Study guide
5.7 The Project Charter and the Problem Statement
ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt CSSBB
Track your progress as you read
Finished sections get a check mark.
1 Chapter 1: Introduction & CSSBB Exam Strategy
1.1 CSSBB Exam Format, Scoring, and Testing Windows 1.2 Eligibility, Project Affidavits, Application, and Recertification 1.3 Open-Book Strategy, Reference Materials, and a 16-Week Study Plan
2 Chapter 2: Organization-Wide Planning and Deployment
2.1 Fundamentals of Six Sigma and Lean Methodologies 2.2 Selecting the Right Methodology: DMAIC, DFSS, and Lean 2.3 Business Systems, Processes, and Stakeholder Relationships 2.4 Strategic Planning and Deployment of Six Sigma Initiatives 2.5 Six Sigma Roles and Responsibilities 2.6 Organizational Barriers and Common Causes of Six Sigma Failure 2.7 Change Management: Stakeholder Analysis, Readiness, and Communication
3 Chapter 3: Organizational Process Management and Measures
3.1 Impact of Six Sigma Projects on Customers, Suppliers, and Stakeholders 3.2 Benchmarking Types and Performance Goal Setting 3.3 Performance Measures: Balanced Scorecard, KPIs, KBIs, OKRs, and Line of Sight 3.4 Leading and Lagging Indicators and Performance Dashboards 3.5 Financial Measures: Revenue Growth, Margin, NPV, ROI, and Cost-Benefit Analysis 3.6 Cost of Poor Quality and Hard versus Soft Savings
4 Chapter 4: Team Management
4.1 Team Types and Constraints 4.2 Team Roles, Responsibilities, and Member Selection 4.3 Team Success Factors and Ground Rules 4.4 Motivational Techniques and Overcoming Demotivators 4.5 Stages of Team Development and Conflict Resolution 4.6 Team Communication Plans 4.7 Team Leadership Models: Direct, Coach, Support, and Delegate 4.8 Group Behaviors, Conflict Resolution, and Meeting Management 4.9 Facilitation Techniques and Team Decision-Making Methods 4.10 Team Training: Needs Assessment, Delivery, and Evaluation
5 Chapter 5: Define Phase
5.1 Customer Identification and Segmentation 5.2 Customer Data Collection: Methods, Validity, and Reliability 5.3 Customer Requirements: CTX, CTQ Trees, and Operational Definitions 5.4 The Kano Model and Quality Function Deployment 5.5 SIPOC and Process Mapping 5.6 Business Case Justification 5.7 The Project Charter and the Problem Statement 5.8 Project Scope and Boundaries 5.9 SMART Goals and Project Performance Measurements 5.10 Project Charter Reviews and Toll-Gate Governance 5.11 Project Management Tools: Gantt Charts, Toll-Gate Reviews, WBS, and RACI 5.12 Analytical Tools Used Throughout the DMAIC Cycle
6 Chapter 6: Measure Phase
6.1 Process Flow Metrics and the Hidden Factory 6.2 Process Analysis Tools and Value Stream Mapping 6.3 Types of Data and Measurement Scales 6.4 Sampling Concepts, Methods, and Sample Size for Estimation 6.5 Data Collection Plans and Common Pitfalls 6.6 Gage R&R for Variable Measurement Systems 6.7 Attribute Agreement Analysis and Audit MSA 6.8 Measurement Systems Across the Organization, and Metrology 6.9 Population Parameters, Sample Statistics, and Valid Statistical Conclusions 6.10 Descriptive Statistics: Central Tendency, Dispersion, and Shape 6.11 Graphical Methods for Exploratory Data Analysis 6.12 Probability Concepts, Common Distributions, and the Central Limit Theorem 6.13 Additional Distributions: Hypergeometric, Exponential, Lognormal, Weibull, and Bivariate 6.14 Process Capability and Performance Indices 6.15 Capability Studies, Attributes Capability, Yield Metrics, and Long-Term Capability
7 Chapter 7: Analyze Phase
7.1 The Correlation Coefficient, Its Confidence Interval, and Causation 7.2 Linear Regression and Residual Analysis 7.3 Multivariate Tools: Factor Analysis, Discriminant Analysis, and MANOVA 7.4 Hypothesis Testing Terminology, Errors, and Single-Sample Tests 7.5 Statistical Versus Practical Significance 7.6 Sample Size for Hypothesis Tests 7.7 Point Estimates, Confidence, Prediction, and Tolerance Intervals 7.8 Tests for Means, Variances, and Proportions 7.9 Analysis of Variance 7.10 Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit and Tests of Independence 7.11 Types of Risk and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis 7.12 Gap Analysis and Root Cause Analysis 7.13 Waste Analysis: The Seven Classic Wastes and Resource Under-Utilization
8 Chapter 8: Improve Phase
8.1 Design of Experiments: Objectives, Terminology, and Effects 8.2 DOE Design Principles: Randomization, Blocking, Replication, and Resolution 8.3 Planning and Evaluating Designed Experiments 8.4 One-Factor Experiments: Completely Randomized, Randomized Block, and Latin Square Designs 8.5 Full Factorial Experiments and Design Selection 8.6 Two-Level Fractional Factorial Experiments and Confounding 8.7 Response Surface Methodology and Optimization 8.8 Waste Elimination: Pull Systems, Kanban, 5S, and Poka-Yoke 8.9 Cycle-Time Reduction: Continuous Flow, SMED, and Heijunka 8.10 Kaizen, Kaizen Blitz, Theory of Constraints, and OEE 8.11 Implementation Planning, Piloting, and Solution Selection
9 Chapter 9: Control Phase
9.1 SPC Objectives, Variable Selection, and Rational Subgrouping 9.2 Control Charts for Variables Data 9.3 Control Charts for Attributes Data 9.4 Short-Run SPC and Moving Average Charts 9.5 Control Chart Analysis: Common Cause, Special Cause, and Run Rules 9.6 Total Productive Maintenance and Visual Controls 9.7 Measurement System Reanalysis 9.8 Control Plan Development and Process Owner Handoff 9.9 Lessons Learned, Documentation, and Training for Sustainment 9.10 Ongoing Evaluation of the Improved Process
10 Chapter 10: Design for Six Sigma (DFSS)
10.1 DFSS Frameworks: DMADV, DMADOV, and Design Transfer 10.2 Design for X (DFX) 10.3 Robust Design, Parameter Design, and Verification 10.4 Tolerance Design and Statistical Tolerancing
5.7 The Project Charter and the Problem Statement
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
A project charter is the sponsor-to-team agreement authorizing the project, and it carries six blocks: business case, problem statement, scope, goal statement, performance measures, and team, resources, and milestones.
A compliant problem statement answers six questions -- what, where, when, magnitude, baseline, and trend -- and states no cause and no solution, because naming an x pre-empts the Analyze phase.
Baseline and trend are the two elements most often omitted: baseline is what the goal and the benefit are calculated against, and a deteriorating trend signals a special cause needing containment rather than a five-month DMAIC project.
The ASQ Body of Knowledge spells SMART as specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound, and it places the target and date in the goal statement, never in the problem statement.
Charters name primary, secondary, and consequential metrics; the consequential 'do no harm' measure is what stops a team improving yield by slowing the line.
Last updated: August 2026
The project charter is the document that authorizes a Six Sigma project. It is the agreement between the sponsor, who commits money and people, and the Black Belt, who commits to a defined result by a defined date. Nothing in DMAIC is binding until it is chartered, and everything the team is later measured against is written here.
The Body of Knowledge places the problem statement at cognitive level Evaluate (IV.B.2) -- the highest level in the Define section. The exam will not simply ask what a problem statement contains; it will show you one and ask you to judge it against baseline performance and improvement goals. Practise reading them critically.
The charter's six blocks
- Block The question it answers Where this guide develops it
- Business case Why is this worth a Black Belt's capacity, and what happens if we do nothing? Section 5.6
- Problem statement What is wrong, where, since when, how big, and against what baseline? This section
- Project scope Which process, sites, products, and period are in and out? Section 5.8
- Goal statement What target, by what date, measured how? Section 5.9
- Performance measures Which primary, secondary, and consequential metrics track the result? This section
Team, resources, milestones Who does the work, for how much of their time, against which toll gates? Sections 5.10 and 5.11
A charter that is missing any one of the six is not a short charter; it is an unapproved project. The most commonly omitted block is performance measures, and the most commonly weak one is the problem statement.
The six elements of a problem statement
A compliant problem statement answers six questions. Four of them describe the defect; two of them anchor it to data.
- Element Question Example content
- What Which output ( Y Y Y ) is failing, in what unit? First-pass yield on moulded housings
- Where Which process step, line, site, or segment? Plant 2, moulding lines 3 and 4
- When Over which period was this observed? 26 weeks ending 30 June 2026
- Magnitude How large is the gap, in the metric's own unit? 91.4% against a 97.0% requirement
Baseline What is the measured current performance, on what sample? 91.4%, n = 1.18 n = 1.18 n = 1.18 million parts
Trend Is it stable, deteriorating, or improving? Stable, no trend across the 26 weeks
Baseline and trend are the two that candidates leave out, and they are the two the exam tests hardest. Baseline is what the goal is subtracted from and what the benefit is calculated against; without it there is no way to prove improvement at closure. Trend changes the project entirely: a stable 91.4% is a capability problem calling for DMAIC, while a yield that fell from 97% to 91% in six weeks is a special cause calling for containment and a much faster investigation, not a five-month project.
The translation chain
Six Sigma solves a business problem by converting it into a statistical one and converting the answer back. The problem statement is the first link.
Practical problem -- "Housings are being scrapped and we are missing shipments."
Statistical problem -- "Mean wall thickness on lines 3 and 4 differs from nominal, and σ \sigma σ exceeds the level required for C p k ≥ 1.33 C_{pk} \ge 1.33 C p k ≥ 1.33 ."
Statistical solution -- "Barrel temperature and hold pressure explain 78% of the thickness variation; the optimum is 214 °C and 640 bar."
Practical solution -- "Re-set and control the two parameters, verify capability, hand over."
This is the operational meaning of Y = f ( x ) Y = f(x) Y = f ( x ) : the problem statement names the Y Y Y and refuses to speculate about the x x x 's. A statement that names an x x x has skipped steps 2 and 3 and has decided the answer before collecting the data.
- Building one, in three drafts
- Draft 1 (unusable). "Quality on the moulding lines is poor and customers are complaining."
No metric, no location, no period, no size. Nothing here can be measured or closed.
Draft 2 (better, still non-compliant). "First-pass yield on moulding lines 3 and 4 is too low because the second-shift operators are not following the setup procedure."
It now has a Y Y Y and a location, but it asserts a cause. If the setup procedure turns out to be irrelevant, the team has spent its credibility defending a sentence in the charter.
Draft 3 (compliant). "Over the 26 weeks ending 30 June 2026, first-pass yield on Plant 2 moulding lines 3 and 4 averaged 91.4% ( n = 1.18 n = 1.18 n = 1.18 million parts) against the operating plan requirement of 97.0%. The gap is stable with no trend, and the associated scrap and rework cost is $162,120 annualized."
Draft 3 states what, where, when, magnitude, baseline, trend, and financial consequence, and it names no cause. Note also what it does not contain: a target and a date. Those belong to the goal statement (section 5.9), and merging them is a common charter defect -- the problem statement describes the present, the goal statement describes the commitment.
Evaluating a problem statement
Because this topic is tested at the Evaluate level, work from a defect list rather than a template.
Defect How it shows up Consequence
Solution or cause embedded "because…", "due to…", "we need a new gauge" The Analyze phase is pre-empted; the real cause is never found
- No baseline An adjective instead of a number Improvement cannot be demonstrated at closure
- No period "recently", "for some time" The data set is undefined; anyone can dispute the sample
- Unmeasurable Y Y Y "poor communication", "low morale" No operational definition, no data, no project
- Scope of the whole business "order-to-cash performance" A programme, not a project; it will never close
- Goal folded into the problem "reduce defects to 1%" The baseline is lost and the target is unjustified
Trend ignored Stable and deteriorating treated alike DMAIC applied to a special cause that needed containment today
Cost stated with no basis "costs us a fortune" Finance disputes the benefit at closure
A statement that survives all eight is defensible in a toll-gate review.
Performance measures in the charter
The charter names three kinds of metric, and the third is the one candidates forget.
- Metric type Purpose Example on this project
- Primary The Y Y Y the goal is written against; the single measure of success First-pass yield, %
- Secondary Supporting measures that explain movement in the primary Scrap cost per thousand parts, rework hours
Consequential The "do no harm" measures that must not degrade while the primary improves Cycle time, overtime hours, customer defect escapes
Without a consequential metric, a team can improve yield by slowing the line and inspecting more, then report a success that the plant manager experiences as a loss. Every charter should name at least one consequential measure with a limit written next to it.
Resource commitment and sign-off
The final charter block converts named people into committed hours, which is what makes the plan real.
- Role Charter commitment
- Sponsor / champion Approves the charter, funds it, removes organizational barriers, chairs toll gates
- Process owner Accepts the improved process at handover; must be named at charter time, not at Control
- Black Belt Leads DMAIC execution, typically at 80-100% of available time
- Green Belts / team members Named individuals with a stated percentage of time, agreed with their line managers
- Subject matter experts Named, with the phases in which they are needed
- Finance representative Validates the baseline cost and, later, the realized benefit
Two disciplines make sign-off meaningful. Time commitments are agreed with each member's line manager before the charter is signed, not announced afterwards -- an uncommitted team is the most common cause of a project that stalls in Measure. And the charter is a living document : baselines move when Measure-phase data arrives, scope narrows when stratification localizes the problem, and benefits change as solutions become concrete. Each revision is re-approved by the sponsor at a toll gate rather than edited quietly, which is the governance mechanism developed in section 5.10. Cost of poor quality categories and the hard-versus-soft savings distinction used in the business case block are covered in section 3.6.