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Problem Statement
A problem statement is a concise description of an issue to be addressed or a condition to be improved upon. It identifies the gap between the current (problem) state and desired (goal) state of a process or product. Focusing on the facts, the problem statement should be designed to address the Five Ws. The first condition of solving a problem is understanding the problem, which can be done by way of a problem statement. Problem statements are widely used by most businesses and organizations to execute process improvement projects. A simple and well-defined problem statement will be used by the project team to understand the problem and work toward developing a solution. It will also provide management with specific insights into the problem so that they can make appropriate project-approving decisions. As such, it is crucial for the problem statement to be clear and unambiguous. Purpose The main purpose of the problem statement is to identify and explain the problem. This inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five Ws
The Five Ws (sometimes referred to as Five Ws and How, 5W1H, or Six Ws) are questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering or problem solving. They are often mentioned in journalism (''cf.'' news style), research, and police investigations. According to the principle of the Five Ws, a report can only be considered complete if it answers these questions starting with an interrogative word: * Who * What * When * Where * Why Some others commonly add ''how'' to the list. Each question should have a factual answer—facts necessary to include for a report to be considered complete. Importantly, none of these questions can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no". In the United Kingdom (excluding Scotland), the Five Ws are used in Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 lessons (ages 7–14). Origin The Five Ws and How were long attributed to Hermagoras of Temnos. But in 2010, it was established that Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics are in fact the source of the element ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Problem Management
Problem management is the process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems that happen or could happen in an IT service. The primary objectives of problem management are to prevent problems and resulting incidents from happening, to eliminate recurring incidents, and to minimize the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented. ITIL defines a problem as the cause of one or more incidents. See also * ISO/IEC 15504 *Quality Assurance * RPR Problem Diagnosis * Grey problem * Pareto analysis Pareto analysis is a formal technique useful where many possible courses of action are competing for attention. In essence, the problem-solver estimates the benefit delivered by each action, then selects a number of the most effective actions tha ... References The New Rational Manager- Describes KT Problem Solving and Decision Making (PSDM) * ITIL Problem solving {{IT-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Process Architecture
Process architecture is the structural design of general process systems. It applies to fields such as computers (software, hardware, networks, etc.), business processes ( enterprise architecture, policy and procedures, logistics, project management, etc.), and any other process system of varying degrees of complexity.Dawis, E. P., J. F. Dawis, Wei-Pin Koo (2001). Architecture of Computer-based Systems using Dualistic Petri Nets. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 2001 IEEE International Conference on Volume 3, 2001 Page(s):1554 - 1558 vol.3 Processes are defined as having inputs, outputs and the energy required to transform inputs to outputs. Use of energy during transformation also implies a passage of time: a process takes real time to perform its associated action. A process also requires space for input/output objects and transforming objects to exist: a process uses real space. A process system is a specialized system of processes. Processes are composed of processes. Comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continual Improvement Process
A continual improvement process, also often called a continuous improvement process (abbreviated as CIP or CI), is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. These efforts can seek "incremental" improvement over time or "breakthrough" improvement all at once. Delivery (customer valued) processes are constantly evaluated and improved in the light of their efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility. Some see CIPs as a meta-process for most management systems (such as business process management, quality management, project management, and program management). W. Edwards Deming, a pioneer of the field, saw it as part of the 'system' whereby feedback from the process and customer were evaluated against organisational goals. The fact that it can be called a management process does not mean that it needs to be executed by 'management'; but rather merely that it makes decisions about the implementation of the delivery process and the design of the delivery process itsel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stakeholder (corporate)
In a corporation, a stakeholder is a member of "groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist", as defined in the first usage of the word in a 1963 internal memorandum at the Stanford Research Institute. The theory was later developed and championed by R. Edward Freeman in the 1980s. Since then it has gained wide acceptance in business practice and in theorizing relating to strategic management, corporate governance, business purpose and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The definition of corporate responsibilities through a classification of stakeholders to consider has been criticized as creating a false dichotomy between the "shareholder model" and the "stakeholders model" or a false analogy of the obligations towards shareholders and other interested parties. Types Any action taken by any organization or any group might affect those people who are linked with them in the private sector. For examples these are parents, children, customers, owners, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scope (project Management)
In project management, scope is the defined features and functions of a product, or the scope of work needed to finish a project. Scope involves getting information required to start a project, including the features the product needs to meet its stakeholders' requirements. Project scope is oriented towards the work required and methods needed, while product scope is more oriented toward functional requirements. If requirements are not completely defined and described and if there is no effective change control in a project, scope or requirement creep may ensue. Scope management is listing the items to be produced or tasks to be done; their required quantity, quality, and variety; the time and resources available and agreed upon; and modifying the variable constraints by dynamic flexible juggling in the event of changed circumstances. See also *Cost overrun *Requirements management *Scope statement In project management, scope statements can take many forms depending on the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Root Cause Analysis
In science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ... and engineering, root cause analysis (RCA) is a method of problem solving used for identifying the root causes of faults or problems. It is widely used in IT operations, manufacturing, telecommunications, Process control, industrial process control, accident analysis (e.g., in aviation, rail transport, or nuclear plants), medicine (for medical diagnosis), healthcare industry (e.g., for epidemiology), etc. Root cause analysis is a form of deductive inference since it requires an understanding of the underlying causal mechanisms of the potential root causes and the problem. RCA can be decomposed into four steps: * Identify and describe the problem clearly * Establish a timeline from the normal situation until the problem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five Whys
Five whys (or 5 whys) is an iterative interrogative technique used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem. The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question "Why?" five times. The answer to the fifth why should reveal the root cause of the problem. The technique was described by Taiichi Ohno at Toyota Motor Corporation. Others at Toyota and elsewhere have criticized the five whys technique for various reasons (see ). Example An example of a problem is: The vehicle will not start. #''Why?'' – The battery is dead. (First why) #''Why?'' – The alternator is not functioning. (Second why) #''Why?'' – The alternator belt has broken. (Third why) #''Why?'' – The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced. (Fourth why) #''Why?'' – The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule. (Fifth why, a root cause) The question ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
End User
In product development, an end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ultimately use a product. The end user stands in contrast to users who support or maintain the product, such as sysops, system administrators, database administrators, Information technology (IT) experts, software professionals and computer technicians. End users typically do not possess the technical understanding or skill of the product designers, a fact easily overlooked and forgotten by designers: leading to features creating low customer satisfaction. In information technology, end users are not "customers" in the usual sense—they are typically employees of the customer. For example, if a large retail corporation buys a software package for its employees to use, even though the large retail corporation was the "customer" which purchased the software, the end users are the employees of the company, who will use the software at work. Certain American defense-related pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a group of people meet to generate new ideas and solutions around a specific domain of interest by removing inhibitions. People are able to think more freely and they suggest as many spontaneous new ideas as possible. All the ideas are noted down without criticism and after the brainstorming session the ideas are evaluated. The term was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in the classic work ''Applied Imagination'' (1953). History In 1939, advertising executive Alex F. Osborn began developing methods for creative problem-solving. He was frustrated by employees' inability to develop creative ideas individually for ad campaigns. In response, he began hosting group-thinking sessions and discovered a significant improvement in the quality and quan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Business Analysis
Business analysis is a professional discipline of identifying business needs and determining solutions to business problems. Solutions often include a software-systems development component, but may also consist of process improvements, organizational change or strategic planning and policy development. The person who carries out this task is called a business analyst or BA. Business analysts do not work solely on developing software systems. But work across the organisation, solving business problems in consultation with business stakeholders. Whilst most of the work that business analysts do today relate to software development/solutions, this derives from the ongoing massive changes businesses all over the world are experiencing in their attempts to digitise. Although there are different role definitions, depending upon the organization, there does seem to be an area of common ground where most business analysts work. The responsibilities appear to be: * To investigate busine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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