Six Sigma Black Belt Certified Practice Exam

For a team trying to reduce the time between receipt and payment of invoices, which tool should be used after creating a flowchart?

1. Fishbone diagram

2. Scatter diagram

3. Box and whisker plot

4. Histogram

The correct answer is: Fishbone diagram

After creating a flowchart, the appropriate next step a team can take to address issues in the invoice process would involve using a fishbone diagram. This tool is excellent for identifying potential causes of problems highlighted in the flowchart. The flowchart helps to visualize the steps in the current process and identify where delays or inefficiencies may be occurring. Once these areas are identified, the fishbone diagram allows the team to brainstorm and categorize potential root causes. It visually organizes various factors that could contribute to the delays in invoice processing, such as people, processes, materials, methods, and measurements. This structured approach enables teams to dig deeper into each potential cause identified through the flowchart and facilitates a thorough analysis to identify the most significant contributors to the problem. By addressing these root causes, the team can implement targeted improvements to reduce the time between receipt and payment of invoices effectively. Using the other tools listed may not specifically target root cause analysis in this context. For instance, scatter diagrams focus on correlation between two variables, box and whisker plots provide insight into data distribution, and histograms show frequency distribution of a data set. While all these tools have their place in data analysis, the fishbone diagram most directly supports the needs following the flowchart's creation