Seven Management and Planning Tools

Affinity Diagram

How to Group and Structure the Factors That Impact a Problem

Relations Diagram

How to Identify Causal Relationships

Prioritization Matrix

How to Prioritize the Driver Factors to Order Corrective Actions

Root Cause Analysis Tree Diagram

How to Perform Root Cause Analysis

Involvement Matrix

How to Identify What People and Groups Are Involved in Corrective Actions, and What Their Role is in Every Action

PERT Chart

How to Build a Schedule of Actions

Risk Diagram (PDPC)

How to Identify Possible Risks When Carrying Out Corrective Actions, and Define Preventive Actions

In management practice, we regularly face problems which have no clear answers, and the causes of these problems need to be intensely researched before we can make any final decisions. These are complex and stressful situations for managers. In ConceptDraw Solution Park we have collected seven well-known tools that have a long history in management, and they are used in many different industries.

When we were researching these tools for an addition to ConceptDraw Solution Park, we found that they were often used at different stages of the same process for complex problems. As we applied these tools to different stages of the overall process of solving management problems, we started developing a great set of visual software tools for ConceptDraw which can increase productivity at every stage of problem-solving.

Finally, we organized these tools to maximize their problem-solving power in a step-by-step methodology pack that improves management collaboration because of the excellent communication characteristics inherent in these tools. The Seven Management and Planning Tools (7 Tools) helps management work more effective by facilitating improved communication for all members of the team as changes are made.

What Makes a Problem Complex and How Do the 7 Tools Help?

A complex problem is one that includes many unclear factors, such as unknown impacts, unidentified limitations, changing circumstances, and many potential outcomes. Such problems often occur in quality improvement, innovative opportunity development, and the gut-wrenching panic of crisis situations.

Because of the high-impact nature of these complex problems, there is a need for special tools to organize the necessary research work and decision-making activity, especially because this often involves many individuals who are working on the action plan. Organizing teamwork is critical for success when you deal with complex problems. Visual communication of problem status and potential resolutions provides many benefits for effective teamwork.

The Seven Management and Planning Tools are a set of such tools for investigating complex problems. These tools are exemplary at organizing research, parsing complex problems, providing a structure for the details, helping managers make decisions, and organizing effective communications in a visual manner that keeps everyone involved.

Why is the 7 Tools Approach Beneficial?

The primary benefit of using the Seven Management and Planning Tools is saving time in teamwork collaboration while simultaneously producing presentation material for an action plan, building a clear message, and producing comprehensive reporting.

• The Action Plan. At the end of your process after applying the Seven Management and Planning Tools, we obtain a well-thought out and positioned management plan
• The Clear Message. Problem and solution are properly packaged so that they can be broadcast to all participants who are assigned to a problem. It is in solving quality issues, creating ground-breaking innovations, organizing a production process, or major company changes where it is necessary to provide a clear and well-structured message to all parties. This saves time because creating a message happens almost automatically as a result of the decision-making process
• The Report. Everyone who is involved in the process of solving the problem needs to see a visual record of the steps that were developed to address the problem of quality, the elimination of defects, or the process of change management

Organizing Teamwork

To explore a complex problem, it is necessary to identify possible solutions and then develop a plan of action. Diagrams that visually explain the stages of researching the problem can help find the structure of the problem, and then determine what tasks need to be solved. In general, managers need to accurately determine the actions, identify the priorities, and then execute the plan with minimal interruptions.

Teamwork — as it relates to communication on large and complex problems—is the most effective when each participant clearly understands which stage of solving a problem is going on currently.

How Does It Work?

In practice, the management team makes a decision on a problem in two stages. The first stage is problem analysis and the second stage is action planning. During the analysis of a problem, one develops a large list of first causes and possible actions. From planning comes an action plan, a list of risks and potential countermeasures.

During these two stages occurs the problem of parsing and recording details in the form of visual diagrams. Possible actions and a new action plan are then created using related diagrams. These diagrams describe the detailed decisions the team makes as they work toward resolution.

Using visual diagrams keeps ideas clear and is very effective when discussing the problem and a description of the solution. Visual diagrams can replace a tremendous amount of text, and often the message is easier to understand. They are great at helping to quickly see what stage of the problem-solving effort is currently underway. Diagrams save time by simplifying communication and adding valuable structure the problem-solving process.

We start with brainstorming for proper analysis of any problem. This form of data input gives us a picture of the scale of the problem. We list all of the factors affecting the problem. Usually there are 40 to 100 topics that come to mind in discussions on quality improvement, events, changes, or decision-making.

Visually, Step by Step

Stage by stage, we use visual tools to move toward solving the problem at hand:

1. Affinity diagram. This is a grouping and structuring of factors that impact on a problem.

   Here we structure factors by groups. Then, give each group a name.

   Affinity diagrams show the structure of large, complex factors that impact the problem, dividing them into smaller and simpler pieces. Affinity diagrams do not show a causal relationship between the factors. This chart is designed to prepare the data for further analysis of cause-effect relationships. The typical size of an affinity diagram is 40-50 topics in a chart.

2. Interaction diagram*. This diagram identifies causal relationships.

   Determine what factors are causes and which factors are effects. Factors that are causes are called “Drivers”, the results of factors called “Indicators”. Indicators help establish KPIs to monitor changes and the effectiveness of corrective actions in resolving the problem.

   * This diagram is also known as a Relations diagram and the identification process known as a Cause-and-Effect Analysis.

3. Prioritization matrix. This diagram ranks the drivers’ factors to determine priority.

   The Prioritization matrix ranks the driver factors using a set of criteria. It identifies the factors of the first priority for analysis of possible corrective actions. It assesses the weight of each factor for each criterion and specifies it in the Prioritization matrix. The total sum of weights for a factor’s criteria indicates its priority.

4. Root cause analysis tree diagram. This diagram is for Root cause analysis (RCA).

   Analyze the root causes for factors that influenced the problem.

   This diagram is constructed separately for each highly prioritized factor. The goal of this is to find the root causes for the factor and list possible corrective action. The diagram shows the structure of causes for factor and possible corrective action. The Diagram is then used for further formulation of potential actions.

5. Involvement matrix. This diagram identifies participants who are involved in corrective actions.

   The Involvement matrix is constructed for all highly prioritized corrective actions. It defines the participants and their roles.

   The matrix displays all of the parties involved, defines their level of involvement, and the nature of their participation.

   This diagram uses symbols to assign who participates, performs, consults, should be informed, checks the work, and accepts the results. The Involvement matrix can identify the distribution of responsibilities and identify roles in a group or team. This matrix can be used company wide.

6. PERT chart*. This diagram identifies and builds the schedule of actions.

   This diagram is constructed as part of the process in creating a schedule of corrective actions. The PERT chart shows the logical connections and consequence of tasks to be performed. It displays the time period for problem solving and the implementation of all activities through the critical path.

   * This diagram is also known as a Precedence diagram or a Project network diagram.

7. Risks diagram*. This diagram identifies possible risks in accomplishing corrective actions.

   With the Risks diagram, one analyzes each action separately in a tree of all actions and develops a preventive action in response of each potential obstacles or circumstances which may be a risk.

   This diagram determines the risks that corrective action may have if not performed correctly. Also, it helps work out descriptions for preventive actions at the level of execution.

   * This diagram is also known as a Process decisions program chart (PDPC).

Benefits and Applicability of the 7 Tools

As you can see, the 7 Tools set can be of tremendous help to management. The 7 Tools simplify the different steps of problem-solving in a way that is easy to understand and to communicate to others.

As powerful as these tools are, many times you will find that one tool is enough—that you will only need to create that one diagram to help structure a particularly difficult aspect of your problem. This enables you to make your problem-solving a very efficient and organized process, while only producing the most critical visual documents.

Skilled use of these diagrams makes collaborative teamwork both more engaging and more effective. The decisions that are made during these discussions and well-documented and, because of the polished look of the diagrams, are ready for presentation.

The 7 Tools are also excellent for making presentations on status updates and final results of your problem-solving process. Because of the flexibility of ConceptDraw, presentations to team members, managers, and stakeholders can be given from your diagrams in 5-10 minutes. These presentations provide a full overview of your complex problem, showing both high-level general view and a detailed view of the initial problem as well as the steps taken to solve it. It is easy to see structured plan and the results with these 7 types of charts. These tools communicate your process to team members and stakeholders in a way that is both clear and easy to understand.

Do I have to use all of the tools in order?

No, not necessarily. These tools are quite versatile. Since you can use them in a different order, the options for applying these tools are much more numerous. In practice, groups of factors may not require all 7 stages. So the team can use a separate chart, depending on the desired stage of solving the complex problem.

Is it necessary to do a quantitative assessment?

It is highly recommended. Making quantitative assessments in the diagrams makes the work on the diagrams quite specific. This is not mandatory, but provides a much clearer picture of the team’s tasks specifics.

If there are fewer than 40 factors, should I still use these tools?

The 7 Tools permit you to explore the complexity of the problem, to create a detailed view, and to assess the number of skills that are required. Using a small number of factors develops a detailed understanding of a problem’s complexity and helps build a proven demand for resources (human, material, or otherwise). This lets you explain the involvement of participants who are critical for overall success.

Advice for improving visual communication:

Always draw your thoughts and ideas while brainstorming. Draw thoughts. Draw processes. Draw ideas and concepts. Use ConceptDraw DIAGRAM or ConceptDraw MINDMAP to help you capture what you think.

How visual communication improves your team’s efficiency:

A problem-solving process which is diagrammed with the 7 Tools can be read and understood more quickly and easily by others. This helps others get up to speed on the process, join the discussion, and start contributing other possible solutions.

With 7 Tools, the different diagrams are described and arranged in a logical way so that it is easy to see which diagram is appropriate for any given stage of the problem-solving process.

Teamwork requires a high level of organization. Each team member needs a clear view on how the problem-solving workflow is organized to reach a solution. Utilizing the 7 Tools is a very effective and efficient way of accomplishing this.

Also, at each stage, new ideas and details are often revealed, and these need to be documented. These new details can have a large impact on your results and should be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is important to allow all team members to see a big picture view of the entire problem-solving progress.