Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Define Phase: Project Charter 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Black Belt presents a project charter where the goal statement reads: 'Improve customer satisfaction.' What is the primary deficiency?
- It does not identify who the customers are
- It lacks a measurable target and time frame (Correct answer)
- It should reference a specific process step
- It is written from the organization's perspective rather than the customer's
Correct answer: It lacks a measurable target and time frame
A goal statement must specify what metric will improve, by how much, and by when — vague language cannot be tracked or validated.
Question 2: Which of the following would most likely appear in the 'out of scope' section of a Lean Six Sigma project charter?
- The primary process steps the team will analyze
- A related process in a different department the team will not address (Correct answer)
- The key metrics that will be tracked during the project
- The financial benefits expected upon project completion
Correct answer: A related process in a different department the team will not address
Out-of-scope items explicitly list related processes or issues the team will not work on, preventing scope creep.
Question 3: In Lean Six Sigma, what is 'scope creep' in the context of a project charter?
- Gradual reduction in project savings as work progresses
- Uncontrolled expansion of project boundaries beyond the original charter (Correct answer)
- Slow drift in process performance after project closure
- Incremental addition of team members over the project lifecycle
Correct answer: Uncontrolled expansion of project boundaries beyond the original charter
Scope creep occurs when the project boundaries expand beyond what was agreed in the charter, often leading to delays and resource strain.
Question 4: Which financial metric is most commonly used in a Lean Six Sigma project charter's business case to justify project investment?
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) (Correct answer)
- Takt time reduction percentage
- Process sigma level improvement
Correct answer: Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
COPQ quantifies the financial cost of defects, errors, and inefficiencies, making it the primary financial justification metric in Lean Six Sigma charters.
Question 5: A project charter is reviewed at a tollgate review. What is the primary question assessed at this point?
- Has the team collected sufficient sample size data?
- Is the project well-defined, scoped, and worth pursuing? (Correct answer)
- Have root causes been statistically confirmed?
- Are the control plans documented and implemented?
Correct answer: Is the project well-defined, scoped, and worth pursuing?
The Define tollgate review evaluates whether the project is clearly defined, properly scoped, and has sufficient business justification to proceed.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes the relationship between the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and the project charter?
- VOC data is collected during Control phase and added to the charter retroactively
- VOC informs the problem statement and goal statement by grounding them in customer needs (Correct answer)
- VOC replaces the business case section when customer satisfaction is the primary metric
- VOC is only relevant for transactional service projects, not manufacturing projects
Correct answer: VOC informs the problem statement and goal statement by grounding them in customer needs
VOC data collected before or during charter development shapes how the problem and goal are framed to ensure alignment with customer requirements.
Question 7: If two departments both claim ownership of the process identified in a project charter, the Black Belt should:
- Proceed without resolving the conflict and let the sponsor decide later
- Document both departments as joint process owners in the charter and escalate to the sponsor (Correct answer)
- Select the department with the higher headcount as the process owner
- Exclude the disputed process from scope until ownership is resolved
Correct answer: Document both departments as joint process owners in the charter and escalate to the sponsor
Documenting the conflict and escalating to the sponsor ensures organizational clarity and commitment before the project consumes resources.
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Define Phase: Project Charter 4
A Black Belt presents a project charter where the goal statement reads: 'Improve customer satisfaction.' What is the primary deficiency?