Relationship between Project Management and Six Sigma (part 10)
| Posted in Marketing Essay | Posted on 02-11-2009
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In some companies, dashboards facilitate decisions by using traffic light approaches that compare the current performance with the target and that assess the gap as green (on track or better), yellow (the process is still in control but deviates from the goal), or red (the measure is moving away significantly from the target compared to previous months, or the process is unstable). For example, by plotting the average days of sales for several product groups over a period of two years, the manager, using a control chart, can determine the following:
· How well the process is performing against the goal
· Whether a project was successful
· Whether anything unusual occurred that signals special-cause variation
The chart helps the manager looking at it to understand that the first project he or she launched did not address the real problem—neither the average inventory nor the variation between product groups provides evidence that the team was able to make any substantial changes. The subsequent projects, however, were very successful—the second project helped reduce variation between product groups and made the process more predictable, whereas the third project helped to reduce the average inventory substantially (Breyfogle 1999, 60). The manager can also see that, with the completion of this last project, he or she is on track to meet the target for the year, which means that he or she can focus on more important issues.
Dashboards can be powerful not only in promoting Six Sigma thinking but, more important, in making better decisions, avoiding the fire fighting that absorbs so much managerial energy. Using a dashboard to measure the progress of the Six Sigma deployment can be powerful for walking the talk and for controlling the deployment process itself, displaying key metrics in a time order that signals where immediate action is necessary and what should be tackled in a systematic way.
The process management approach manages, monitors, and controls performance on a business process level. A process management system helps to identify opportunities for Six Sigma projects that will improve total organizational performance.
