[The following article appears in _The_Public_Sector_Network_
News_, Winter 1995 edition, pages 5, 7, 8, and 9. Note: the
technique described here is very similar to that used by Florida
Power and Light in its story boards. At FPL, the Q. C. story is
told on a large board tht each team maintains.]

               DOCUMENTING IMPROVEMENTS USING A Q.C. STORY

     What is a Q.C. Story? A Q.C. Story is a document that is
used to explain work done during an improvement effort. It
contains elements that explain the steps in the improvement
effort. This standard format makes it easy to understand the
details of an improvement project. The Q.C. Story is intended to
be written during a project to help the effort remain on track,
making regular progress.
     The Q.C. Story consists of the following eight elements:
O The ISSUE section explains the Issue Statement for the project.
O WHY SELECTED explains why this issue was selected, how it was
selected, and how the issue relates to customer satisfaction.
O INITIAL STATUS explains what was initially known about the
issue when we first started to work to improve it.
O ANALYSIS OF CAUSES explains what causes have been identified
and how we performed the analysis to find the causes.
O PLANS quantifies the improvement objective, delineates possible
solutions and how each was evaluated, and explains the selected
solution(s)and plans for implementation .
O RESULTS compares the actual results achieved with the target in
the objective statement.
O STANDARDIZATION explains what was done to hold the gains
achieved through the improvements to the process.
O And FUTURE PLANS explains what possible issues could be worked
on next and which of those issues has been selected for the next
improvement effort.
     A detailed description of each of the eight elements of the
Q.C. Story is provided. Also, there is a checklist of questions
you can use to help you write an excellent Q.C. Story.

Issue

     This section of the Q.C. Story contains one simple sentence,
the Issue Statement.
     An Issue Statement contains three elements:
O Direction
O Measure
O Reference to a process, product, or service
     For example: "Reduce (direction) the percentage of contracts
that are returned for rewrite (measure) in the XYZ Contract
Department (reference)."
     An Issue Statement is simply a description of the measure
and the way in which the measure will change. It does not contain
a goal, just the direction of change. Until further analysis can
be done to find the causes of the issue, it is impossible to
determine a meaningful goal for the measure; therefore, a
statement like: "Reduce the percentage of contracts that are
returned for rewrite by 50%" is not a valid Issue Statement. We
may want a 50% improvement, but we must let the analysis tell us
what is possible.
     Be careful of words like "improve" and "lack of." Statements
such as "improve customer satisfaction" or "lack of training" are
not issue statements because they contain no direction, measure,
or reference. We could say "improve customer satisfaction with
the quality of contracts" if we had a method to measure customer
satisfaction with contracts. The term "lack of" is really a cause
in disguise, not an issue. If "lack of training" was to be
accepted as an Issue Statement, the obvious solution would be to
"do training." It would require no analysis to find the cause
because the cause is implied from the beginning.
     Another word to avoid in an Issue Statement is "and."
Usually when "and" is in the Issue Statement, it indicates the
presence of two issues. It is commendable to try to resolve two
issues at once, but it can be very difficult and is sometimes
impossible. If the two issues have the same set of causes, then
choosing one issue will automatically lead to the resolution of
the second. If the two issues have different causes, it is a
mistake to try to analyze and solve them together. In either
case, they should be two separate stories. 

Why Selected

     In this section we explain why we are working on this issue.
     It is easy to say "customer satisfaction." The question that
needs to be addressed here is "how do we know that this is the
most important thing to work on" to improve customer
satisfaction? We need to show how we know this is an issue. Is
the knowledge of this issue gained through surveys, customer
feedback, or complaints? How many complaints!
     There should be a clear relationship to the customer and the
customer's needs. We should explain how the problem is affecting
the customer and how solving it will benefit the customer.
     This is also the part of the Q.C. Story where we explain HOW
selected. Certainly, there are many issues that might be
addressed. What was the method used for the selection of the most
important issue?
     It is possible that this issue was selected because it is
part of a higher-level manager's improvement plan. We should be
able to show how this issue fits with the higher-level plans.

Initial Status
     Here is where we explain the status of the issue before we
started working to improve it. Several things need to be
explained for the reader to understand the Initial Status.
     The most important thing to show in this section of the Q.C.
Story is the status of the measure in the issue statement. If the
measure was "% of rejected contracts," then we would need to
explain what the percentage was in the months before we first
started working on the issue. If the measure was "cycle time to
get signature approval," then we would show what the cycle time
was.
     Just giving one data point is less valuable than showing the
status of the measure through time. Knowing that last month the
percentage of rejected contracts was 16% is of some value, but
showing the percentage of rejected contracts each month for the
past year gives a better picture of the status of the measure.
This is a good place to use graphical tools like line graphs or
control charts.
     If there are other facts or diagrams that would help us to
better understand the Initial Status, they can be included in
this section of the story. A flowchart of the initial process is
very helpful. We might explain how many people were involved, the
number of shifts, the floor space requirements of the process,
related measures that might be affected, or previous attempts to
solve the problem. Any of these could be included in this section
of the story if they helped the reader to understand the
situation before the issue was improved.

Analysis of Causes
     The reason for performing analysis is to find the cause(s)
of the issue. Thus, we explain the cause and provide the data
that were used to find and verify the cause.
     Usually the first level of analysis is demonstrated through
a pareto diagram. This diagram shows the various aspects of the
problem and shows which is the most frequent or common. It is
easy to make the mistake of thinking that a pareto diagram
provides true analysis of causes. This is usually not the case.
Most often, the pareto diagram categorizes types of problems or
defects, but this is not a description of cause. It is helpful to
know the most frequent type of problem, because this should be
the target of further investigation.
     Next, we may use an Ishikawa (fishbone) diagram to theorize
the causes of the most common problem (from the pareto). Failure
mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is another excellent tool for
theorizing causes.
     Data are collected to determine and verify which of the
several possible causes is, in fact, the cause of the problem.
There are several analytical tools to help with this effort:
checksheets, histograms, or scattergrams are very useful. The
story should include the time period over which the data were
collected.
     We sometimes run small-scale experiments to collect data
about causes or to verify that we have found the actual causes.
When the results from these experiments show that our
theories are correct, we can include them in this section of the
story. How causes are verified is an important but commonly
overlooked part of the story.
     This section of the Q.C. Story concludes with a statement of
"Necessary Action." This is not a plan; it is a statement that
summarizes what needs to be done to eradicate the cause.

Plans
     This section explains the Objective Statement, the possible
solutions, the method that was used to evaluate the possible
solutions and select the best solution(s), and the details of the
plan to implement the solutions.
     A complete Objective Statement contains:
O Direction
O Measure
O Reference
O Target (or goal)
O Time Frame
O Owner
     For example: "Reduce (direction) the percentage of contracts
returned for rewrite (measure) in the XYZ contract department
(reference) by 65% (target) by the end of the fiscal year (time
frame). Owner: Joe Jones."
     It should be clear that the target in the Objective
Statement is derived from the analysis. For example, let's say
our issue was "percentage of contracts returned for rewrite" and
that the Initial Status of the measure was 25% of the contracts
returned. If our analysis showed that half of the problem
contracts were returned because they did not contain a needed
financial figure and we felt we could remedy this cause, then we
could set a target reducing the percentage of rejected contracts
by 50%. (We could also say reduce the percentage of returned
contracts from 25% to 12.5%.)
     The Q.C. Story should be written in such a way that it is
easy to see how the analysis, the plan, and the target are
related. The details of the plan should be aimed at eradicating
the cause, and if the cause is eradicated, the measure should
change to a predictable level.
     There should be some indication of the different solutions
that were considered. There also should be some information about
how the different alternative solutions were evaluated and how
the final solutions were selected. 
     Details of the plan could include planning sheets or tables,
PERT or GANTT charts, timelines, and review tables to describe
how the planned implementation proceeded. The reader should be
able to tell if the plan was implemented on schedule.

Results
     In this section, we compare the actual results from the
improvement effort with the target in the Objective Statement
(the expected results).
     This comparison should be shown in the same format as the
information in Initial Status and Analysis. If the Initial Status
was shown in a control chart, then the Results should be shown in
the same type of control chart. If an important part of the
Analysis was shown in a pareto diagram, then some of the Results
should show a comparison with that pareto diagram.
     The reader should be able to tell if the expected results
were achieved within the original time frame described in the
Objective Statement. If there is a deviation between the expected
results and the actual results, some additional analysis should
be provided in this section of the story to explain the cause of
the gap between the two.
     This is also where we explain any other results (in addition
to the changes in the measure) that occurred as a result of
implementing the plan. These could be positive benefits or they
might be negative side effects. If we were working on an issue of
percentage of contracts to be rewritten and as a result of our
improvement efforts morale went up, we would want to include that
information in the story. Conversely, if we saw a new kind of
problem get introduced in the process of writing contracts, that
information should be included also.

Standardization
     Here we explain the steps that were taken to ensure that the
implemented solution will remain in effect. We want to prevent
the process from reverting to its previous state so we can
continue to hold the gains achieved through the process
improvement.
     Standardization involves six types of activities:
1. Documentation-the new process will need to be documented by
changing procedures, material checklists, etc.
2. Training in the new process-people will need to learn the
correct way to do the new process.
3. Training in the skills needed to perform the new process--
besides to learning the steps in the new process, people may need
to learn additional skills, such as how to run a new computer
program or how to use a new piece of equipment.
4. Physical reorganization-repositioning desks, shelving,
equipment, machinery, etc., has the effect of preventing the
process from reverting to its original state and helps hold the
gains of the improvement.
5. Sharing--we can increase the benefits of improving a process
if we share what we learned with others who might benefit from
our experiences.
6. Monitoring--by tracking the improved process metrics
regularly, we can be assured that the process will continue to
run at the improved level and we will quickly be able to note any
deviations. It is helpful to assign a specific custodian to be
responsible for monitoring.
     Although Standardization takes these several forms, doing
one or two is not sufficient to ensure that the process is
standardized. Most or all of the actions are necessary to ensure
that we can hold the gains
     It is not necessary to include the document and training
materials in the Q.C. Story, just a description of the actions
taken to Standardize.

Future Plans
     In this last section we list the problems that could be
addressed next and the issue that has been selected to be the
next project.
     First, there should be a list of possible problems that
could be selected as the next project. This could include
problems directly related to the issue that has just been
improved. It is possible that one (or several) aspects of an
issue have been resolved, yet still more need to be improved. On
the other hand, the list of issues could include problems
unrelated to the issue in the current Q.C. Story. For example, if
the issue in the current story was "reduce the percentage of
contracts returned for rewrite," we could have made significant
gains in reducing the percentage, but more work could still be
done. On the other hand, customers might be satisfied with the
progress to date and some other issue may have become more urgent
than the current issue.
     We conclude this section with the identification of the
issue (from the list) that will be the next issue for
improvement. This identification creates a connection between the
current improvement effort and the next project.

Q.C. STORY QUICK REFERENCE

     You should be able to answer "yes" to each question.

Issue:
     Does the Issue Statement contain the three parts: Direction,
Measure, Reference?
     Have you avoided words like "improve" and "lack of"?
     Have you avoided using "and" to load more than one issue in
the Issue Statement?
     Have you kept the Issue Statement free of any target or
goal?

Why Selected:
     Have you explained how you know this is the most important
issue to work on?
     Have you shown how this issue relates to the customer or
customer satisfaction, or how it will benefit the customer?
     Have you explained the method used to select the issue?

Initial Status:
     Have you described, in numerical terms, the status of the
measure in the Issue Statement?
     Have you provided some historical information about the
status of the measure?
     Are data displayed in a visual, graphical format?
     Is there a flowchart or other explanation of the status of
the process at the beginning of the project?
     Have you included other facts that would help the reader
understand the initial situation?

Analysis of Causes:
     Is there a clear statement of the major cause(s) of the
issue?
     Have you explained how the possible causes were theorized?
     Are data included to show how the main causes were
identified? 
     Are data displayed in such a way that the connection between
the issue and the cause(s) is clear?
     Have you explained how the data were collected and over what
time period they were collected?

Plans:
     Is there a complete Objective Statement: Direction, measure,
reference, target, time frame, and owner?
     Is it clear how the target was derived from the analysis?
     Is it clear that the actions in the plan are aimed at fixing
the cause(s)?
     Have you indicated what alternative solutions were
considered, and how they were evaluated to select the best
solutions?
     Have you included a copy of the planning tables, PERT
charts, etc.?
     Have you indicated whether the plan was implemented on
schedule?

Results: 
     Is there a comparison of the target in the Objective
Statement and the actual results?
     Are the results displayed in the same graphical format as
the information in "Initial Status" or "Analysis"?
     Have you indicated whether the results were achieved in the
expected time frame?
     If the actual results did not match the objective or were
achieved outside the expected time, have you provided the
analysis of the gap?
     Have you included any other related results, good or bad?
Standardization: 
     Have you explained the actions taken to hold the gain in the
area of changed documentation, training in the new process,
skills training, physical reorganization, sharing, or process
monitoring?

Future Plans:
     Have you included a list of possible next projects?
     Have you indicated which of the possible projects will be
the next issue for improvement?

For further information, contact: Ron Black, Metadynamics 7465
Wayland Road Loomis, CA 95650 Phone: (916) 652-8442