Performance measurement systems can address many different aspects of
quality and productivity. It's very common for a process to have multiple
measures. When you compare the difference between expected performance and
existing performance you discover opportunities of different magnitude.
A national private security company sends fingerprint cards of its job applicants
to the FBI for a background check. Even though 30% of the checks took longer
than was expected, the company maintained an adequate qualified applicant
base so there weren't any serious consequences. Unfortunately, over 9% of
the cards are rejected for one reason or another. This resulted in rework
that was costly and unnecessary.
The improvement value summary table below puts in perspective just what
should be addressed first. In this case, reducing the number of rejected
fingerprint cards.
A data collection effort helped pinpoint the different reasons for rejection.
The results are summarized in the pareto chart below. This information helped
us determine which types of reasons for rejection should be addressed first
(i.e., taking care of the first four types would eliminate 94% of all rejections).
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