5.11 Project Management Tools: Gantt Charts, Toll-Gate Reviews, WBS, and RACI

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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

5.11 Project Management Tools: Gantt Charts, Toll-Gate Reviews, WBS, and RACI

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

The four project management tools named by ASQ are Gantt charts, toll-gate reviews, work breakdown structure, and the RACI model.

A work breakdown structure decomposes deliverables, not activities, and follows the 100% rule: children fully account for the parent.

A Gantt chart shows schedule and dependency; the critical path is the longest sequence of dependent tasks and determines the project duration.

RACI assigns exactly one Accountable person per deliverable; Responsible may be several, Consulted is two-way, Informed is one-way.

Total float is the amount a task can slip without delaying the project; tasks on the critical path have zero float.

Last updated: August 2026

Four tools, four questions

Tool Question Output
Work breakdown structure What must be produced? A hierarchy of deliverables
Gantt chart When , and in what order? A dated schedule with dependencies
RACI Who does what, and who decides? A responsibility assignment matrix
Toll-gate review Should we continue? A recorded sponsor decision
Work breakdown structure
A WBS decomposes the project into a hierarchy of deliverables -- nouns, things that get produced --
not activities. This distinction is the most-tested feature. "Validated measurement system" is a WBS

element; "run gage R&R" is an activity that produces it.

Two governing rules:

The 100% rule. The children of any node account for exactly 100% of the parent's scope: nothing
missing, nothing extra, no overlap. If the children do not sum to the parent, the decomposition is

wrong.

The work package level. Decompose until each lowest element can be estimated, assigned to one
owner, and tracked. A common heuristic is the 8/80 rule: a work package should take between 8 and 80

hours.

Example extract for a DMAIC project: 1.0 Measure phase
1.1 Operational definitions
1.1.1 CTQ measurement definitions
1.1.2 Defect classification rules
1.2 Validated measurement system
1.2.1 Variable gage R&R report
1.2.2 Attribute agreement analysis report
1.3 Baseline data set
1.3.1 Data collection plan
1.3.2 Collected and cleaned data
1.3.3 Baseline capability report
The WBS is the backbone of everything else: schedule estimates attach to work packages, RACI rows are

WBS elements, and progress is measured as work packages completed rather than as effort expended.

Gantt charts
A Gantt chart plots tasks as horizontal bars against a calendar, showing start, duration, finish,

dependencies, milestones, and often percent complete and resource assignment.

Dependency types

Type Meaning Example
Finish-to-start (FS) B cannot start until A finishes Cannot collect baseline data until MSA passes
Start-to-start (SS) B cannot start until A starts Data cleaning starts once collection starts
Finish-to-finish (FF) B cannot finish until A finishes Training cannot complete until SOPs are complete
Start-to-finish (SF) B cannot finish until A starts Rare; handover overlaps

Finish-to-start dominates DMAIC work.

Critical path and float
The critical path is the longest sequence of dependent tasks through the network; its length is the
shortest possible project duration. Total float (or slack) is how long a task can slip without
delaying project completion. Tasks on the critical path have zero float , so any delay there delays

the whole project.

Worked example. Four tasks: A (10 days) then C (15 days); B (8 days) then C. C is followed by D (5

days).

Path A-C-D: 10 + 15 + 5 = 30 10 + 15 + 5 = 30 10 + 15 + 5 = 30 days.

Path B-C-D: 8 + 15 + 5 = 28 8 + 15 + 5 = 28 8 + 15 + 5 = 28 days.

Critical path is A-C-D at 30 days. Task B has 30 − 28 = 2 30 - 28 = 2 30 − 28 = 2 days of total float.

The practical use is triage. If the project is late, adding resource to task B changes nothing;
compressing A or C is the only option. Two compression techniques: crashing (adding resource to
critical tasks, which raises cost) and fast tracking (running sequential tasks in parallel, which

raises risk).

In DMAIC projects the critical path very often runs through data collection -- you cannot compress
four weeks of production data into one week -- which is why data collection planning deserves front-

loaded attention.

RACI

A responsibility assignment matrix maps WBS deliverables against people.

Letter Meaning Rule
R Responsible Does the work One or more per deliverable
A Accountable Owns the outcome; approves completion Exactly one per deliverable
C Consulted Provides input before the decision; two-way Keep few; each C has an obligation to respond
I Informed Told afterwards; one-way Broadcast only

Deliverable Black Belt Process owner Quality engineer Sponsor Finance
Charter R C C A C
Gage R&R report A I R I -
Baseline capability report A/R C C I -
Solution selection R C C A C
Control plan C A/R C I -
Benefit validation C C - I A/R

Three diagnostics you should be able to run on a RACI:

Two A's on one row : nobody is accountable; the decision will stall.

No A on a row : the deliverable will not be completed.

Too many C's : every consultation is a delay; if someone only needs to know the outcome, they are

I, not C.

Note that on the control plan row, the process owner is Accountable, not the Black Belt. That

assignment is the whole point of the Control phase: accountability transfers.

Toll-gate reviews as a tracking tool

Toll gates belong in this list because they are the mechanism that converts progress into a decision.

The other three tools tell you where the project is; the toll gate decides what to do about it. The
governance detail is covered in the charter review section; for project management purposes the key
point is that a milestone on a Gantt chart is a date, whereas a toll gate is a decision with

criteria , and only the latter can stop a project that should be stopped.

Using them together

Build the WBS from the phase deliverables.

Estimate duration and dependency for each work package, and build the Gantt from it.

Identify the critical path ; protect it and front-load data collection.

Assign RACI at the deliverable level, one A per row.

Set toll gates at phase boundaries with written entry criteria.

Track completed deliverables against the Gantt, not hours spent, and revise at each gate.