Cause and Effect Matrix
Cause and Effect template using familiar Microsoft Excel
Cause and Effect template
Video:
Introduction to QFD
& Cause and Effect Matrix
Purpose: to identify what your customers care about
To identify the few process input variables
that provide the greatest opportunity to improve
the process outputs that your customers care about most
This simple Six Sigma tool answers the same questions
as the (also easy to use) Measurement Selection Matrix,
and the
(much more thorough) QFD House of Quality template
"What should we measure — that our customers care about?"
and...
"Where should we focus our attention —
to give our customers the most satisfaction for an acceptable cost?"
Sample Cause and Effect Matrix example
How to use your
Cause & Effect Matrix template
Find and open your template

Find and open your
Cause and Effect Matrix template
(CauseEffect.xlsx)
in the same way that you find and open
your other 150+ Systems2win templates.
Save your working document
following the usual document storage and naming conventions established by your leaders
Open a Blank Sheet

When you're ready to start doing your own real work...
click the button to 'Open a Blank Sheet'
Excel Ribbon bar > Systems2win tab > Open a Blank Sheet
This blank sheet is where you will do your real work
(not on the Sample sheet)
Rename your new sheet.
If English is not your preferred language
Switch to your language, just like every Systems2win Excel template.
Now your team is ready to start using your
Cause and Effect Matrix
Step 1) Identify key customer requirements (process outputs)

Is it your job to put out fires?
or to prevent them?
Use 'Voice of the Customer' worksheets to identify KEY requirements.
Usually, you will work with less than 7 key requirements.
Hide unused columns.
Step 2) Rate importance to customer
If you use a scale other than the usual 1-10 scale,
edit the text box to explain your rating scale. (Whole numbers only)
Important: The Pareto Chart won't work without ALL data entered —
including 'Importance to Customer'
Step 3) Enter the process inputs (steps)
Copy your As Is worksheet to serve as the starting point for your To Be version.
Step 4) Enter correlations
Enter your team's rating of correlations between inputs and outputs
Optionally use the text box to explain your team's rating scale.
In version 12 and lower, you need to click the 'Pareto Refresh' butotn
In version 13, this is no longer needed.

Step 5) Focus your attention
to improve the processes with the highest total scores
These are the inputs with the most potential
for making improvements that your customers care most about.
Allow people time to think, ponder, and reflect,
and encourage them to return (again and again)
to the Hansei questions to stimulate Lean Thinking.
This Cause and Effect template comes with
And you can save even more |