All projects have to be implemented within a specific period of time, and the process of closing the project is an important aspect of the overall project life-cycle. A Project Closure is often used to bring the project to its final state. It is a report that provides a formal way for closing the project and a place to record the final project outcome. It is linked to and considered the bookend to the project charter. Read more »
The main idea behind the Prioritization Matrix is to compare and select the best alternative from a set of options. A basic matrix consists of a set of criteria options and the alternatives under consideration. Start by placing the criteria in the left hand column and the alternatives in the top row. Fill the matrix by ranking the alternatives against each criteria from best to worst. Finally, look at the bottom of the table to make the best decision for your situation. Read more »
A Skills Matrix is a tool that helps to evaluate the available skills of a team. It allows you to understand the skills that the team is missing and which are required for the job or project. Start by listing the team members and the relevant skills or competencies that are required or desired. Then fill the matrix with the skill ratings of the team members. Finally, look at the bottom of the table to see what are the training needs to improve these skill levels. Read more »
Setting in order refers to the practice of arranging the required items so that anyone can locate and access them easily. It defines where and how the items to perform the work should be arranged. Once you have eliminated all the unneeded items, get back to the left items and organize them in a way that makes it easy to find what is needed. It should be obvious at a glance when an item is not in its designated place. This will result in an improved workflow and reduced wasted time and motion. Read more »
5S is an improvement tool for organizing and maintaining a disciplined and productive workplace. It helps creating a better working environment, reduces waste while improving efficiency, safety and quality. 5S represents five simple practices that starts with the letter “S”. It is commonly applied in manufacturing facilities in production lines, storage areas, maintenance areas, and office areas. It is now being increasingly applied to a wide variety of industries including health care, education, hospitality and retail. Read more »
Whether you are a parent, a student, an employee, a community member, or any combination of these roles, evaluating yourself by the end of the day can tell a lot about the kind of person you are. Self-evaluation is an important first step in being aware of yourself, and self-awareness is the first step to personality development and leading a life of meaning and integrity. The main goal is to make you see what you are doing well and what you need to focus on in order to achieve your personal goals. This allows to identify some key areas in your life that you would like to improve such as health, relationships, career, finance and spirituality. Read more »
A Data Collection Plan is a document that provides a focused plan for collecting data for a given project. It helps specifying the objective of data collection, what data do we need, how are we going to collect it, and who is going to collect it. The goal is to answer questions such as whether a process is stable, whether a process is capable, or whether a particular input will work better for a process than a currently used input. Read more »
A Best Practice is that practice that has been proven to achieve the best results. It represents creative solutions to common problems and has the potential to be replicated internally and externally. Companies are able to learn from other successful organizations by adopting their best practices without the need to reinvent the wheel. Companies can also develop and share their own best practices and innovative solutions. Read more »
An audit checklist is a set of questions that must be answered to verify requirements and standards are being met. It compensates for the limitation of human memory and helps the observer to ensure that nothing is missed or left behind. It enables the observer to better address compliance gaps and provides an opportunity for continuous improvement. Common examples of checklists are: to-do lists, preventive maintenance schedules, safety checklists and 5S checklists. Read more »
Standard work means working on standards to produce correct and consistent results. It represents the best sequence and the most efficient methods to perform a process. It is considered a way to achieve the highest possible degree of consistency in any process. The purpose is to ensure that everything is done by everyone in a similar manner and carry out the work that achieves the highest quality, best service and lowest cost possible. Read more »
After collecting the answered questionnaires from your respondents, you have to analyze the data and report the results. This template is used to analyze the collected qualitative data from a large number of individuals and summarize the results in a report which can be easily printed. Further statistical analysis, conclusions and recommendations can be added to the report as well. Read more »
The purpose of the Pareto Chart is to address the most important among a set of factors, the highest occurring type of defect, the most frequent reasons for customer complaints, and so on. It combines an ordered bar chart and a line graph. The left vertical axis represents the frequency of occurrence, while the right vertical axis represents the cumulative percentage of the total number of occurrence. The items on the left side of the chart are called the “vital few” while the rest are considered the “trivial many”. Read more »
