Quadrant Chart template

Excel template for perceptual map, importance-performance analysis, and other quadrant charts

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variations

Types of Quadrant Charts

One of the most versatile tools in your toolkit; there are many variations of the two-dimensional chart.

Here are a few of the more popular ones, and once you get the idea,

you will undoubtedly create a few unique variations of your own!

Effective-Achievable Chart

Vertical Y Axis = Effectiveness of each Alternative

Horizontal X Axis = Achievable

Every Alternative is somewhat effective and achievable, or it wouldn't be on your list.

Ratings should compare the relative merits of each Alternative.

When to use

• To choose from a list of alternatives

  such as projects to undertake, countermeasures to implement, methods to deploy...

• To do the comparison quickly
• To communicate and justify a decision to other stakeholders

Sample Quadrant Chart Example

 

Your Decision PICK Impact-Effort Matrix (DecisionPICK.xlsx)

has even more robust features and specific training for Effective-Achievable analysis, and allows you to easily click a button to switch between:

1. Impact-Effort PICK Matrix

   the target "best choice" quadrant is the upper left

2. Effective-Achievable Matrix

   the target "best choice" quadrant is the upper right

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Plan-Results Chart

When to use

• After a countermeasure has been implemented and tested
• After a project has been completed
• When a project is floundering (or dead)

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Importance-Performance Analysis

Vertical Y Axis = Importance of each Alternative
Horizontal X Axis = Performance

The Importance-Performance Matrix analyzes customers' perceptions about the importance and performance of deliverable products or services.

Rating Scale

The scale for Importance might range from "not important" to "critical", and the scale for Performance might range from "consistently unacceptable" to "greatly exceeds expectations"

When to use

• When surveying customer perceptions
• To better understand how to delight customers
• To compare the perceptions of different types of customers
• To compare perceptions of internal staff vs. perceptions of external customers
• To listen to the voice of the customer

  (to understand them; not argue with them)

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Perceptual Map Quadrant Chart

The Y Axis, X Axis, and Rating Scale can be just about anything that your customers care about

Any axis scale might measure increments from Boring to Fashionable, Conservative to Sporty, Affordable to Distinctive...
ANY scale of ANY perceptions that your customers might have about your offerings.

Tip: With such diverse & unusual scales, it is especially important to edit the text boxes to your chart so that each end of each axis has its own label.

For example, rather than a single scale of "Social Interactiveness", you might want one end of the scale to be "Social Appeal" and the other end of the scale to be "Individuality", thereby further clarifying a nuanced scale that appeals to different types of customers at both ends of the scale.

When to use a marketing perceptual map

• Pretty much the same as when you would use an Importance-Performance Matrix.

  A marketing perceptual map simply opens much wider possibilities for measuring unique customer perceptions.

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competence

Competence-Motivation Chart

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Other Quadrant Chart Variations

Impact-Control Chart

How much control does your team have over the success of each alternative?

There are dozens or hundreds of different types of two-dimensional charts.

Get creative, and make your own to visually communicate the relationship between ANY two factors affecting any decision.

 

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how

How to use your

Quadrant Chart Excel template

Find and open your template

Save your working document

following the usual document storage and naming conventions established by your leaders

Open a Blank Sheet

Rename your new sheet.

If English is not your preferred language

Switch to your language, just like every Systems2win Excel template.

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Now you are ready to start using your

Quadrant Chart template

Define the decision that needs to be made

Perhaps overwrite the big title at the top of the page —
replacing the words 'Quadrant Chart' with the name of the type of the chart you are creating.

For example Effective-Achievable Chart, Importance-Performance, Perceptual Map... See Variations above

Edit Titles for your X and Y data

The X and & Axis Titles that you type in the header will also appear:

1. in the clear text boxes above the gold column headers for X and Y
2. and as the Axis Titles in your quadrant chart.

Examples of X and Y Titles:

Effective-Achievable. Importance-Performance. Plan-Results...

See Variations in the training section above

Define your Rating Scale

On the DV sheet, define what each rating means — in the 0–10 Rating Scale that appears in the dropdown lists.

For example, the same score of '7' on the Y Axis for 'Effectiveness' might be defined to mean "good but not great results",

and the same score of '7' for the X Axis for 'Achievable' might be defined to mean "can be implemented with reasonable resources, but some difficulty"

The default rating scale is from 0 to 10.

To use any scale to other than 0-10, you would need to manually change the Max and Major Grid values for both chart axes.

(It's usually smarter and easier to use decimal places, rather than changing the scale.)

Optionally edit the 4 axis label text boxes on the chart to optionally replace the words "Low" and "High" with clearer descriptions of the opposite ends of your scales.

Examples: "Extremely poor" to "Outstanding". "Bright white" to "Dark black". "Despondent" to "Elated".
Any descriptions that make sense for the things YOU are measuring.

You may also need to manually move these text boxes around to align them correctly, if your chart or anything within it gets resized or moved.

Enter data in the Chart Labels column

Your Chart Labels are often your Alternatives - that you are choosing between.

To generate ideas, perhaps use brainstorming and/or hansei.

Tip: Any Excel chart has a maximum of 255 charted items.

Optional Notes

To keep your Chart Labels short...

you might use the optional column for Notes.

Tip: The Notes column can be either in or out of your Print Area.

Assign ratings

For each row, enter a number for the X and Y values.

To enter X and Y values for each row, you can either use the dropdown list, or simply enter a number.

Apply chart chart labels

In the Systems2win menu in the Excel Ribbon bar, select 'Apply Chart Labels'

Optionally format your chart

Select your chart, and then in the chart-related tabs that appear in the Excel Ribbon bar, you can use everything that you know (or learn) about familiar Microsoft Excel to format your chart anyway you like it.

How to notice duplicate X and Y values

Option 4) Temporarily move a chart label

When you click any chart label, all chart labels will become highlighted.

Then you can click and drag the one that you want to move.

Just know that chart labels will be recreated each time that you click the button to 'Apply Chart Labels'.

Make decisions

The quadrant chart makes it easy to visually see where each alternative falls in the quadrants but your team may want to also consider additional factors before arriving at your final decisions.

User-Defined Columns

There is a hidden column (just left of the chart) that you can unhide to use for any user-defined purpose.

And you can copy that column to add unlimited user-defined columns if desired.

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Reading

Suggested Reading and Resources

See suggested reading for Six Sigma tools and Decision Making tools

 

Another process improvement tool that is similar to a Quadrant Chart is a Scatter Plot X-Y Graph

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This Quadrant Chart template
comes with many other useful Process Improvement Tools

 

 

to empower every team member to improve every process