| From: CTHQ::BELENKY "11-Jan-1993 1420" 11-JAN-1993 14:21:30.31
To: TNPUBS::GILLHAM
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Subj: DQFD Guidelines - text (ANSI) file.
DIGITAL
PLANNING AND CONDUCTING DISTRIBUTED
QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT
Digital Internal Use Only
Digital Equipment Corporation
Maynard, Massachusetts
________________________
November 19, 1992
The information in this document is subject to change without
notice and should not construed as a commitment by Digital
Equipment Corporation. Digital Equipment Corporation assumes
no responsibilities for any errors that may appear in this
document.
No responsibility is assumed for the use or reliability
of products or services that are not supplied by Digital
Equipment Corporation.
Revision/Update Information: Version 1.0
__________
Copyright �1992 by Digital Equipment Corporation. All rights
reserved.
Printed in U.S.A.
The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation
DEC DECcalc DECnet
VAX VMS
DIGITAL
This document was prepared using VAX DOCUMENT, Version 2.0.
Digital Internal Use Only
Contents_________________________________________________________
Preface_________________________________________________________v
Chapter_1__Understanding_DQFD____________________________________
1.1 QFD ......................................................1-1
1.2 DQFD Process .............................................1-1
Chapter_2__Defining_Roles_and_Responsibilities___________________
2.1 Roles ....................................................2-1
2.2 DQFD Organizer ...........................................2-1
2.3 Facilitator and Support Personnel ........................2-2
2.4 Participants .............................................2-2
2.5 Teams ....................................................2-4
2.6 Technical Advisory Resources .............................2-4
Chapter_3__Determining_Schedules_and_Agendas_____________________
Chapter_4__Ensuring_Site_Requirements____________________________
Chapter_5__Conducting_a_DQFD_Session_____________________________
5.1 Recommendations to the Facilitator .......................5-1
5.2 Conference Etiquette .....................................5-2
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iii
Chapter_6__Documenting_the_DQFD_Results__________________________
Appendix_A__PREPARING_FOR_EFFECTIVE_QFD__________________________
Appendix_B__SAMPLE_DQFD_WORKFLOW_________________________________
Appendix_C__QFD_Information_Sources______________________________
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iv
Preface__________________________________________________________
In today's business environment, quality is essential for
success. Additionally, internationalization demands that
corporations conduct their business worldwide.
This guide provides guidelines and recommendations for
planning and conducting a Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
in a distributed or multisite environment, referred to as
Distributed Quality Function Deployment (DQFD).
Purpose
The purpose of the guide is to describe the differences
of the DQFD process and give recommendations on how to
conduct a DQFD session effectively and productively. These
recommendations have been compiled by DQFD experts who have
experienced the DQFD process.
As a "living" document, this guide (and especially the
recommendations) will be updated periodically as the
organizations learn more about the DQFD process.
Intended Audience
The guide is intended for a person who assumes the role of
a DQFD organizer or facilitator and who is familiar with the
regular QFD process.
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v
Scope
Use the guide as a companion to existing QFD guidelines and
not as a standalone guide to the DQFD process. The guide
explains how to prepare, setup, and implement a DQFD session,
specifically where the process waivers from the typical QFD
process.
This guide describes the following aspects of the DQFD:
o Simplified description of the DQFD process and workflow
o Roles and responsibilities of DQFD organizers and
participants
o Schedules, agendas, and site requirements
o Recommendations on how to conduct a DQFD session and how to
produce the results (documents) of DQFD.
If you need to refresh your understanding of the QFD process,
refer to either Appendix A or Appendix C for the sources of
information about the existing QFD methodology and processes.
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vi
Chapter__1_______________________________________________________
Understanding DQFD
1.1 QFD
The QFD process is two-fold: (1) product requirements,
provided by the customer or business sponsor, are used as
the basis for conducting a QFD for a particular product, and
(2) the QFD documents, developed through the QFD process,
become the basis for business requirements and product
specifications.
QFD is an effective tool in the quest for improved quality in
products. In addition, in a distributed work environment and
where there is a need to curtail travel costs, Distributed
Quality Function Deployment (DQFD) can become an important
planning tool, allowing you to conduct the QFD session among
multiple sites and geographies.
1.2 DQFD Process
Instead of using one site for conducting a regular QFD
session, the DQFD session is simultaneously conducted at
several sites where the participants are located. At each
site, the DQFD participants are organized in teams connected
via tele- or videoconferencing equipment. These teams work
together through the regular QFD process administered under
control of one, primary DQFD facilitator at one of the sites.
Chapter 2 describes the roles and responsibilities of DQFD
participants.
The facilitator and DQFD organizer, who is responsible for
managing the project, meet to plan the DQFD and to produce
the schedules and agendas (see Chapter 3). The organizer also
selects the sites and equipment to run the DQFD sessions (see
Chapter 4).
Digital Internal Use Only
Understanding DQFD 1-1
In the DQFD process, distributed team members discuss
product requirements during interactive sessions controlled
by the facilitator (see Chapter 5). The result of these
discussions is the QFD data (features, ranks, benefits) and
documents (such as the Affinity chart, House of Quality,
data spreadsheet). The facilitator and organizer collect and
process the information from all participating sites, and
prepare the final QFD documents, such as the product business
requirements (see Chapters 5 and 6).
Digital Internal Use Only
1-2 Understanding DQFD
To summarize, a successful DQFD process requires the
following:
o Qualified participants
o Trained organizer, facilitator and support personnel
o Properly equipped conference rooms (equipment, supplies,
etc.)
o Well-developed agenda and schedule.
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Understanding DQFD 1-3
Chapter__2_______________________________________________________
Defining Roles and Responsibilities
2.1 Roles
Depending on your organization and the project, the partic-
ipants in the DQFD may vary. This chapter discuss, in gen-
eral terms, the roles of all DQFD participants in the DQFD
process. All participants can be divided in the following
groups:
1. Organizer
2. Facilitator (and support personnel)
3. Participants:
a. Business sponsors
b. End users
c. Developers
d. Technical advisors
2.2 DQFD Organizer
The DQFD organizer is an individual, responsible for
coordinating the DQFD session and capturing all business
and user requirements that lead to the comprehensive Business
Requirements Document.
The organizer has the authority to organize the DQFD
session and request the participation of employees from any
organizations within Digital, or even from outside customers.
Digital Internal Use Only
Defining Roles and Responsibilities 2-1
Recommendations:
1. The DQFD organizer must be trained and be knowledgeable in
the QFD and DQFD processes. The DQFD organizer organizes
and participates in the DQFD session, including the
selection of the qualified facilitator and participants.
2. The DQFD organizer must provide the conference rooms,
equipment, supplies and support (see Chapter 4), and,
finally, process the results into meaningful business
requirements for this product (see Chapter 6).
3. The DQFD organizer must have sufficient time to organize
the DQFD session, and to retrofit the QFD process (agenda,
schedule, and site preparation) to satisfy requirements of
a multisite QFD session (see Chapter 4).
2.3 Facilitator and Support Personnel
The DQFD organizer selects a trained QFD facilitator to
conduct the DQFD. The facilitator must know the requirements
for conducting DQFD. However, the facilitator need not be
familiar with the product being discussed.
Recommendations:
1. The facilitator and the DQFD organizer meet before the DQFD
first session to prepare the schedules and agendas followed
during the DQFD (see Chapter 4).
2. In a multisite environment, the facilitator must be present
at one primary site. This primary facilitator administers
the DQFD process.
3. All participating sites should have administrative
assistants who should synchronize the on-site DQFD process
(materials, data, and charts) with the primary site
process. Those assistants should also have some training
in DQFD (possibly having taken the QFD training course) and
be ready to help the participants.
2.4 Participants
The DQFD organizer selects the participants who represent
all facets of the project: business sponsor, end users or
customers, and project/engineering teams. The participants
must be prepared to actively participate in the DQFD session.
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2-2 Defining Roles and Responsibilities
Recommendations:
1. Participants should have access to any relevant background
information that helps them to prepare for the DQFD pro-
cess. The participants' prerequisite work and accountabil-
ity during and after the process are detailed in Appendix
A, "Preparing for Effective QFD".
2. Participants should be aware of facilitator's (and support
personnel) activities throughout the DQFD process.
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Defining Roles and Responsibilities 2-3
3. At the beginning of the session, participants should
learn the roles and responsibilties of the facilitator
and support personnel.
4. The best way to prepare for QFD is to take a one-day QFD
training course.
2.5 Teams
Participants at each site are organized into a team that
works together in discussing the features of the project
/product and developing the QFD data. Key to the success of a
DQFD is the balance in number and talent of participants on
DQFD teams, created at each participating site.
Recommendations:
1. DQFD teams should have an equal number of participants on
each team, as well as a proper mix of team members, such as
customers vs developers/engineers.
For example, a team with only 2 or 3 participants can not
provide as much input into process as other teams of 8 to
10 people. Therefore, combining the small team with the
larger team at another site (with lowest travel expenses)
is the most efficient way to organize the DQFD.
2. The DQFD organizer should evaluate the participant's
expertise and try to assign knowledgeable and experienced
people to all sites.
3. The DQFD organizer should evaluate travel expenses versus
site and support expenses to provide the best team mix
possible.
2.6 Technical Advisory Resources
At least one technical advisor, knowledgeable about the
product or technical area, should be at one of the DQFD sites
to provide technical expertise on the subject, its technical
parameters and utilization.
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2-4 Defining Roles and Responsibilities
Chapter__3_______________________________________________________
Determining Schedules and Agendas
Before starting the session, the DQFD organizer and facilita-
tor must develop the DQFD schedule and agenda. This chapter
gives some general recommendations on this matter.
The time zones of participating sites are the major consid-
erations when developing the schedules and agendas for the
DQFD. The DQFD process usually takes two or three sessions
(working days). Therefore, the DQFD organizer and facilita-
tor, while developing the DQFD workflow (see an example in
Appendix B) and schedule, must review the QFD process per
site requirements/time zones and determine the activities
that best suit the time-zone differences at participating
sites.
Recommendations:
1. Develop and implement the best procedure for conducting the
DQFD considering the time-zone differences.
2. Run interactive sessions during morning or afternoon hours
to accommodate time-zone differences.
3. Develop the DQFD agenda and schedule in which the
interactive session runs for only a half-day (or just
several hours) for each site. Each team should spend the
rest of the day brainstorming the subject, compiling the
data, developing charts, transmitting processed data to
other sites, and preparing for the next day's session.
4. Use the planning process to synchronize the documents,
agendas, and schedules before starting the DQFD session(s).
Digital Internal Use Only
Determining Schedules and Agendas 3-1
Chapter__4_______________________________________________________
Ensuring Site Requirements
The facilitator (and support personnel) ensures that
each participating site is equipped with the materials
and equipment as required for conducting DQFD (including
materials needed for a regular QFD). This chapter describes
DQFD site requirements.
Due to the distributed, multisite environment of DQFD, each
participating site may require one or all of the following:
o DQFD schedules and agendas distributed in advance
o Access to FAX equipment
o Speakerphones and Digital Integrated Bridging Services
(DIBS) lines (secured)
o Access to VAX system accounts (terminal or workstation)
o Videoconference equipment (and scanner), where possible
Recommendations:
1. Based on the agenda/schedule, select the most cost-
efficient and convenient sites and conference rooms.
2. Based on the agenda/schedule, select the most efficient and
productive conferencing equipment.
Determine whether you have to use either teleconferencing
or videoconferencing equipment as the most convenient way
to conduct the DQFD.
You can run the DQFD session using telephone conferencing
equipment or elect the Digital Videoconference Service
(DVS). Many Digital facilities have the DVS equipment now
or are in the process of setting up DVS centers.
Digital Internal Use Only
Ensuring Site Requirements 4-1
In any case, ensure that your schedule and agenda satisfies
the requirements of the multisite, multitime-zone DQFD
session.
3. If you decide to use the DVS to conduct the DQFD, contact
your local site administrator or DVS Administrator for
information on reserving DVS rooms and equipment at various
sites.
4. If your DVS equipment has a document scanner, consider
using it to enter and store DQFD data in your VAX system
account. The scanner also enables the participants at all
sites to view QFD documents, notes, and slides, as they
become available.
5. Provide reliable and effective voice and video transmission
between participating sites (such as phones, DIBS lines,
video equipment).
6. Provide reliable and effective data/document transmission
and processing between participating sites (such as system
account for E-mail and spreadsheet, FAX machines, and
scanner).
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4-2 Ensuring Site Requirements
Chapter__5_______________________________________________________
Conducting a DQFD Session
Because a DQFD session is intense and laborious, the
facilitator must establish the ground rules that allow all
teams to interact and perform regular QFD steps effectively.
This chapter lists additional steps a facilitator encounters
when conducting a DQFD session, including the etiquettte
rules.
5.1 Recommendations to the Facilitator
These expert opinions may vary in different situations:
1. If you conduct the DQFD through telephone conferencing, the
primary facilitator should have trained assistants at each
participating site to aide the participants in the DQFD
process.
2. If you conduct the DQFD through videoconferencing (DVS),
the primary facilitator can administer the process alone.
3. The primary DQFD facilitator should do the following:
a. Before starting, ensure that DQFD documents at partic-
ipating sites are identical, sufficient, and synchro-
nized.
b. Allocate time at the start of the DQFD session for a
brief overview of the QFD and DQFD process.
c. Ensure participants' upfront understanding of the entire
DQFD process.
d. Conduct half-day interactive sessions for information
exchange, during which the QFD database is created.
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Conducting a DQFD Session 5-1
e. Record all data and transmit them to other sites at the
predetermined time.
f. Define and record the terms used throughout the QFD
process. Meanings and description of terms are very
important because each participant may introduce various
term with the same or different meanings.
Ask the participants to write up, display, and initial
each term that they introduce.
g. Gain as much detail as possible; this reduces the work
after the DQFD is complete and used as the input to the
Business Requirements Document.
h. Use a FAX machine to send a copy of the Affinity chart
to all sites, once it is built at the primary site.
i. Send the data and results using E-mail to the other
sites for the next day's proceedings.
5.2 Conference Etiquette
The DQFD process requires that all participants be courteous
to each other to allow fast and effective interactive
dialogue. The following are some of typical etiquette
recommendations.
Recommendations:
1. Identify yourself when talking.
2. Do not interrupt others and do not speak when others are
speaking.
3. Keep off-line conversations to a minimum to enable all
people to be heard, and to share information between the
sites.
Note
Refer to the Digital Telecommunications Worldwide
Project Management Handbook, Appendix B, for more
rules of teleconference etiquette.
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5-2 Conducting a DQFD Session
Chapter__6_______________________________________________________
Documenting the DQFD Results
The resulting data (developed with the help of the DQFD team
at each participating site) becomes the database that the
facilitator uses to calculate rank weights and rank orderings
for the features of the product. The facilitator may use an
electronic calculator or spreadsheet software (like DECcalc)
on the VAX system account, set for the DQFD, to perform these
calculations.
Finally, the DQFD organizer (or other product/business
management staff) converts the DQFD results into a Business
Requirement Document.
Recommendations:
1. In building and maintaining the House of Quality, use the
electronic spreadsheet (like DECcalc), and enter data into
the spreadsheet as soon as the teams complete their tasks.
2. Store the QFD House of Quality on your VAX system account
as an archive of the product-planning process. This way,
each factor and decision may be revisited and questioned.
The entire House of Quality can be reused when it is time
to plan the next version of the product.
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Documenting the DQFD Results 6-1
Appendix__A______________________________________________________
PREPARING FOR EFFECTIVE QFD
Purpose:
This appendix describes the prerequisite work that should
be accomplished prior to attending a QFD session. In
addition, it describes the participants responsibility
during and after the QFD session.
The QFD is a tool to gather and organize information which
will be used to produce prioritized business requirements.
Preparation:
The QFD process functions effectively to clarify business
requirements only when participants are sufficiently
prepared to represent their organizations business needs.
The participant is required to bring a solid understanding
of the business and technical issues confronting the
project, and have a conceptual understanding of the QFD
process.
Participation:
Participation demands articulating business requirements
clearly. Participants bring to the QFD valid requirements
representing their organization, including those collected
from discussions with colleagues, constituents, and
informed individuals.
Organizations:
Participating organizations must send the people that live
with and, therefore, understand the problem, and can define
it. The organizations must authorize their participant(s)
to represent their organization's "Voice of the Customer".
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PREPARING FOR EFFECTIVE QFD A-1
Participants:
Participants are obligated to attend all of the QFD
sessions to assure continuity and effectiveness of the
process. Observers may attend parts of the QFD session, but
are not considered participants.
Participants attend with equal status and must recognize
that others attending have valuable input. They must be
willing to respect each others' point of view. They must
be prepared to trust the facilitator's judgment and support
their efforts.
Commitment:
QFD participants attend as representatives and voices of
their organizations. As such, they make the commitment to:
1. Ensure that the requirements of their geography have
been represented in the QFD process.
2. Advise their geography's subcommittee member on the
output of the QFD in order to influence acceptance of
prioritized business requirements.
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A-2 PREPARING FOR EFFECTIVE QFD
Appendix__B______________________________________________________
SAMPLE DQFD WORKFLOW
Diagram 1 shows the workflow of the actual DQFD process
used for developing the MTS Metrics. Two teams (located at
TAY and VBE sites) were connected by telephone conferencing
equipment.
Note
Hours, spent per day, may seem excessive; however,
these hours include individual work done by the
facilitator processing the data and preparing for
the next day's session.
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SAMPLE DQFD WORKFLOW B-1
Diagram 1. DQFD Process for the MTS Metrics Project
+=============================================================+
TASKS PARTICIPANTS WHEN TIME
+=============================================================+
+----------------+ +-----------------+
| Brainstorm | | TAY and VBE | Day 1 2 hours
| customer |<-| together |
| benefits | +-----------------+
+----------------+
|
v
+----------------+
| Build benefits |
|affinity diag.: |
| 1) cluster | +-----------------+
| benefits |<-| VBE | Day 2 2 hours
| 2) label | +-----------------+
| clusters |
| 3) validate |
| clusters |
+----------------+
|
v
+-----------------+
| Record benefits | +----------------+
| affinity;FAX to |<-| VBE facilitator| Day 2 3 hours
| TAY facilitator | +----------------+
+-----------------+
|
v
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B-2 SAMPLE DQFD WORKFLOW
Cont.
+=============================================================+
TASKS PARTICIPANTS WHEN TIME
+=============================================================+
+-----------------+ +----------------+
| Review affinity | | TAY and VBE | Day 2 30 min
| diagram |<-+ together |
+-----------------+ +----------------+
|
v
+-----------------+ +----------------+
| Determine V, | | TAY and VBE | Day 2 2 hours
| customer value |<-| together |
+-----------------| +----------------+
|
v
+-----------------+
| Divide benefits |
| affinity | +----------------+
| between TAY and | | TAY and VBE | Day 2 10 min
| VBE groups for |<-+ together |
| quicker | +----------------+
| assessment |
+-----------------+
|
v
+-----------------+
| 1) Assess 0 = | +----------------+
| current |<-| TAY |
| 2) Assess G = | +----------------+ Day 2 2 hours
| goal |<-| VBE |
| 3) Compute W = | +----------------+
| raw weight |
+-----------------+
|
v
+-----------------+ +----------------+
| Brainstorm |<-| TAY | Day 2 2 hours
| features | +----------------+
+-----------------+
|
v
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SAMPLE DQFD WORKFLOW B-3
Cont.
+=============================================================+
TASKS PARTICIPANTS WHEN TIME
+=============================================================+
+-----------------+
| Record results; | +-----------------+
| FAX to other |<-| TAY facilitator |
| group's | +-----------------+ Day 2 2 hours
| facilitator; |<-| VBE facilitator |
| Pareto Chart | +-----------------+
| of benefits |
+-----------------+
|
v
+-----------------+
| Brainstorm |
| features; | +-----------------+
| Build affinity |<-| VBE | Day 3 3 hours
| diagram inclu- | +-----------------+
| ding TAY input |
+-----------------+
|
v
+-----------------+ +-----------------+
| Sanitize Pareto | | TAY and VBE |
| Chart and |<-| together | Day 3 1 hour
| Affinity Chart | +-----------------+
+-----------------+
|
v
+-----------------+
| Determine value | +-----------------+
| for each | | TAY and VBE |
| feature cluster |<-| together | Day 3 2.5 hours
| for each | +-----------------+
| benefit |
+-----------------+
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B-4 SAMPLE DQFD WORKFLOW
Appendix__C______________________________________________________
QFD Information Sources
Refer to the following sources for QFD information:
o Engineering Quality Technology Group, ZK02-1/N71, DTN 381-
1822.
o Louis Cohen. "Quality Function Deployment: An Application
Perspective from Digital Equipment Corporation". National
Productivity Review, Summer 1988.
o George Van Treeck and Ray Thackeray. "Quality Function
Deployment at Digital Equipment Corporation", Concurrent
Engineering.
o Facilitating and Training in Quality Function Deployment,
Gold QPC, Methuen, MA, 01844.
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QFD Information Sources C-1
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