Understanding Cause & Effect

Prioritization Tools

COS 9: Follow Common Problem Solving Techniques

COS 10: Use Six Sigma As The Primary Process Improvement Method

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Objectives
Understand why inputs are prioritized
Learn how understanding the effects of inputs on our
processes and products is used to prioritize them
Learn how the Cause & Effect (C&E) Matrix is used to
understand the effects of inputs on outputs:
When it should be applied
Usage Instructions

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Why prioritize inputs?
Many inputs may have effect on the
products/processes we seek to improve.
With limited resources, we need quick and
effective ways to initially narrow down inputs with
the potential to impact process/product
significantly.
These prioritized inputs are often called critical
inputs/ factors/causes.
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Prioritization by effect
One way to organize a large number of inputs is
by using tools that document the effects of
inputs/factors/causes on our processes/products.
This way we can observe the relative effects of all
considered inputs on our process/product.
The Cause & Effects (C&E) Matrix is a tool we
use to document and prioritize inputs by effect.

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Cause and Effect Matrix
A matrix that emphasizes the importance of understanding
customer requirements by assigning relative importance to
inputs.

Cause
Is the reason for something
taking place.
e.g. My alarm didnt go off
Its very sunny today
Effect
Is something that takes
place as a result of a cause.
causing me to be late
causing ice cubes to melt
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Where do inputs for the C&E Matrix come from?

Inputs can come from one or more of the

following:
Process Flow Maps
50k/5k ft. Process Maps
Brainstorming (Fishbone, Affinity Diagram, etc.)

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Cause and Effect Matrix Outcomes

When used as a Stand-Alone When used with 5k/50k ft. Process

Tool
Generate a prioritized list of inputs
to evaluate potential causes to
focus improvement efforts
Map
Generating a prioritized list of Process
Inputs to evaluate in the:
Failure Modes Effects Analysis
tool (FMEA)

Other
Fishbone Brainstorming
Diagram OR Tool
5k/50k ft.
C&E
Process FMEA
Matrix
Map

C&E Matrix

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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
Identify key customer requirements. e.g. Cross-multiply correlation values with
outputs from Process Map or customer importance ratings and sum
Stakeholder feedback. for each input.
Assign Rating of Importance to Determine cut-off or break point on the
Customer for each output (using a 1 to inputs where the team should focus on.
10 scale).
Perform a Sanity Check to verify that
Identify all process steps and inputs from prioritized inputs include those that have
the Process Map. the highest impact on the most important
outputs.
Evaluate correlation of each input to
each output:
low score: change in input (x) has small
effect on output (Y)
high score: change in input (x) has
strong effect on output (Y)

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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps

These can be populated

in the following:
From the 5k/50k ft.
Process Map using
the template macro
or
Manually

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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
1. List Key
Outputs

Outputs are populated e.g. from 50K ft. Process Map Y

or Stakeholder feedback
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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps

2. Rate
Importance to
Customer for
each output

The most important

output must be
ranked as 10

There needs to be
enough
differentiation in
importance scores;
increments must be
greater than 1.
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 Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
3. List Inputs

Note: If Inputs are populated from the 5k/50k ft. Process Map, the
Process steps should follow the Process Map step-by-step.
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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
4. Relate
Inputs to
Outputs

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Relating Inputs to Customer Requirements
Correlation scores: no more than 4 levels:
0, 1, 3 and 9
Assignment of scoring takes the most time; to avoid this, spell out the
criteria for each score:
0 = no correlation
1 = process input only remotely affects the customer requirement
3 = process input has a moderate effect on the customer requirement
9 = process input has a direct and strong effect on the customer
requirement

Use the space on the spread sheet to

record why team feels it is a 9.
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 Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
4. Relate Inputs to Outputs
What we are worried
about going wrong
for inputs ranked
9

This is a subjective estimate of how influential Key Inputs

are on Key Outputs
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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
5. Cross multiply
and prioritize

The highlighted numbers are used to calculate the

input row score
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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
5. Total of effects
scored and
prioritized

At this point we begin to see which input variables are

most important in explaining output variation
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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
6. Determine Break Point
Natural break points
occur where there are
relatively larger
intervals between
scores

Pick a break point that

allows you to focus
efforts on critical few
inputs to achieve
significant
improvements

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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps
7. Perform Sanity Check

Are the inputs that have

the greatest impact on
your most important
outputs on the list?

If not, revisit your

scoring and break point
location.

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Cause & Effect Matrix Steps

Result: a short list of 5-8 Inputs

Focus!!

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C&E Matrix Hints Large Number of Inputs
When applying the C&E Matrix to complicated or
large processes with many inputs, it is
recommended that you work with your MBB.

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C&E Matrix Hints
Use scoring criteria to guide the team, remember
ranking is subjective.
Must involve a team; no isolated development

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Exercise - C&E Matrix
Objective:
Take 20 minutes to generate a C&E Matrix
Use Catapult Process Map
Assumptions:
Customer requirements and associated importance ranking
Shot Accuracy 10
Firing Range 8
Deliverables:
Determine ranking of Inputs (inputs)
Choose top 3 Inputs for the next step
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Wrap Up Q&A

Where do the C&E Matrix Inputs come from?

What score is given to the most important Output?

An Input that has an effect score of 9 must be

accompanied by what?

How does the C&E Matrix breakpoint get assigned?

What is a C&E Matrix Sanity Check?

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