Deck 4: Business Processes

Question 1

A set of tasks or activities that addresses the main value-added activities of an organization is a:

A)system.
B)primary process.
C)support process.
D)development process.

Answer 1

primary process.

Question 2

After calculating the applicant's credit score, the system required the applicant to provide a health history. This activity would be represented on a process map with which symbol?

A)
B)
C)
D)

Answer 2

Question 3

Which of the following statements best describes current thinking regarding processes?

A)If companies concentrate on how functional areas like marketing, finance, and operations are organized, then everything will be fine.
B)Managing functional areas like marketing, finance, and operations is essentially the same thing as managing what a business does.
C)If the individual functional strategies of marketing, finance, and accounting are aligned with the overall business strategy, then everything will be fine.
D)Developing superior business processes requires a cross-functional and cross-organizational perspective.

Answer 3

Developing superior business processes requires a cross-functional and cross-organizational perspective.

Question 4

Many states have a mandatory 90-day waiting period from the time a divorce is filed to when it can be finalized. This activity would be represented on a process map with which symbol?

A)
B)
C)
D)

Question 5

The primary focus of a swim lane process map is to depict flows of objects, information, and money.

Question 6

Mapping does NOT:

A)create a common understanding of the content of a process.
B)define the boundaries of a process.
C)provide a detailed view of all elements external to the process.
D)provide a baseline against which to measure the impact of improvement efforts.

Question 7

Which type of process map should be used to track the movement of a customer's complaint from one department to the next until it is resolved?

A)input process map
B)swim lane process map
C)entity process map
D)data flow process map

Question 8

The majority of the total operating budget for most organizations is represented by:

A)engineering costs.
B)advertising costs.
C)supply chain costs.
D)equipment maintenance costs.

Question 9

When an employee team develops a process map, they should document the process ________.

Question 10

A development process creates new products or services for the supply chain.

Question 11

In a process map, a circle represents a step or activity in the process.

Question 12

A set of logically related tasks or activities performed to achieve a defined business outcome is a:

A)process.
B)primary process.
C)support process.
D)development process.

Question 13

A process that seeks to improve the performance of the main value-added and necessary, non-value-added activities is a(n)________ process.

Question 14

Peter prints out a cover for the TPS report he just completed. This activity would be represented on a process map with which symbol?

A)
B)
C)
D)

Question 15

Mapping creates a common understanding of process activities, their results, and who performs the various steps.

Question 16

Every customer that exited the store was subjected to close scrutiny of their shopping cart and receipt by a highly trained inspector. This activity would be represented on a process map with which symbol?

A)
B)
C)
D)

Question 17

A ________ process addresses the main, value-added activities of an organization.

Question 18

Describe the three types of processes and the relationships between them.

Question 19

An arrow in a process map represents a:

A)move activity.
B)start or finish point.
C)delay.
D)creation of a document.

Question 20

A support process performs necessary, value-added activities of an organization.

Question 21

A car wash services 200 customers in an hour on a lovely Saturday afternoon. The car wash employs 5 washers at $6 per hour and uses $50 of water and $5 of electricity per hour. An appropriate measure of productivity is:

A)80%.
B)2.35 cars/$.
C)8 cars/$.
D)0.425 $/car.

Question 22

Green Belts have:

A)more Six Sigma training than Black Belts but less Six Sigma training than Champions.
B)more Six Sigma training than Champions but less Six Sigma training than Team Members.
C)more Six Sigma training than Black Belts but less Six Sigma training than Master Black Belts.
D)more Six Sigma training than Team Members but less Six Sigma training than Black Belts.

Question 23

A car wash services 200 customers in an hour on a lovely Saturday afternoon. The car wash employs 5 washers at $6 per hour and uses $50 of water and $5 of electricity per hour. They charge $10 per car for their standard wash job. Which of these changes would have the greatest positive impact on their productivity?

A)increasing their service rate so they can process 210 cars per hour
B)cutting their employee pay by $1 per hour
C)charging $11 per standard wash job
D)introducing a new waterless system

Question 24

It takes one day for Peter Gibbons to complete a TPS report and attach the cover sheet. During that day, Peter spends about 15 minutes a day performing actual work and the other 7 hours and 45 minutes spacing out. Which of the following statements is correct?

A)Peter's cycle time is 7 hours and 30 minutes.
B)Peter's efficiency is 25%.
C)Peter's productivity is 8 hours per TPS report.
D)Peter's percent value-added time is just over 3%.

Question 25

Which of these steps is NOT part of the Six Sigma process sequence?

A)Design
B)Measure
C)Analyze
D)Improve

Question 26

When constructing a fishbone (cause and effect)diagram, brainstorming takes place during the:

A)closed phase.
B)narrow phase.
C)wide phase.
D)open phase.

Question 27

Which of the following approaches to process improvement could be described as competitive benchmarking?

A)Employees at XEROX ignore the way they have always processed customer orders and design an entirely new way to do so.
B)Employees at XEROX visit GM to pick up ideas on processing customer orders.
C)Employees at XEROX purchase a Canon copier and take it apart to get design ideas for their next generation of copiers.
D)Employees at XEROX take classes in quality improvement and make small, incremental changes to their order filling processes.

Question 28

What is the general procedure for developing a swim lane process map?

Question 29

In statistical terms, a process that achieves Six Sigma quality will generate about:

A)zero defects per million opportunities.
B)six defects per million opportunities.
C)three defects per million opportunities.
D)thirty-four defects per million opportunities.

Question 30

A professor is expected to cover 16 chapters in an operations management text each semester. One semester the professor dismisses class 30 minutes early every Monday and Friday and is able to cover only 12 chapters. What is the professor's efficiency?

A)75%
B)4
C)133%
D)-4

Question 31

A car wash services 200 customers an hour on a lovely Saturday afternoon. The car wash employs 5 washers at $6 per hour and uses $50 of water and $5 of electricity per hour. They charge $10 per car for their standard wash job. Which of these changes would have the greatest positive impact on their productivity?

A)increasing their service rate by 10%
B)decreasing wages by 5%
C)increasing their per-car fee by 20%
D)decreasing water usage by 10%

Question 32

A car wash services 200 customers in a 4-hour span on a lovely Saturday afternoon. The car wash employs 5 washers at $6 per hour. An appropriate measure of productivity is:

A)200 cars/hour.
B)0)6 $/car.
C)8)3 cars/$.
D)1)7 cars/$.

Question 33

A professor is expected to cover 16 chapters in an operations management text each semester. The class is scheduled to meet for one hour three times a week for 15 weeks. One semester the professor dismisses class 30 minutes early every Monday and Friday and is able to cover only 12 chapters using two boxes of chalk and a fifth of scotch. What is the professor's labor productivity?

A)0.27 chapters per hour
B)1.25 chapters per week
C)1.06 chapters per week
D)0.4 chapters per hour

Question 34

Consider a typical cycle of emailing a professor a question about class and waiting for a response. Which of the following statements is correct?

A)The percent value-added time is low.
B)The cycle time is impossible to determine with any accuracy.
C)The efficiency of the response is easy to measure.
D)The professor's productivity is easy to measure.

Question 35

Which of these represent the Six Sigma process sequence to create a completely new business process or product?

A)DMAIC
B)DMADV
C)5W1H
D)WD40

Question 36

A maintenance worker maintains an alibi sheet of all work activities performed in an 8 hour shift. If the work standard is such that 90% efficiency is expected, what is the actual amount of time that should be documented?

A)8.9 hours
B)111%
C)7.2 hours
D)0.8 hours

Question 37

Which of the following approaches to process improvement could be described as process benchmarking?

A)Employees at McDonald's ignore the way they have always processed customer orders and design an entirely new way to do so.
B)Employees at the campus housing and dining service visit Ritz Carlton to pick up ideas on managing long-term guests.
C)Employees at Ford purchase automobiles from an array of car manufacturers and take them apart to get design ideas for their next generation Taurus.
D)Employees at XEROX take classes in quality improvement and make small, incremental changes to their order filling processes.

Question 38

What is the difference between a process map and a swim lane process map?

Question 39

Which of these elements is in the Six Sigma process sequence to create a completely new business process or product, but NOT in the Six Sigma process, to improve an existing business process?

A)Define
B)Derive
C)Design
D)Create

Question 40

Which of the continuous improvement tools is used to conduct root-cause analysis?

A)statistical process control (SPC)
B)flow chart
C)Ishikawa (fishbone)diagram
D)Pareto chart

Question 41

A person who fails to meet output standards could still have an efficiency measurement of more than 100%.

Question 42

The M in the Six Sigma DMAIC process represents the word "method".

Question 43

The Five Whys are used during all three phases of construction of a Pareto chart.

Question 44

A Six Sigma Champion is a full-time Six Sigma expert that is responsible for training, mentoring, deployment, and results.

Question 45

________ is a measure of process performance that is a ratio of output to two inputs.

Question 46

Your university sends a contingent of top-ranking officials to Las Vegas hotels to study ways to improve dormitory living conditions. This is an example of process benchmarking.

Question 47

Cycle time is the total elapsed time needed to complete a business process.

Question 48

The Six Sigma process sequence to improve an existing business process consists of the steps ________, ________, ________, ________, ________.

Question 49

A laundry tracks clean linen output in pounds and their inputs of gas, water, electricity, and labor. A productivity measure incorporating all of these inputs is a multifactor measure.

Question 50

Productivity is measured as the ratio of inputs to outputs.

Question 51

Among all approaches to organizing for business process improvement, the Six Sigma methodology arguably best represents current thinking.

Question 52

Which of these continuous improvement tools would be best suited for showing all of the steps required to change your major to operations management?

A)process map
B)cause-and-effect diagram
C)Pareto chart
D)scatter plot

Question 53

When an organization compares their processes to those of another firm outside their industry, they are engaging in ________.

Question 54

Frank's Fried Chicken sends several employees over to Clair's Chicken Shack to divine the secret recipe that makes her chicken spicier and crispier, they are engaging in ________.

Question 55

While efficiency can exceed 100%, percent value-added time has a maximum of 100%.

Question 56

When McDonald's studies the drive-through operations of Burger King, they are engaging in competitive benchmarking.

Question 57

The elapsed time needed to complete a business process is called ________.

Question 58

Which two continuous improvement tools are most similar in appearance?

A)scatter plot and check sheet
B)Pareto chart and histogram
C)histogram and fishbone diagram
D)check sheet and fishbone diagram

Question 59

A check sheet, also called an Ishikawa diagram, is used to record how frequently a certain event occurs.

Question 60

A professor assigns a massive homework set the first day of class that will be due the day the students walk in to take their first exam of the semester. Over the weekend he grades the homework and the exam papers and as he reviews the results, it occurs to him that students that worked more of the 40 problems in the homework assignment appeared to be more successful on the exam. Which of the continuous improvement tools would be most appropriate for displaying this phenomenon?

A)statistical process control (SPC)
B)scatter plot
C)Ishikawa diagram
D)Pareto chart

Question 61

How would you describe the Six Sigma methodology?

Question 62

The procedure of fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic organizational improvements is called:

A)competitive benchmarking.
B)continuous improvement.
C)process benchmarking.
D)business process reengineering.

Question 63

________ is a process improvement philosophy that results in small, incremental changes while ________ is a process improvement philosophy that results in dramatic organizational changes.

Question 64

Lisa manages customer service representatives in a call center. The center's computer system tracks a number of metrics for each employee including the total number of customer calls they complete, the amount of time the service representative spends talking to customers, and the total time the service representative was clocked in each day. The work standard developed by the call center is to complete 150 calls in an 8-hour shift. Answer the following questions using the information provided in the table.
a. What is the productivity of employee J?
b. What is the efficiency of employee K?
c. What is the percent value added time for employee M?

Question 65

An assistant professor designs his fall semester class so that a major homework assignment is due the day his students waltz into class to take their first exam. The results are mixed so he rewrites his exam for the spring semester and repeats the process, again collecting a major homework assignment on exam day and grading and returning both the homework assignments and exams the following class meeting. Use an appropriate tool from the tools for continuous improvement to analyze the data. What conclusions do you draw?

Question 66

Which of these SCOR model flows moves in the opposite direction from the others?

A)Plan
B)Return
C)Source
D)Make

Question 67

A(n)________ is used to record how frequently a certain event occurs.

Question 68

The provost was puzzled as he read the enrollment report for the fall semester. The seven teaching units had all experienced a drop in enrollment, some of them were calamitous as shown in the table. Answer the following questions using the information provided in the table. Assume the same number of faculty taught in each college both semesters.
a. Which college has the lowest productivity in 2017 and what is their productivity?
b. Which college had the greatest productivity decline?
c. Which college is the most productive in both 2016 and 2017?

Question 69

The magnitude of changes created by a continuous improvement program is generally larger than those created by a business process reengineering program.

Question 70

A tenured professor lights a cigar, cradles a snifter of brandy in his claw-like hand, and reviews his student evaluations from the previous semester. The numbers were unspectacular, but he beamed with pride as he read the comments. For the first time in a long time, no one responded to the "What can the professor do to improve the course?" question with the classic response "not teach it anymore." There were a number of comments, and since he took his craft seriously, he set about summarizing and organizing the comments into the alphabetical list you see here. Take this data and analyze it using the appropriate tool for continuous improvement. Then recommend to the professor the next tool (out of the tools for continuous improvement)that he should use to take the next step in this analysis.

Question 71

One reason the SCOR model is widely accepted is its consistency. It mandates the same information and physical flows for all products, regardless of the degree of customization.

Question 72

Describe the process of root cause analysis and include in your description the tools that it uses.

Question 73

________ are workers trained in the Six Sigma methodology that actually train and mentor other workers in Six Sigma.

Question 74

Describe the constituent activities of Six Sigma's DMAIC process.

Question 75

Level two of the SCOR model divides SCM activities into ________.

Question 76

Why would a company choose to engage in benchmarking rather than design their own process or product?

Question 77

________ are senior level executives of a company that own projects and have the authority and resources needed to carry them out.

Question 78

Level 1 of the SCOR model is organized around the five core management processes: plan, source, make, deliver, and return.

Question 79

What is benchmarking and how do the two types differ?

Question 80

Which of these statements about the SCOR model is best?

A)The SCOR model consists of four levels that describe supply chain processes in increasing detail.
B)The core management processes of the model are Source, Collaborate, Operations, and Return.
C)The model makes provisions for different levels of customization.
D)The process types detailed in level one are Planning, Execution, and Enable.