Quality Assurance & Improvement Flashcards

In the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, what happens during the 'Check' phase of a new route-timing improvement?

Answer: Results of the pilot are measured against the expected targets

The Check phase compares actual pilot results to the planned objectives before deciding whether to standardize.

A supervisor wants to identify which few causes account for most late-bus complaints. Which tool is best suited?

Answer: Pareto chart

A Pareto chart ranks causes by frequency, highlighting the vital few that produce most of the problem (80/20 rule).

Which metric is most commonly used to compare school bus accident rates across fleets of different sizes?

Answer: Accidents per million miles driven

Normalizing by miles driven (e.g., per million miles) allows fair comparison between fleets with different exposure.

A district's on-time performance KPI is defined as buses arriving within a set window. Why is it important to define the window precisely?

Answer: It ensures the metric is measured consistently and compared fairly over time

A clear operational definition makes a KPI reliable, repeatable, and comparable across periods and routes.

Using the '5 Whys' technique after a student was left on a bus, the supervisor should continue asking 'why' until:

Answer: A root cause in the process or system is identified

The 5 Whys aims to reach the underlying systemic root cause, not simply assign individual blame.

Which approach best reflects continuous improvement in a pupil transportation department?

Answer: Routinely reviewing data and making incremental, measured process changes

Continuous improvement relies on ongoing data review and small, iterative process enhancements.

A fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram for repeated bus breakdowns would typically group potential causes into categories such as:

Answer: People, methods, machines, materials, environment, measurement

Fishbone diagrams classically organize causes under categories like the 6 Ms (people/manpower, methods, machines, materials, measurement, environment).