Six Sigma Green Belt -

Study Guides
 Index Six Sigma Methodology (Define)

Inputs Tools Outputs

Need for Six
Organization
Project Charter

Sigma project hierarchy
Established

Executive
High level metrics
Management process maps
Problem
Sponsorship
High level Statement

Core team Pareto charts
Roles and
identified
Idea generation Responsibilities
and
categorization
tools

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 2

 Input : Need for six sigma project

A six sigma project is different from other traditional quality measures which meant to
ensure that there was conformance to internal requirements.

Six sigma methodology emphasizes providing better value for money by improving
customer satisfaction and reducing costs .

Need for six sigma projects:

Improving customer satisfaction
Process Reengineering (major process change) or process improvement (minor
process change) for improving internal processes
Decreasing the defects or errors in the product
Decreasing costs
Creating long-term viability and competitive advantage

Please note that the needs mentioned above are not mutually exclusive; a six sigma
project may satisfy one or more needs.

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 3

 Input: Executive Management
Sponsorship
Executive Management Sponsorship is one of the pre-requisites for any six sigma
initiative.

Executive or Senior Management provides:

High level need for the six sigma project
Resources required for the project
Human resources: The people who would be participating in the project
Financial support
Coordination with other internal groups in the organization
Motivation and Support to initiate and sustain the six sigma project

Please note: Like other projects, six sigma projects are progressively elaborated
i.e. the distinguishing characteristics of the project will be broadly defined early in
the project, and will be made more explicit and detailed as project team develops
a better and more complete understanding of the product.
(PMBOK Guide Fourth Edition)

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 4

 Input- Core team identified

Executive sponsor should identify and assign core team members to the project. Core
team members include:

Project Manager
Person responsible for coordinating activities for the project
Has knowledge or project management methodology
Responsible for project deliverables and managing cost, scope, time, risk,
human resources and communications for the project

Six Sigma Expert

Preferably a six sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
Understands six sigma methodology : can serve as a liaison between the Six
sigma Black Belts/Master Black Belts and the project team.
Ability to interact with other Subject matter experts in different fields (e.g.
Finance, Human Resources etc.) who may be involved in providing expertise
wherever required.

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 5

 Input- Core team identified (continued)
Additional resources (as required)
Other than the project manager and Six sigma expert, additional resources
may be assigned to the core team. Some examples include people with
intimate knowledge of the process under study, Subject Matter Experts etc.

Please note:

Other than identifying the core team, Executive sponsor should also provide
the core team with authority to get information from and coordinate with other
internal groups.
The core team should have the ability to engage other organizational resources
in the project team as required for completing specific tasks in the six sigma
project

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 6

 Tools- Organization hierarchy

Organization hierarchy is a hierarchical structure which shows the different people in an

organization and their associated skills

Six sigma projects require a lot of information and may need to engage several people
from the organization. Knowledge of organization hierarchy allows the six sigma project
team the ability to understand where they can get specific information, and who to
engage in the different stages of a six sigma project.

It is preferable for a six sigma project team to have access to the Human Resources
team of the company and get an idea of the organization hierarchy and competencies of
different individuals.

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 7

 Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs
Organization hierarchy (continued)
(Needs of people in an organization)

Example of organization hierarchy

CEO (Ron)

Marketing Director (Dave) Other Directors

Manager - Brands Manager - Sales Manager - Corporate

(Joan) (Tricia) (Jill)

Sales Rep Sales Rep Sales Rep

(George) (Jordan) (Sam)

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 8

 Tools- High level process maps
Some features of process maps:
Process maps give a view of how work flows through the company. It is a graphic
representation of processes in a company showing the sequence of tasks
performed and their relationships.
Standard symbols are used in creation of process maps
Process maps are progressively elaborated: i.e. a high level process map is defined
early on in the project which shows major processes and this will be made more
explicit and detailed as project team develops a better and more complete
understanding of all the processes

Benefits of process maps:

Helps clarify several process steps and process flow which may not be understood
clearly before.
Helps all members of the team gain appreciation for the work being done by others
in the team.
Visually shows the various alternatives possible and helps in selecting an
appropriate solution.

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 9

Symbols used in creation of process
maps
Rectangle: represents a process step or action taken.
Each process step has one or more inputs,
does some activity, and creates one or more outputs.

Diamond: represents a decision step i.e. different

alternatives possible depending on the input to this step

Oval: represents the start of stop of a process map, also

used to depict if the process map continues in another page

Arrow: represents the direction of flow in a process map

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 10

 Process map- creation steps
1) Put together a cross functional team who have knowledge of the process and
appropriate subject matter expertise to create the process maps

2) Try to find out existing process maps which may already be in existence in the
company

3) Map all the As-is high level processes i.e. processes as they exist now. This will
create an awareness within the team about the processes in existence currently, and
also let all team-members understand the contribution from others. This is the As-is
Process map

4) Ask the cross-functional team to study the process and identify opportunities for
improvement.

5) Based on the inputs from cross functional team, map all the To-be processes. This is
the To be Process map

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 11

Process map- example

Sample process map

created using
Smartdraw a process
mapping tool

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 12

 Tools Pareto chart Features and
benefits
Based on the Pareto principle (also referred to as 80-20 rule), which states that a small
number of causes (20%) is responsible for a large percentage (80%) of the effect

In a six sigma project, there are several available opportunities which can be followed to
attain the project objectives. Pareto chart helps in identifying and ranking which of the
opportunities would yield maximum benefits and hence should be pursued first.

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 13

 Steps in creation of Pareto charts

1) Put together a cross functional team who have knowledge of the different
opportunities or problems

2) Create different categories for the opportunities

3) Select a time interval for the analysis which is reasonable

4) Determine the total occurrences of events in each category

5) Rank the total occurrences in each category from maximum to minimum

6) Compute the percentage for each category by dividing by the category total and
multiplying by 100.

7) Create a graph of the opportunities with the category names in the X Axis and the
% of opportunities in the Y Axis.

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 14

 Creating Pareto chart case study
1) As the project manager of a six sigma effort to determine the lost bags in ABC Airlines
company, you decide to do a Pareto analysis of the opportunities (i.e. lost bags)

2) You start by talking to the baggage division of the airlines, who provide you the
information about the major categories into which you can divide the problem they
have.

3) You determine that you would like to do the analysis for one year. This is because the
baggage department recommends that processes for handling bags has changed and
the process they had a year ago is not relevant

4) Baggage department also provide you with some metrics that they have kept for the
past 1 year of the occurrences of problems that they had in each category. (please
see next page)

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 15

 Creating Pareto chart case study
(continued)
Metrics provided by baggage department
Bags Lost in
Category (Problem) 1 year
Human error 3200
Bags stuck in
machinery 300
Wrong tagging 4700
Wrong bags taken
by customers 450
Other reasons 600
Total 9250
5, 6) Rank the total occurrences in each category from maximum to minimum, calculate Percentage of
opportunities
Bags Lost in
Category (Problem) 1 year Percentage
Wrong tagging 4700 51%
Human error 3200 35%
Other reasons 600 6%
Wrong bags taken
by customers 450 5%
Bags stuck in
machinery 300 3%
Total 9250 100%

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 16

 Creating Pareto chart case study
(continued)
7) Create a graph of the opportunities with the category names in the X Axis and the % of
opportunities in the Y Axis.

Pareto Analysis - Lost bags in ABC Airlines

60%
% of occurrences
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Wrong tagging Human error Other reasons Wrong bags Bags stuck in
taken by machinery
customers

Category Names (Reasons for lost bags)

After the Pareto Analysis, you know that you will have to concentrate your efforts to
reduce Wrong tagging and Human Error (since they result in maximum lost bags)

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 17

 Idea Generation and Categorization
tools
Several Idea Generation and Categorization tools are used in six sigma. Important
tools for Idea Generation:
Surveys (covered in Chapter 2: stakeholders, customers and financial measures)
Focus Groups (covered in Chapter 2: stakeholders, customers and financial
measures)
Kano Model (covered in Chapter 2: stakeholders, customers and financial
measures)
Brainstorming (covered in Chapter 3: setting up and managing a six sigma
project)
Nominal Group Technique (covered in Chapter 3: setting up and managing a six
sigma project)
Important tools for Idea Categorization:
Multivoting (covered in Chapter 3: setting up and managing a six sigma project)
Affinity diagrams (covered in Chapter 3: setting up and managing a six sigma
project).
You are requested to revise the tools mentioned above which have been already
covered in other chapters

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 18

 Idea Generation and Categorization
tools (continued)
Benefits:

Idea generation and categorization tools help in collecting and consolidating

information from several sources.

The process helps in providing information which can be used for project selection
using financial measures e.g. NPV, PV, IRR, Payback period, Life Cycle Cost,
BCR, Opportunity Cost, Sunk cost (covered in Chapter 2: stakeholders,
customers and financial measures)

After getting inputs from the customer, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) can be
used to map the voice of the customer to internal company processes and also
provide competitive evaluation. QFD analysis includes inputs from all groups inside
the organization, and forms the basis for determining the requirements for the
project. (covered in Chapter 2: stakeholders, customers and financial measures)

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 19

 Outputs Project Charter
A project charter is a document (issued by the project initiator or sponsor) that
formally authorizes (the existence of) a project. It includes:

The business need that the project was undertaken to address

The product description

The project charter provides the project manager with authority to get resources
(organizational) for project activities.

PMBOK Guide Fourth Edition

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 20

 Charter Negotiation
Creation of the project charter from a six sigma project perspective includes several
issues that need to be discussed and negotiated by relevant stakeholders. Some
important issues which need to be negotiated include:

Objectives : Quantifiable criteria that must be met to for the project to be

considered successful
Scope: This is a measure of the work required to complete the project
successfully
Boundaries: Project boundary states explicitly what is in scope and what is out of
scope for the project
Resources: In creation of project charter, critical resources (including people and
funding required) are negotiated to ensure that appropriate resources are
available.
Project closure activities
Project transition activities

The project charter is a very important document which lays the foundation for next
steps about the project

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 21

 Established Metrics

At the end of define phase of a six sigma project, the project team establishes standards or
measures which would be used to determine success or failure of the project. These measurable
and quantifiable parameters are also referred to as metrics.
Metrics can be broadly categorized into:
Primary metrics measures which the six sigma project primarily targets to achieve e.g. for
a particular project, reduction in cycle time could be a primary metric
Consequential metrics while trying to achieve the goals set forth by primary metrics, there
may be some additional metrics which may be impacted. These are referred to as
consequential metrics e.g. for a particular project where reduction in cycle time is the primary
metric, there may be added advantages e.g. reduction in defect rate and improvement in
perceived quality by the customer so, these are consequential metrics of the project
At a high level, most metrics can be classified into cost, cycle time and quality. For example
metrics like defect rate, cost of poor quality (COPQ), six sigma level etc. are all metrics related to
quality.
Establishment of metrics is a very important requirement in any six sigma project because :
Metrics help in quantifying the benefits expected from the project
Metrics provide clear and unambiguous goals for the project team

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 22

 Problem Statement
At the end of define phase of a six sigma project, we should have a clearly defined
problem statement.

An ideal problem statement should be a few sentences long and describe what the
project team aims to achieve through the project. It should include:

Baseline performance: The As Is system and its performance (preferably in

terms of quantifiable metrics)

Improvement goals: The improvement possible if the six sigma project is

implemented. This provides an idea of the To Be system. (preferably in terms
of quantifiable metrics)

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 23

 Outputs Roles and Responsibilities
At the end of Define phase, the six sigma project charter is created and project goals
are known. So, resources are assigned to the project and provided with appropriate
roles (who does what) and responsibilities (who decides what).

A roles and responsibility matrix for the six sigma project team is created which
ensures commitment from relevant stakeholders. Some important roles include:

Executive Management (also referred to as Deployment Champions) is

responsible for sponsorship of the project and allow for commitment of
organization resources to the six sigma project.

Master Black Belts and Black Belts act as consultants and experts in Six Sigma.
They are also responsible for providing guidance and coaching others in the
organization about the six sigma philosophy.

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 24

 Outputs Roles and Responsibilities
(continued)
Six Sigma Green Belts serve as a liaison between the Black Belts and the project
team. They perform the operations required for the six sigma project and work with
the project team to ensure that appropriate deliverables are met.

The project team members work in executing the actual work of the project through
guidance provided from six sigma green belts and six sigma black belts. Project team
members should include those who have working knowledge of the existing
processes.

Subject Matter Experts in different fields (e.g. Finance, Human Resources etc.) may
be involved in providing expertise wherever required.

Project Manager who would be responsible for coordinating activities for the project.
He will be responsible for project deliverables and managing cost, scope, time, risk,
human resources and communications for the project

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 25

Roles and Responsibilities Matrix
(Sample)

PMBOK Guide Fourth Edition

6sigmastudycom. All rights reserved 26