Assignable cause

Assignable cause
See also
Project status report Contribution analysis Evaluation of risk Parametric analysis PFMEA CUSUM chart Risk analysis in project Maintenance strategy Spaghetti diagram

Assignable causes of variation have an advantage (high proportion, domination) in many known causes of routine variability. For this reason, it is worth trying to identify the assignable cause of variation, in such a way that its impact on the process can be eliminated, of course, assuming that project managers or members are fully aware of the assignable cause of variation. Assignable causes of variation are the result of events that are not part of the normal process. Examples of assignable causes for variability are (T. Kasse, s.237):

• incorrectly trained people
• broken tools
• failure to comply with the process

Identify data of assignable causes

The first step you need to take when planning data collection for assignable causes is to identify them and explain your goals. This step is to ensure that the assignable causes data that the project team gathers provides the answers that are needed to carry out the 'process improvement' project efficiently and successfully. The characteristics that are desirable and most relevant for an assignable causes are for example: relevant, representative, sufficient. In the planning process for collecting data on assignable causes, the project team should draw and mark a chart that will provide the findings before actual data collection begins. This step gives the project team an indication of what data that can be assigned is needed (A. van Aartsengel, S Kurtoglu, s.464).

Types of data for assignable causes

There are two types of data for assignable causes, qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data is obtained from deseriography resulting from observations or measures of different types of characteristics of the results of the process in terms of narrative words and statements. However, the next group of data, which are quantitative data on assignable causes, are derived from the description of observations or measures of process result characteristics in terms of measurable quantity in which numerical values are used (A. van Aartsengel, S. Kurtoglu, s.464).

Determining the source of assignable causes of variation in an unstable process

If an unstable process occurs then the analyst must identify the sources of assignable cause variation. The source and the cause itself must be investigated and, in most cases, unfortunately also eliminated. Until all such causes are removed, then the actual capacity of the process cannot be determined and the process itself will not work as planned. In some cases, however, assignable cause variability can improve the result, then the process must be redesigned (W. S. Davis, D. C. Yen, s.76). There are two possibilities for making the wrong decision, which concerns the appearance of assignable cause variations: there is no such reason (or it is incorrectly assessed) or it is not detected (N. Möller, S. O. Hansson, J. E. Holmberg, C. Rollenhagen, s.339).

References

• Davis W. S., Yen D. C. (2019)., The Information System Consultant's Handbook: Systems Analysis and Design, CRC Press, New York
• Kasse T. (2004)., Practical Insight Into CMMI, Artech House, London
• Möller N., Hansson S. O., Holmberg J. E., Rollenhagen C. (2018)., Handbook of Safety Principles, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken
• Van Aartsengel A., Kurtoglu S. (2013)., Handbook on Continuous Improvement Transformation: The Lean Six Sigma Framework and Systematic Methodology for Implementation, Springer Science & Business Media, New York

Author: Anna Jędrzejczyk