Define
Tools to help you define the opportunity for improvement
Project Charter
A project charter is a key internal document that describes the scope, participants and goals of a project. It contains a clear list of responsibilities, roles and stakeholders. It’s usually developed right at the beginning of a project’s lifecycle and is used as a reference point throughout a project’s development.
How to use it and helpful resources:
- Choose a project name.
- Identity the purpose, objective, goal, and project specifications.
- Set a budget.
- Define deliverables.
- Assess scope and risks.
- Create a timeframe or milestones.
- List key stakeholders.
- Layout your team roles and responsibilities.
Learn more about How to Write a Winning Project Charter
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Process Map/Flowchart
Process maps or flowcharts visually identify the actual flow or sequence of events in a process. It allows a team to see unexpected complexities, problem areas, and redundancy or unnecessary loops and identify improvement opportunities to help improve performance.
How to use it and helpful resources:
Visio, Mural and Excel are just a few examples of software that offer good templates for process mapping and flow charts.
- Define the process you want to visualize.
- Determine the start and endpoints for your process.
- Determine how the process works, and use shapes to identify key parts of the process.
- Connect the shapes to show the flow of work.
- Identify room for improvement and prioritize the next steps and action items.
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Stakeholder Analysis
A stakeholder analysis is a process of identifying anyone who will be impacted by the project, before the project begins; grouping them according to their levels of participation, interest, and influence in the project; and determining how best to involve and communicate each of these stakeholder groups throughout.
How to use it and helpful resources:
- Identify the stakeholders by creating a list of all potential stakeholders.
- Prioritize your stakeholders by categorizing your stakeholders by their power and interest in your operations.
- Understand your stakeholders by finding out how stakeholders feel about a business or project. You can ask yourself, your team or stakeholders questions.
- Create a stakeholder analysis matrix.
Get Free Stakeholder Analysis Templates for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF
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SIPOC
SIPOC is an acronym that stands for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers. It is used to outline elements of a process and can help support the definition, structure and scope of a complex work system.
How to use it and helpful resources:
- Choose a process: select the process you want to visualize with your SIPOC diagram.
- Define the process: instead of completing your SIPOC diagram in order, it’s often easiest to start with the “P” section and define your process first.
- List the outputs: O
- Identify the customers: C
- List the inputs: I
- Identify suppliers: S
Learn about the 7 Steps to Create SIPOC Diagram in Six Sigma
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Voice of the Customer
Voice of the customer (VOC) can be defined as the needs, wants and expectations of the customer, stated and unstated. This includes both external and internal customers. It can be used to identify customer needs and issues as well as business needs.
How to use it and helpful resources:
Common VOC techniques are:
- Customer interviews
- Consultation calls
- Online customer or stakeholder surveys
- Live chat
- Customer reviews
- In-person surveys
- Focus groups
- Emails
- Dedicated feedback forms
Instructional videos:
RASCI
RASCI is an acronym derived from the five key criteria most typically used: Responsible, Accountable, Supporting, Consulted and Informed.
It helps you track the different roles and tasks necessary to complete a project, task, or process. Project managers use this framework to assign responsibilities and determine how each team member can affect the final outcome.
How to use it and helpful resources:
- Determine the overarching project goals and priorities.
- Break down the larger goals into smaller objectives and tasks.
- List all tasks in chronological order.
- Determine the teams, departments, or individuals who will be involved in any stage of the project.
Instructional videos:
Affinity Diagram
The affinity diagram is a business tool used to organize ideas and data and commonly used during idea-generation brainstorming sessions.
How to use it and helpful resources:
- Transfer ideas onto sticky notes.
- Sort ideas into themes.
- Title Groups by theme.
- Develop solutions.
Learn about Affinity Diagrams and Organizing Information and Ideas into Common Themes
Instructional videos:
Risk Assessment Matrix
A risk assessment matrix helps teams anticipate potential issues that may arise during implementation of a project or continuous improvement effort so they may effectively plan how to overcome them if they did. The risk assessment matrix measures potential risks based on the likelihood (or probability) of the risk occurring, and the consequence (or impact) of its impact to the project if it did.
How to use it and helpful resources:
- Identify the risks related to your project.
- Define and determine risk criteria for your project.
- Analyze the risks you’ve identified.
- Prioritize the risks and make an action plan in the event they do arise during your project.
Learn about How to Use a Risk Assessment Matrix with Template