Learning & Resource Center

Process mapping and workflow analysis

Understand process boundaries, map decisions and examine queues before changing the work.

Quality improvement and root cause analysis

Translate needs into measures, investigate causes with evidence and understand process variation.

Standard work and sustaining improvements

Document a tested method, assign monitoring and prepare clear reactions when performance changes.

What is continuous improvement? A practical starting point

Learn how to define a process problem, test a small change and check results without confusing activity with improvement.

Lean Six Sigma tools explained: choose the question first

Connect process mapping, root cause analysis, measurement and control tools to the questions they can actually answer.

Continuous improvement examples: healthcare, manufacturing and administration

Explore three fictional process improvement examples, with defined measures, testable changes and plans for sustaining the result.

Define

CTQC Builder

A Critical-to-Quality Characteristic (CTQC) tree connects a customer need to drivers and measurable requirements. A driver describes what contributes to the need; an operational definition explains exactly how a requirement will be measured.

Measure

Flowchart Builder

A flowchart is a map of activities and decisions connected by arrows. It describes the order work follows, including loops and alternative routes.

Define

SIPOC

SIPOC stands for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers. It is a concise overview of what enters a process, the broad activities, what leaves it and who receives the result.

Define

Project Charter

A project charter is a compact agreement about the problem, goal, scope, ownership and measures of an improvement project.

Analyze

5 Whys

5 Whys is an evidence-led investigation that asks why a specific problem happened and follows each plausible explanation toward an actionable system condition. Five is a prompt, not a required number of levels.

Improve

Action Plan

An action plan turns agreed changes into tasks with owners, deadlines, status and evidence of success.

Control

Process Monitoring Plan

A Process Monitoring Plan records what will be measured, who reviews it, how often and what response follows an unusual result.

Control

Reaction and Escalation Plan

A Reaction and Escalation Plan describes what people should do when a defined process condition occurs, including containment, investigation and closure.

Control

Process Audit Checklist

A Process Audit Checklist compares observed work with explicit standards and retains evidence from repeat observations.

Control

Sustainability Assessment

A Sustainability Assessment is a structured discussion of whether ownership, standards, training, monitoring and follow-up support a lasting improvement.

Control

Training and Handoff Checklist

A Training and Handoff Checklist records preparation, observed competency and transfer of ownership for a changed process.

Control

Control Plan Builder

A Control Plan connects process steps or measures with operational definitions, monitoring ownership, targets or triggers and the response to unusual results.

Control

Standard Work Builder

Standard Work documents an agreed repeatable method, with responsibilities, quality and safety points, visual instructions and explicit document revisions.

Analyze

Root Cause Analysis Builder

Root Cause Analysis Builder organizes a problem, branching hypotheses, evidence and validation records in one editable investigation.

Analyze

Fishbone / Ishikawa

A fishbone, or Ishikawa diagram, groups possible causes of an observed effect into categories. The branches organize ideas without proving that an idea is true.

Define

SMART Goals

SMART Goals express intended improvement through Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound statements, with dated actual results.

Measure

Pareto Analysis

A Pareto chart ranks categories by a common amount and shows their cumulative share of the total. It helps identify the largest observed contributors.

General

A3 Problem Solving

An A3 is a concise improvement story connecting context, the current condition, a goal, analysis, countermeasures and follow-up evidence.

Measure

Time Study

A Time Study records process steps and observations of processing, waiting, interruption and rework. It makes the use of time explicit rather than relying on impressions.

Measure

Value Stream Mapping

Value Stream Mapping shows material or service flow and information flow across a process, with timing, demand and inventory information where applicable.

Analyze

FMEA

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) examines how a process might fail, the consequences, possible causes, current controls and actions to reduce risk.

Measure

Data Collection Plan

A Data Collection Plan specifies what will be measured, how, where, by whom and over which cases and period.

Control

Control Chart Builder

A control chart plots observations in time order against limits estimated from a chosen baseline. It helps distinguish routine variation from patterns that warrant investigation.

Analyze

Process Capability Analysis

Process Capability compares measured process variation with explicit specification limits, using indices and distribution diagnostics under stated assumptions.