Using Business and Financial Measures in Six Sigma

Six Sigma improvement begins with assessing the current performance of an organization’s processes and products, and comparing it with the desired performance. An important part of this assessment is choosing a set of measures that will provide a comprehensive picture of how the company is achieving its goals of customer satisfaction, organizational learning and improvement, internal process performance, and bottom-line financial growth. This course examines two categories of key measures: business performance measures and purely financial measures, exploring how these measures reveal the current state of the business and point to gains achievable through Six Sigma. This course explores how business performance measures such as balanced scorecard, key performance indicators (KPIs), and lagging and leading indicators can be used to align Lean Six Sigma initiatives toward organizational goals. It also explores the critical role of customer loyalty in business success. Turning to purely financial measures of success, this course explores how these financial measures are crucial in determining whether the potential returns of Six Sigma projects will outweigh the required investment. It provides practice in using the formulas associated with these measures, including market share, cost-benefit analysis, return on investment (ROI), net present value (NPV), and hard and soft costs and benefits of Six Sigma projects. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft’s ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.