Six Sigma Applications & Softwares

List of Six Sigma software packages

There are generally three classes of software used to support Six Sigma:

• Analysis tools, which are used to perform statistical or process analysis
• Program management tools, used to manage and track a corporation's entire Six Sigma program

• DMAIC and Lean online project collaboration tools for local and global teams

Analysis tools

• iGrafx Process for Six Sigma

o iGrafx was originally founded in 1987 as Micrografx and subsequently acquired in 2001 by Corel Corporation. iGrafx today is an independent business unit of Corel with global headquarters in Tualatin, Oregon, United States and the EMEA headquarters are in Karlsfeld, near Munich in Germany. The UK/Ireland office is located in Bourn mouth, Dorset. The core product suite today provides solutions addressing generic business process improvement, six sigma, lean; quality and risk management, compliance as well as IT service management and enterprise architecture.

o Having been acquired by Corel, the former Micrografx graphics product line (e.g. Micrografx Picture Publisher, Micrografx Designer) were integrated into the Corel portfolio. The iGrafx division is now globally known as a vendor of software for business process modeling, analysis, simulation and optimization and is considered as one of the global market leaders. More than 1 million licenses have been shipped world-wide.

• JMP

o JMP is a computer program that was first developed by John Sall and others to perform simple and complex statistical analyses. It dynamically links statistics with graphics to interactively explore, understand, and visualize data. This allows you to click on any point in a graph, and see the corresponding data point highlighted in the data table, and other graphs.

o JMP was originally written in 1989 for the Mac. It was later released for Microsoft Windows in 1993 and Linux in 2005. According to an issue of the JMP newsletter, "The name JMP was chosen partly to convey the idea of a lively product that jumped responsively to the user’s wishes.”Some SAS veterans will also tell you that JMP before its release used to stand for "John's Macintosh Project" (John Sall is the co-founder of SAS and is the Executive Vice President responsible for the JMP Division). The internal acronym was later converted into the brand name for the product.

o JMP provides a comprehensive set of statistical tools as well as design of experiments and statistical quality control in a single package. It can work with a variety of data formats, such as text files, Microsoft Excel files, SAS datasets, and ODBC-compliant databases.

o JMP allows for custom programming and script development via JSL, "JMP Scripting Language". JSL is an interpreted scripting language which is executed at runtime, and provides for manipulating JMP application platform objects in a coherent and coordinated way. JSL is capable of creating complex object orientated GUI and data visualization toolsets in the JMP application environment. JSL can also be accessed externally via COM (Windows). The use of JSL in the JMP environment can greatly extend the usefulness of JMP in the applied statistics setting.

o There is also an add-on JMP Genomics developed also by SAS, which comes with over 100 analytic procedures to facilitate the treatment of data involving genetics, microarrays or proteomics. It includes whole genome SNP analysis, clustering tools, design of experiment tools etc.

o At this current time SAS sponsors a yearly JMP user’s conference which focuses on the use of JMP with applied statistics as well as customization of JMP via JSL.

o JMP is a division of SAS Institute Inc., which was co-founded by John Sall.

• Microsoft Visio

o Microsoft Visio is a diagramming program for Microsoft Windows that uses vector graphics to create diagrams. It is currently available in two editions: Standard and Professional.

o The Standard and Professional editions both share the same interface, but the latter has additional templates for more advanced diagrams and layouts as well as unique functionality that makes it easy for users to connect their diagrams to a number of data sources and display the information graphically.

o Microsoft acquired Visio Corporation in 2000. Visio 2007 was released on November 30, 2006. Also released alongside version 2002 were Enterprise Network Tools, an add-on product enabling automated network and directory services diagramming, and the Visio Network Center, a Web site where users could locate the latest network documentation content and exact-replica network equipment shapes from 500 leading manufacturers. The former has been discontinued, while the latter's shape-finding features are now integrated into the program itself.

o Microsoft has revealed that the next version of Microsoft Visio will feature the ribbon user interface.

• Minitab

o Minitab is a statistics package. It was developed at the Pennsylvania State University by researchers Barbara F. Ryan, Thomas A. Ryan, Jr., and Brian L. Joiner in 1972. Minitab began as a light version of OMNITAB, a statistical analysis program by NIST.

o Minitab is distributed by Minitab Inc, a privately owned company headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania, with subsidiaries in Coventry, England (Minitab Ltd.) Paris, France (Minitab SARL) and Sydney, Australia (Minitab Pty.).

o Today, Minitab is often used in conjunction with the implementation of Six Sigma, CMMI and other statistics-based process improvement methods.

o Minitab 15, the latest version of the software, is available in 6 different languages (English, French, German, Korean, Simplified Chinese, & Spanish).

• Statgraphics

o Statgraphics is a line of computer programs that perform and explain basic and advanced statistical functions. As of December 2005, the current release is the 15th version: Statgraphics Centurion XV.

o Statgraphics Centurion XV is frequently used with Six Sigma process improvement.

o During the spring of 2006, Statgraphics Mobile was released as the first sophisticated statistical program that runs on hand-held computers (Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, or compatible device running Windows Mobile 5 or Windows Pocket PC 2003).

o As on September 2008 the Statgraphics Online version has also been released. STATGRAPHICS Online is a statistical package that runs within a web browser. You can enter data directly into the data editor or read data from text files, Excel files, or other common formats. The calculations are performed remotely on a web server and the results returned to your browser as HTML with imbedded graphics images

• Statistica

o STATISTICA is a statistics and analytics software package developed by StatSoft. STATISTICA provides a selection of data analysis, data management, data mining, and data visualization procedures. Features of the software include basic and multivariate statistical analysis, quality control modules, neural networks, and a collection of data mining techniques. All of these tools are provided in an open architecture with a single software platform. STATISTICA product categories include Enterprise (for use across a site or organization), Web-Based (for use with a server and web browser), Concurrent and Standard Network Desktop, and Single-User Desktop. STATISTICA has an interactive graphical user interface with customizable menus and toolbars. STATISTICA also has an API-based interface that allows all of the program's functions to be callable from other applications such as Visual Basic, C++, and Java, and internally callable from the built-in STATISTICA Visual Basic user interface.

o There are three basic channels to which you can direct all analysis results spreadsheets and graphs: workbooks, reports, and standalone windows. Workbooks and reports are an Active X document container, which means they can hold all native STATISTICA documents as well as other types of Active X documents, including Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and Microsoft Word documents. Workbooks contain two panels: a navigation tree on the left and a document viewer on the right that allows the user to view the document that is selected on the left. Reports display a series of spreadsheets, graphs, or other objects sequentially in a word processor style document. Workbooks have a file extension of .stw and reports have a file extension of .str.

o Data files are typically displayed in spreadsheets. The basic form of the spreadsheet is a two-dimensional table arranged as cases (rows) and variables (columns). STATISTICA spreadsheets have a file extension of .sta.

• Actuate

o Actuate Corporation develops Business Intelligence, Performance Management and Java Reporting software. Actuate is also heavily involved in the Eclipse Foundation, as a board member, strategic developer and co-leader of the BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools) project. Founded in 1993, the company employs about 600 people and serves over 4,000 customers worldwide.

o Actuate 9 is the company's core product suite. Actuate reports are constructed on a Collaborative Reporting Architecture. The Collaborative Reporting Architecture provides skills-specific environments and leverages Eclipse, Java, portlets, XML, AJAX. The architecture enables design sharing and interactive viewing. Actuate 9 provides 3 essential types of enterprise reporting:

o Collaborative Reporting - Interactive reporting jointly developed by IT and business users enable design sharing across skill-matched reporting tools.

o Spreadsheet Reporting - Automatically generates analysis-ready, data-driven Excel spreadsheets for large user populations.

o Brochure-Quality Reporting - Brand-conscious, precise, multi-format reporting, leveraged in customer interaction applications and operational performance reporting where ease of consumption is the driving factor.

o BIRT Reporting BIRT reports are an open source reporting solution that has been developed as part of the Eclipse Foundation.

o Actuate Performancesoft Suite is a product set that resulted from Actuate's 2006 acquisition of Performancesoft Inc. Performancesoft was the maker of Performancesoft Views (formerly known as pbviews), a well known Performance management and balanced scorecard and activity management software vendor.

• The Unscrambler

o The Unscrambler is commercial chemometrics software for multivariate analysis, predominantly used in spectroscopic applications. Primarily for calibration in the application of near infrared spectroscopy and supports the development of predictive models for use in real-time spectroscopic analysis of materials. It also supports design of experiments, supervised classification and unsupervised classification.

Functionality

The software was originally developed in 1986 by Harald Martens. And later by CAMO Software. It was one of two software tools that pioneered the use of partial least squares (PLS). Other techniques supported include principal component analysis (PCA), 3-way PLS, Multivariate Curve Resolution and cluster analysis. It is developed for the Windows operating system. The software is used in NIR spectroscopy applications in research and non-destructive quality control systems in pharmaceutical manufacturing, food processing and chemical industry.

GrouputerSigmaSense

Grouputer announces SigmaSense the first ever collaborative, end-to-end software solution for implementing Six Sigma and process improvement projects. SigmaSense equips Black and Green Belt project facilitators with structured tools and techniques to properly implement Six Sigma projects - with reduced cycle time, improved team productivity and greater management and staff buy-in.

Key Benefits

• Slashes project cycle time by up to 91 percent1
• Fosters management participation and buy-in
• Compelling DMAIC tools engage team members
• Enhances participation of global teams
• Drives up team recruitment
• Accelerates Green Belt training & sharpens facilitation skills

Improving Six Sigma Project Results - SigmaSense provides an interactive, virtual work space for team meetings that stimulates critical thinking and problem solving while allowing facilitators to focus on teamwork. Add-in programs provide statistical and process mapping capability.

Features -SigmaSense features 20 DMAIC and process improvement collaborative meeting, statistical and process mapping tools.

Benefits & Who Benefits? - SigmaSense addresses the three most cited reasons for project failure - long project cycle times, lack of participation from non-Belt resources and the lack of a structured Six Sigma methodology.

DMAIC & Process Improvement Tools - SigmaSense's best-practice DMAIC and process improvement meeting methodologies enable facilitators to lead teams through a structured set of steps that describe and automate the implementation of each tool