify the principle drivers to a problem. A checksheet is used to count how often a particular item occurs usually as a cause to a problem (e.g. missing account number on check leads to mis-filing). The items are then charted by the percentage of the occurrences in decreasing order. The resulting chart shows which items had the most influence on the problem. This goes along with the 80-20 rule which states that 80% of the problem are attributable to only 20% of the causes. Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle (PDCA) The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle, also called the Deming Wheel or the Shewart Cycle, is an approach to continuous process improvement. It simple means that you plan an improvement, implement it, check that it is having the correct effect and if not you act on it and start again. It is particularly useful when an organization goes through incremental change. Point Solution A point solution is one that works only for a very specific set of inputs or circumstances. Any change to the environment can make a point solution totally unacceptable. Choosing to get a Great Dane as a pet is a good solution provided you have a large home, you like to get exercise and you can afford veterinary bills. Having to move to an apartment because you left your husband and he refuses to take the dog would be an environmental change that highlights that the Great Dane was a point solution. Prioritization Matrix A prioritization matrix relates selection criteria to options by scoring the options. The scores are entered into the matrix and are summed, usually, to obtain final scores for each option. The prioritization element typically involves using weighting factors on the criteria (hence the prioritization). Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC) The Process Decision Program chart is a flowchart of all the possible outcomes for a decision. Each of the alternative are detailed and possible responses to their implementation is mapped out. This can be coupled with probability theory to define the course of action that has the highest probability of return, etc. Product Development Team (PDT) See Integrated Product Team Pugh Method A method for concept selection, the principle ingredient of which is the Pugh Matrix. This is the scoring matrix usually associated with the QFD method and is a form of prioritization matrix. Usually, the options are scored relative to criteria using a symbolic approach (one symbol for better than, another for neutral, and another for worse than baseline). These get converted into scores and combined in the matrix to yield scores for each option. Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) is the product development analog of TQM. Where TQM focuses on the influences on customer satisfaction and quality throughout an organization, QFD focuses on the influences on customer satisfaction in design. The primary tools of QFD are the House of Quality, multifunctional teams (IPT, IPPD, etc.) and some sort of selection process (Pugh method). Relations Diagram See Affinity Diagram Robustness Robustness refers to the ability to withstand influences that are outside of the normal environment. A robust design is on that in not significantly affected by external influences that could conceivably cause problems such as tolerance buildups, poor maintenance, mishandling, etc. A robust decision is one which remains valid even when the assumptions behind it change. Selection Criteria Selection criteria are those items which are to be consider when selecting among alternate candidates. They can be quantitative (hard) criteria such as weight or qualitative (soft) criteria such as color. By defining specific criteria for the decision, one knows what information is required to make an informed decision. The relative importance of different criteria can be taken into account by using weighting factors. Shewart Cycle See Plan-Do-Check-Act Stake Holders Stake holders are simply those people or groups affected by a decision. Any consensus decision process must include the inputs of all stakeholder groups. Stratification This refers to taking a set of data and examining the underlying data at a more refined level. For example, a library may want to reduce the number overdue items. If they only track all overdue items at the top level, no solutions present themselves. If they use stratification to look at the overdue items by type, they may find that CD's which cannot be left in drop boxes account for 35% of the items. A solution related to CD's would be easily discovered using stratification. Total Quality Management (TQM) Total Quality Management is a methodology and set of techniques that focuses companies and enterprises n the role of customer satisfaction on their business success. Trade Study A trade study is a structured comparison between options usually involving some level of data gathering and development. A trade study on the location of a new store location would repeat the same sales projections, cost analysis for each of the proposed locations and then use that data to determine the best location. The trade study usually is intended to provide data and stops short of the actual decision Visioning An approach to brainstorming in which the participants imagine themselves in the future. They "reminisce" about the changes that have occurred and the ways that things are better. These "Memories" become the basis for the ideas of the present. Voice of Customer (VOC) See House of Quality Weighting Factors Weighting factors are values assigned to particular selection criteria to reflect that some may be more important than others. If three criteria were being used to make a decision (Cost, reliability and safety) the weighting factors could be 20%, 20%, 60% to reflect that safety is the most important concern. The basic score for an option is multiplied by this factor to adjust its value in relation to the others. ????? Have a term you think should be here.. Contact us with your suggestion.