Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Exam Project Identification and Selection 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which financial metric measures the ratio of net benefit to cost, expressed as a percentage, and is commonly used to compare Six Sigma project candidates?
- Net Present Value (NPV)
- Return on Investment (ROI) (Correct answer)
- Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
- Payback Period
Correct answer: Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI expresses net benefit divided by cost as a percentage, making it a straightforward metric for comparing Six Sigma project candidates.
Question 2: A Black Belt is reviewing the company's balanced scorecard to find project opportunities. Which perspective of the balanced scorecard most directly links to customer satisfaction projects?
- Financial perspective
- Internal process perspective
- Customer perspective (Correct answer)
- Learning and growth perspective
Correct answer: Customer perspective
The customer perspective of the balanced scorecard directly measures customer satisfaction, retention, and acquisition, making it the primary source for customer-focused project opportunities.
Question 3: When using a Pareto analysis to select Six Sigma projects, the underlying principle is that:
- All defects are equally important and should be addressed simultaneously
- Approximately 80% of problems stem from 20% of causes (Correct answer)
- Projects should be selected based solely on financial impact
- Every process has an equal chance of improvement
Correct answer: Approximately 80% of problems stem from 20% of causes
Pareto analysis applies the 80/20 rule, helping teams focus on the vital few causes that account for the majority of problems.
Question 4: An organization wants to ensure its Six Sigma projects are aligned with strategic goals. Which tool best maps processes to strategic objectives to reveal improvement opportunities?
- SIPOC diagram
- Strategy deployment matrix (hoshin kanri) (Correct answer)
- Control chart
- Fishbone diagram
Correct answer: Strategy deployment matrix (hoshin kanri)
Hoshin kanri (strategy deployment matrix) cascades strategic goals down to operational projects, ensuring alignment between Six Sigma work and organizational priorities.
Question 5: During project selection, a team calculates that a proposed project will break even in 8 months. This metric is known as:
- Net Present Value
- Return on Investment
- Payback Period (Correct answer)
- Cost of Poor Quality
Correct answer: Payback Period
Payback period measures how long it takes for a project's cumulative savings or benefits to equal its total cost.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes an 'entitlement' in the context of Six Sigma project scoping?
- The minimum performance a process has ever achieved
- The best sustainable performance a process can achieve given its current design (Correct answer)
- The target set by the customer
- The average performance over the last 12 months
Correct answer: The best sustainable performance a process can achieve given its current design
Entitlement is the best sustainable performance a process can achieve without a fundamental redesign, representing the performance gap a Six Sigma project can close.
Question 7: A Six Sigma project selection committee rejects a project because it has high impact but also high complexity and resource requirements. Which weighted scoring criterion did the complexity factor most likely influence?
- Strategic alignment score
- Feasibility score (Correct answer)
- Financial impact score
- Customer impact score
Correct answer: Feasibility score
Feasibility scores in weighted project selection matrices account for complexity, resource availability, and implementation difficulty.
Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Exam Project Identification and Selection 2
Which financial metric measures the ratio of net benefit to cost, expressed as a percentage, and is commonly used to compare Six Sigma project candidates?