Lean Compendium

Attention each day to those issues concerned with the normal operation of a business.

Ideally, a central collection and distribution point for information. Data sources are brought together on a central platform, prepared in a form suitable for data analysis, and made available to users. If an employee is looking for a particular piece of information, he or she defines criteria according to which agents browse the data pool. The result can be forwarded to a printer, e-mail or cell phone. Source: Report Knowledge Management: How German Companies Make Their Knowledge Profitable. Publisher: Prof. Dr. C.H. Antoni, Dr. Ing. T.Sommerlatte

A date is a point in time expressed by calendar date and/or time (definition according to DIN). Thereby dates as well as times can be given or calculated, they can designate target or actual. A date/time can be fixed or not. (Source: GPM)

By when should the project be completed See also: Project goal

See Steering Committee

A decision matrix establishes a relationship between all possible situations of a project and the proposed alternative courses of action. The header of the matrix contains the relevant situations, the header column lists the alternative solutions, naturally excluding unsuitable combinations. The cells within the matrix now offer weighed consequences, which for each individual situation form the starting point of an evaluation and hierarchical arrangement of their alternative actions. This approach to decision making is appropriate when the various scenarios are manageable and the alternatives are equally valid. (Source: Gabler Management)

A decision-making team consists of members of the company's management and the relevant division managers. Their task is to formulate the problem, set deadlines and discuss alternatives for solving the problem. It can decide on the alternative solution to be implemented.

In a decision tree, the possible or already occurred initial situation of a project forms the starting point of the decision-making process. Various alternative courses of action can be imagined for this situation, which entail different consequences. From this, subsequent situations can be derived, which represent new starting points for further alternative actions. In order to prevent the decision tree from growing to infinity, a time horizon or a number of stages is determined as a termination criterion, since the probability of occurrence of the situations under consideration decreases as these two components increase. A decision tree should only be used for clear scenarios and interdependent alternatives/situations. (Source: Gabler Management)

The principle of delegation is understood to mean the transfer of autonomy for action and decision-making in a specific area. True delegation is only possible when responsibility is transferred and autonomy exists, otherwise it is only an instruction. Benefits arise from: Employee developmentUsing employee skillsIncreasing productivity through employee satisfactionIncreasing motivation,Relieving the manager's workload.

This forecasting method is based on the assumption that a complex problem can be better analyzed and solved by several experts than by a single one. The Delphi technique involves confronting ten to twenty experts with a problem, independently of each other, using standardized questionnaires, and obtaining their opinions. This questioning takes place over several rounds (usually three to four), which is why this procedure is very time-consuming. Each expert gives his or her assessment separately and anonymously until a modified, sufficiently homogeneous group opinion (Delphi judgment) emerges. In contrast to creativity-oriented brainstorming, the Delphi method focuses on the reduction of an individual opinion to a group assessment. (Source: Mehrmann/Wirtz, Gabler Management, GPM)