What are the Control Charts?

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Why Control Charts

They will let you know if an element

within your project is out of control or not Control charts using historical, forecasted and actual data can help project managers determine if projects are in control, off scope or over budget.

What Can They do?

Project schedules, baselines, costs and

budgets can all be measured with a few analysis tools Control charts using historical, forecasted and actual data can help project managers determine if projects are in control, off scope or over budget

History of Control Charts

Walter Shewhart first utilized control

charts in 1924 to aid the world of manufacturing. W. Edward Deming added elements to control charts to assess every area of a process or organization when total quality management (TQM) was explored.

no matter how well the process is designed, there exists a certain amount of nature variability in output measurements - Walter Shewhart, 1924

PMBOK view on Trends

A trend analysis is performed using run charts and involves mathematical techniques to forecast future outcomes based on historical results What a trend analysis reveals is whether the project or an element of the project is where it should be or way off track. Estimators, Pareto and control charts are the most popularly used methods of analyzing trends along with simple product sampling

A control chart tells you how much variation the process causes. A stable process produces predictable results consistently
-Know Ware, the maker of QI Macros SPC Excel
Software for Six Sigma

Causes of Fluctuation

Most examples of a control charts consider two causes of fluctuation:

I.
II.

Common causes, and Special causes

A Common Cause - e.g. Baking a cake

Common causes might be, Types of oven utilized or high elevation cookingthose items would be considered a common mishap if the cake baking process failed. Essentially, if you dont know the exact temperature of an older oven or high elevation directions are not offered, its acceptable a cake as an example

A Special Cause - e.g. Baking a cake

Special causes (in baking that same cake) might be, a recipe that forgets the baking powder as a needed ingredient. The lack of baking powder is a special cause as it causes the cake baking process to fail. Therefore, why the cake baking process failed must first be discovered (e.g. lack of baking powder) and then corrected

Types of Control Chart

X-Bar & R Control Charts X-Bar & S Control Charts U Charts P Control Charts C Control Charts

X-Bar and R Charts

These variable charts utilize the X-Bar or the Mean to determine subgroups The R or Range plots the subgroups based on upper and lower control limits They the most widely utilized charts in project management However, are only successful if 5 or less subgroups are

X Bar and S Charts

Using this example of a variable control chart is effective for 5 or more subgroups The S or Standard Deviations are considered in both upper and lower control limits based on the X-Bar or Mean

U Charts
These variable types of

control charts utilize an upper and lower range Elements falling in the upper range need attention and analysis in order for the problem to be corrected

p Control Charts

This attribute-type chart is effective when elements are not equal A p Control Chart might be used to determine how many accidents occur each day at a chosen intersection

c Control Charts
Another attribute-type control

chart, the c Control Chart explores elements that are nonconforming A c Control Chart might be used to explore massproduction of one similar product where the elements per unit do not conform to

A trend analysis is performed using run charts and involves mathematical techniques to forecast future outcomes based on historical results
PMBOK Version 4

What a trend analysis reveals is whether the project or an element of the project is where it should be or way off track
- Jean Shied

Analysing Trends
Estimators, Pareto and control charts

are the most popularly used methods of analyzing trends along with simple product sampling Basically a trend can be any element within the project that needs further analysis.
If utilizing Six Sigma or Lean, how many defects are occurring? Are milestones set in the project scope reached? If using Total Quality Management, is

Concepts of Trends
Build Corporate Dashboards - Build executive dashboards with KPIs, initiatives and more Use actual product samplings and

compare them to set quality standards

-Determine what is acceptable and what unacceptable?
Use budgeting calculators -If the actual data varies from the planned or expected data, your analysis charts will show variations

References
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Jean Shied & Linda Richter, 5/29/2011

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