by Minitab

by Minitab
Managing a Lean Six Sigma Program
A challenge of managing a Lean Six Sigma Program is finding the means to
organize and standardize the way projects are executed.
Quality Companion by Minitab was designed to help.
Quality Companion is an all-in-one software application that provides the
necessary resources for project planning, design, and organization. It gives
Lean Six Sigma practitioners the structure, tools, and guidance needed
to facilitate the communication between management and the process
improvement team. It also promotes standardization and provides a unifying
language for the different process excellence efforts within an organization.
The Quality Companion Viewer is a free utility available for download from
Minitab’s website. Users of the Viewer are granted read-only access to any
Quality Companion project file. The Viewer is designed for colleagues who
want to see the progress and detailed results of projects without the risk of
changing project data.
Learn more about Quality Companion by Minitab:
www.minitab.com/qualitycompanion
Download a free trial of Quality Companion and utilities:
www.minitab.com/downloads
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Quality Companion - Overview
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What is Quality Companion?
Quality Companion is dynamic project execution software that incorporates all of the soft tools
that are used in a process improvement effort into one application. It helps Lean Six Sigma
professionals plan and implement successful projects and guides all team members through tasks.
You use Minitab to analyze your data and you can use Quality Companion for everything else.
Why Quality Companion?
Minitab Statistical Software has the statistical tools that you need to analyze your data. However,
managing and executing a Lean Six Sigma program requires more than just data analysis. It requires
a committed group of people with a good understanding of the methodology and the tools that could
be used in a project. Quality Companion offers a way to standardize projects, provides the help that
you need at every step and is easy to use. Quality Companion can be used as a stand-alone tool to
create a Process Map, Fishbone diagram, C&E Matrix, or a SIPOC. However, the real value of Quality
Companion lies in its ability to share data across tools while helping organize, analyze, record, and report
Lean Six Sigma projects across an entire program.
Project Manager:
Workspace:
Task pane:
This window provides access to highlevel project data and all the tools you’ll
use to manage a project. It also includes
the Roadmap, which shows the phases
and specific tools used, to help you
manage and organize your project.
This is where you will work
with individual tools. The
workspace always displays
the currently active tool.
The right hand task pane
provides access to common
tasks, activities, and builtin Help relative to the tool
you’re currently using in the
workspace.
Quality Companion - Project Manager
Project:
Provides access to high-level data including project
milestones, keywords, critical-to factors, and dozens
of other data fields. Your project’s unique name
displays beside the globe icon.
Project Today:
Provides a snapshot of your project at any time. It
displays the overall status of the project as well as
the individual status of all tools, tasks, and variables
within the project.
Team Members:
Contains contact and role information for each member of your team. Easily add contacts from MS Outlook
or Vcard file formats. The Project Manager shown below provides access to the data associated with your
project, team members, project tasks, and other important metrics.
Tasks:
Contains the tasks required to complete the project. You can assign tasks to team members, identify new
tasks, set priorities, and establish due dates.
Financial Data:
Stores the estimated and final savings of your project. You can also add any new financial data fields required
for your project.
Process Map Data:
Stores the data (X and Y variables) that you add to the steps of a Process Map so that you can share this data
with other tools. You can also store process data, such as DPMO, scrap percentage, and yield.
Y Metrics:
Record and track key metrics (DPMO, ZBench, CpK) at regular intervals throughout the course of your
project. The graph in this section displays your project metrics at various milestones and your progress in
relation to the baseline and goal.
Related Documents:
Link to files created in other applications, such as Minitab project files, SOPs or Work instructions for quick
access and reference.
Custom Categories:
Create custom categories to organize any custom data you add to your project(s). Save your Quality
Companion Project file as a template and the Custom Categories and Fields you enter will be saved within
that template.
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Quality Companion - The Roadmap
The Quality Companion Roadmap offers an organized way for you to execute
projects and document the tools used in each of the phases.
The Roadmap is the skeleton of your project. It
allows you to structure your project around the
phases defined by your methodology.
Quality Companion includes project templates
based on common methodologies, including a 12Step template and the DMAIC template:
Create your own Roadmap:
In addition to 12-step and DMAIC, there is a ‘blank’
project template that you can use to follow the
methodology of your choice. For example, start a
project with the template named Project and then
add phases to create a Kaizen Event, a DFSS project,
or the IDOV methodology:
To start a project with one of the built-in Roadmaps,
choose: File > New > Project
To add phases to any Roadmap, choose:
File > New > Phase
You can also build your own Roadmap by deleting any of the phases of any Roadmap, adding tools to any
phase, and then saving it as a Template for yourself and your team. Start each new project with your new
custom template to standardize all of your projects.
Templates help you to save time, adhere to standards, and keep your process improvement projects
consistent across your organization.
You can add tools and forms to your Roadmap as you build your Quality Companion project file.
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Quality Companion - Tools
Quality Companion includes a comprehensive set of built-in tools designed to
support your Lean Six Sigma Program.
Tools in Quality Companion include:
•
Process Maps
•
Value Stream Maps
•
Brainstorming tools
•
Analysis Capture Tools
•
Forms (e.g. FMEA, C&E Matrix)
•
Presentations
•
Coaches
To add a Tool to a Roadmap, choose:
File > New
Then, select a tool from the menu. Alternatively,
you can right-click anywhere on the Roadmap
and choose New to select a tool
As tools and forms are added to a Quality Companion
project file, they appear within the selected phases
of a Roadmap. Double-click on any tool to open it in
the Workspace.
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Quality Companion - Process Map
Process Maps help you understand and communicate the activities within a
process as well as the relationships between inputs, outputs and decision points.
Quality Companion offers two types of Process Maps:
1) A Process Map offers a blank workspace on which to
draw your processes.
2) A Cross-functional Process Map includes Phases
and Departments, (also called ‘swim lanes’), to help you
get started.
To create either type of Process Map, choose:
File > New > Process Map
To import legacy process maps (using simple shapes)
created in MS Visio, choose: File > Import Visio
Then browse for a Visio XML Drawing (.vdx) to select it for import.
(An example of a simple Process
Map imported from Visio.)
Process Map Tasks:
You can also use the Process Map task pane to
build your map. Click Insert to add shapes and
connectors.
Click Layout to adjust
the alignment and space
between shapes. Rightclick any shape(s) to set
fill color, font, or line
style.
The Smart Toolbar (below) appears when a Process Map is in the
workspace. Use this toolbar to select different shapes and connectors
to build your map:
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Quality Companion - Process Map
A unique value of Quality Companion process mapping is the ability
to add X, Y, Process, and Lean variables to any shape on the map.
Just right-click the relevant shape and select Insert Shape Data.
The task pane (right) appears with tabs for Variables, Process, and
Lean data. Enter the data that you’ve collected about your process.
To display the variables on the map, right-click a shape and select
Manage Data Display.
By using Manage Data Display, the variables appear on the Process
Map next to the shape (as shown here) and are now available for a
more in-depth review.
When you add variables to a Process Map, they are shared and available for use in other tools. You can
view this data in the Process Map Data table found in the Project Manager.
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Quality Companion - Value Stream Map
Quality Companion’s VSM calculates Timeline peaks, troughs, and Takt time.
The map in this Workspace was created using Quality Companion’s
Value Stream Map tool. Built-in shapes and connectors map the steps
of a process. Data and formatting are applied to the shapes. Any data
associated with Process and Inventory shapes are calculated and
summarized in the timeline. The Map Calculations task pane (right)
provides the means for managing Takt time and setting units for the
Timeline Summary.
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Quality Companion - Value Stream Map
Add multiple VSMs to a project to record Current and Future State Maps.
To add a Value Stream Map, right-click the desired phase, choose New, and then select Value Stream
Map or choose:
File > New > Value Stream Map
Start with a blank template to build your map from scratch,
or get a head start by selecting a 4- or 7-process template.
The VSM Task Pane provides access to important shape, layout,
calculation, and map data features. Quality Companion’s VSM shapes
follow the principles of Lean and allow you to document a process, and
understand queue, set up, process, and transportation times.
To add shapes to a VSM, click Insert Shapes and Connectors on the
task pane, or select shapes from the Smart Toolbar.
Click Select Data Fields to configure the
Insert Shape Data Task Pane (left).
Click Insert Shape Data to record data for
select shapes in the value stream (right).
Add custom fields to track data that’s
important for your project (below).
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Quality Companion - Brainstorm Tools
Perform root cause analysis with Brainstorming Tools, and then collect and cluster
ideas into Fishbone diagrams, Idea Maps or CT Trees
To add a Fishbone diagram to your Roadmap, choose: File > New > Fishbone
You can also brainstorm with an Idea Map or CT Tree. Once you add the tool to the Roadmap so that it
appears in the workspace, open the task pane and select Brainstorm List.
Using a ‘round robin’ or a ‘free-for-all’ approach, record potential causes for a specific problem into the
list. Drag items from the list to the corresponding category of your Brainstorming tool to add it to the
diagram.
To add ideas directly to a Brainstorming tool, right-click on either the map, an Affinity or a Cause and
choose Insert. Select an option and immediately type the name. Drag Causes and Affinities to move
them to desired locations. Right-click an Affinity and choose Switch Sides to modify the data display.
You can have as many levels, or hierarchies, as you need (sub-causes can have sub-causes), allowing you
to get to the root cause of a problem, or follow a methodology such as ‘5 Whys’.
Note: To change the layout of a diagram, right-click the workspace and choose Layout. From Layout
style, choose Fishbone or Tree and then choose a direction (e.g, top to bottom or left to right).
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Quality Companion - Analysis Capture Tools
Quality Companion’s Analysis Capture Tools (ACT) are built-in resources that
help summarize the analyses you perform in Minitab Statistical Software. They
highlight the assumptions that should be verified to validate your output.
To add a new ACT, choose: File > New > Analysis Capture
Quality Companion contains more than 60 ACTs, each related to different functions in Minitab.
In general, ACTs contain four sections: Input(s), an Assumptions Checklist, Output (session window data
and graphs) and a Conclusion.
To complete an ACT, perform the analysis in Minitab. Then select the session window data or right-click
a graph. Copy and paste the information into the corresponding sections in the ACT.
As with all Quality Companion forms, ACTs can be customized when you switch to Design mode.
Here’s an example of a Normality Test that was performed in Minitab and captured in Quality Companion:
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Quality Companion - Forms
Data can be recorded, calculated, prioritized, and graphed with Quality Companion’s
Forms.
Quality Companion contains nearly 40 built-in forms including:
•
C&E Matrix
•
FMEA
•
Project Prioritization Matrix
•
SIPOC
•
Project Charter
•
Blank form for your own design(s)
To add a form to a Roadmap, choose: File > New > Form
You can also right-click anywhere on the Roadmap
and choose New to select the Form option from the
menu (above).
From the new window select a form to add to your
Roadmap or filter the list of forms by Category
(below).
After you add a form to a phase in the Roadmap, you
can drag it to any other phase at any time (left).
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Quality Companion - Forms
Many of Quality Companion’s built-in forms provide
automatic calculations and chart-building.
For example, you can import X and Y variables from
a Process Mapping activity into a C&E Matrix (right),
rate the importance of the Xs relative to Ys and the
form will automatically build a Pareto chart.
Forms may also contain tips to help users complete
the form.
You can modify form tips, along with any other
aspects of a form, when you switch to Design
mode.
Completing Forms:
When you add a form to the Roadmap, it opens in Fill Out mode, so you can start entering data to
complete the form.
Modifying Forms:
You can also modify any form template and save it as a new, custom template for your team. To edit any
aspect of a form, click Design on the form Toolbar.
When in Design mode, you can insert data and
layout tables, hyperlinks and controls.
Controls can be text boxes, formulas, drop-down
lists, and more. You can also create custom forms
by starting with the built-in Blank form template.
To save your custom form template, choose:
File > Save Form As > Template *.qct
Regardless of how you modify or create forms for
your projects, the data you collect can be shared
with other tools and forms within your project.
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Quality Companion - Coaches
Quality Companion Coaches offer on-demand guidance written by Six Sigma
and process improvement experts. They are designed to help a user understand a
specific program methodology as well as provide summary, how-to, and guideline
information on Quality Companion’s Phases and Tools.
Phase Coaches help you understand the goals of
a phase and the tools that are appropriate for that
phase. Browse through the list of available tools
and click Insert Tool to add it to your Roadmap.
Tool Coaches are available for each built-in tool in
Quality Companion. They provide general guidance,
an overview of the tool, and how to use it.
There are a number of ways to open a Coach:
Double-click the Coach icon (left) beside any Phase or Tool within a Roadmap.
Right-click the tool and select Open Coach within a Roadmap.
Open a Coach from the tool’s task pane.
You can use any HTML file, including web pages, as a Coach. Right-click any tool, select Edit, and browse
to your file.
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Quality Companion - Presentations
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Communication is key to a successful Lean Six Sigma program. Quality Companion
Presentations make it easy to document your solution and share your conclusions
and decisions.
Quality Companion’s Presentation tool supports stakeholder and team reviews throughout the course of
a project. Whether you are at the beginning, middle, or end of a project, you can add a presentation and
share your progress and findings. Simply drag tools from the Roadmap into the presentation workspace.
Then, open the task pane and arrange your slide list order, add a title slide, and even highlight or add
annotation.
When you add tools to a presentation in this way, you create a then-current ‘snapshot’ of your project.
Even as you continue to work on the tool in the project, the presentation version won’t change.
With the built-in pan window you won’t have to spend time reducing the size of images or breaking a
long process into multiple slides. In the pan window, drag the red box to highlight areas of the slide that
do not appear in the workspace.
After you create a presentation, you can view it in Quality Companion, open it in a conference room using
the license-free Quality Companion Viewer, or export it to MS PowerPoint to apply your own slide design.
You can also save the presentation as a web page and host it for wider viewing from your intranet.
Slide list
Pan window
Quality Companion - Data Sharing
Enter data once into a Quality Companion project file and share it with other tools
and forms in that project.
Because quality improvement projects can generally be managed using desktop applications such as
those included in MS Office, those projects may lack the ability to easily exchange collected data.
Quality Companion provides the means to capture data that is important to a Lean Six Sigma project
and the methods for sharing that captured data across its built-in tools. Data sharing within Quality
Companion project files supports more efficient project management.
For example, the Team Members table can be quickly populated with data from MS Outlook. Then, open
a Project Charter and add the Team Member data directly from that table, as shown below:
With data sharing, a C&E Matrix may be populated with X and Y variable data that was added to a project
through a Process Mapping activity.
For example, add a C&E Matrix to your Roadmap,
mouse-over a Process Map Activity row, and choose
Select Existing X Variables.
The Data Selection dialog box containing all of the
inputs that were added during a Process Mapping
activity appears, as shown above. Check the rows
that you want to add to the C&E Matrix. Repeat this
process for the Y variables (Output Column) and then
add rankings and importance values to automatically
create a Pareto Chart.
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Quality Companion - Data Sharing
Sharing data across tools saves time and ensures greater accuracy.
For example, you can add ideas that you capture during
a Brainstorming session to the Process Map data
table, and then to process maps themselves, as X or
Y variables.
To do this in any Brainstorm diagram, enter ideas in the
Brainstorm List in the task pane and drag them onto the
workspace.
Right-click one or more of the ideas on the diagram and
choose Make X Variables (or Make Y Variables) – as
shown on the left. Once you add them to the Process
Map Data table, you can assign them to shapes on any
or all of your process maps.
Conversely, you may use existing X and Y variables in a
Brainstorm activity.
To add existing variables to a Brainstorm List, right-click in
the task pane and choose Import X Variables (or Import
Y Variables) – as shown on the right.
Once the variables are in the list, drag them to the
workspace of a Fishbone, Idea Map, or CT Tree.
For more information on data sharing, watch Quality
Companion webcasts by visiting:
www.minitab.com/theater
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Quality Companion - Single Value Data
In addition to tools, a Quality Companion project file can store hundreds of data
values related to a single project.
Project data is structured by Fields within Categories. Categories are either Single value or Multiple
entry. As you consider how to use the data that you plan to track, and identify potential custom data, it
is important to understand the difference between these two types of categories and their unique fields.
Single value:
Single value fields can hold one data value for a project. A data value in this category may change during
a project, but you cannot store more than one value at a time within a single value field.
For example, Project Name, Champion, Hard Savings, and CPK Goal are unique values within a project.
These fields belong to the single value categories of Project, Project Summary, Financial Data and
Capability Metrics, respectively.
To view a list of all categories and fields within a project, choose: Tools > Customize Data
Click a Category in this view (right) to see its name,
ID, and category type.
Expand a category for a list of all of its fields.
Click on a field for pre-defined formulas or default
values.
To view only single value fields within a project,
double-click project name in the Roadmap. This
opens a tabbed view of project, summary, financial
data, and capability metrics categories (below):
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Quality Companion - Multiple Entry Data
Multiple entry:
Multiple entry categories are ‘data tables’ of information because they have multiple rows of entries.
Each entry consists of related information arranged in columns or fields.
For example, Team Members is a multiple entry category. Each person on a project is associated with
a ‘row’ of data, each with a unique name, role and e-mail address. Another example of a multiple entry
category is Y Variables. A process map may have a step that has many ‘outputs’ (or Ys), each with a
unique name, type, upper and lower limits, etc.
For a list of all categories and fields within a project
(shown right), choose:
Tools > Customize Data
As you work with Quality Companion tools, you will
find additional ways to add multiple entry data including
Value Stream and Process Mapping, Tasks, and Team
Members.
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Quality Companion - Custom Data
Although Quality Companion is delivered with hundreds of fields and categories, the unique qualities of
your Lean Six Sigma Program may require additional fields and categories. You can easily add custom
fields to an existing category or create a new custom category with its own custom fields – it’s flexible.
For example, here’s how to create a multiple entry category
to record information about vendors with whom you work
regularly.
1) Right-click Custom Categories (in Project Manager) and
select the option for a ‘New Category’.
2) In the New Category dialog box, name the category
‘Vendors’, select Multiple entry and click OK. Add the first
field for this new category and define the type.
3) To build the Vendor table, right-click the
table header to add more columns. Each new
column becomes a multiple entry custom
data field under the Vendor category.
4) Populate the new Vendor table with content:
5) You can now access the new Vendor table under Custom
Categories in the Project Manager:
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Quality Companion - Custom Data
To add multiple entry custom data, right-click
any column header in an existing multiple entry
category and choose Add a Column.
For example, you might want to track additional
data about each team member.
To do so, right-click the Team Members header
and choose Add a Column, as shown on the
right. Add as many column fields as necessary,
being sure to give each new column field a
unique name.
To add single value custom data, double-click
the project name in the Roadmap. This opens
a tabbed view of the single value fields within
the project, project summary, financial data and
capability metrics categories.
Each tab has an option to Add... new fields to the
category, as below:
You can also add single value data through custom
categories.
Right-click Custom Categories in the Project Manager,
select Single value to create a new Category, then
Add… as many new fields as necessary.
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Minitab Training: Quality Companion Essentials
Learn how to make the most of our software and get hands-on experience that you
can apply to your projects by attending Quality Companion Essentials training
In this 2-day course you will
• Quickly learn how to navigate Quality Companion’s user-friendly and customizable environment.
• Learn how to identify a potential project and quantify its risks.
• Define and scope a project to more easily gain buy-in from key stakeholders.
• Learn to use Quality Companion’s built-in Roadmaps and Coaches to determine which tools and
statistical analyses are appropriate at any phase of the project.
• Define a process and manage its activities to gain insight into the value stream.
• Modify Quality Companion’s built-in tools to reflect your preferred quality improvement methodology.
• Create custom data fields and categories as well as custom project and tool templates that can be
stored as permanent software options and shared with other users.
Visit http://www.minitab.com/training to view the current public training schedule or contact our
team to request your company’s on-site course.
Minitab’s training helps professionals deliver results. In surveys, more than 98% of participants say they
could apply the skills they learned to their job and would recommend our courses to their colleagues.
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License Quality Companion
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Quality Companion is easy to license and is supported by Minitab’s exceptional
customer service.
Trial software:
Try Quality Companion free for 30 days to determine if it’s the right process improvement software for
your Lean Six Sigma program. Download the trial version from:
www.minitab.com/downloads
Also download the free e-book, Quality Companion–Getting Started, and its set of sample project files to
help you make the most of your trial period. Visit www.minitab.com/documentation
Single user licenses:
A Quality Companion single-user license is a perpetual, single license that includes free access to Minitab’s
Customer Service. A 30-day trial version may be converted to a single-user license by purchasing an
electronic product key from www.minitab.com/store
Discounts apply when purchasing two or more single-user licenses or when upgrading to a new release.
Multi-user licenses:
An annual multi-user license allows you to install Quality Companion on multiple computers for concurrent
use by five or more people. The license size determines the maximum number of simultaneous users.
For example, a Lean Six Sigma project team of 25 members may be well-supported by a 10- or 15-user
license. As the program expands, licenses may be added at any time and, as the number of licensed
users grows, the per-user cost decreases.
The benefits of a multi-user license include free upgrades to new releases and, if a Quality Companion
license is aligned with an existing Minitab Statistical Software multi-user license, an annual discount is
applied. There are additional multi-user licensing options; contact your local Minitab representative by
visiting www.minitab.com/contacts and selecting your country from the drop-down list.
Additional license options:
Special licensing options are available for qualified academic institutions as well as United States
General Services Administration (GSA) contract holders. For more information, contact your local Minitab
representative by visiting www.minitab.com/contacts.
Individuals at qualifying academic institutions with verified academic status can receive special discounts
on renting or purchasing Minitab products through www.onthehub.com.
by Minitab
Minitab®, Quality Companion by Minitab®, Quality. Analysis. Results® and the Minitab® logo are all registered
trademarks of Minitab, Inc., in the United States and other countries.