Baselines, Metrics and Measures...Oh My! (Part 2 of 3)

 

In process improvement, your goal is to make things better by establishing a baseline of the current state of the content of processes, policies and procedures and making regular measurements with the goal of getting closer to total compliance.

Total compliance means 100 percent adherence by the targeted audience to the concepts presented in the document. While 100 percent compliance is achievable, it'll take a dedicated organization to accomplish this goal. When baselines are established for documentation, the initial baseline could be anywhere from zero to 100 percent compliance--though if you're not at least 50 percent compliant on the first publication, you should examine your rollout, implementation and communications to determine why so few people are following the published guidelines.

Achieving close to 100 percent compliance is achievable in certain circumstances or in a controlled environment. For example, Six Sigma has become a hot concept in the 21st century. While companies try to reach 100 percent compliance, their goal is to reach six sigma (99.99966 percent), or three errors per million instances. Six Sigma is a statistical methodology that enables companies to increase profits dramatically by strengthening operations, improving quality and eliminating defects or mistakes in everything a company does.

Recall that a baseline establishes a foundation, or …

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