ASQ MBB Certification Exam Syllabus

I. Enterprise-wide Planning (20 Questions)

1. Strategic deployment goals
- Describe how to develop strategic deployment goals. (Apply)

2. Project alignment with strategic plan
- Describe how to align projects to the organizational strategic plan. (Analyze)

3. Project alignment with business objectives
- Describe how to align projects with business objectives. (Analyze)

- Describe how to apply the following key infrastructure elements. (Apply)
1. Governance (quality councils or process leadership teams)
2. Assessment (organizational readiness and maturity models)
3. Resource planning (identify candidates and costs/benefits)
4. Resource development (train and coach)
5. Execution (deliver on project results)
6. Measure and improve the system (drive improvement into the systems, multiphase planning)

- Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the following methodologies, including their associated tools and techniques. (Apply)
1. Six Sigma (DMAIC)
2. Design for Six Sigma (DMADV)
3. Lean (PDCA, Kaizen)
4. Theory of constraints
5. Business systems and process management
6. Other problem-solving methods (8 disciplines, root cause analysis)

1. Project identification
- Facilitate working sessions to identify new project opportunities that can be prioritized. (Apply)

2. Project qualification
- Determine the elements of a well-defined project (e.g., business case, charter), the process for approving these projects, and tools used in project definition (process maps, value stream maps, QFD, FMEA, critical-to-x where x can be customer, design, cost, and quality). (Apply)

3. Stakeholder management
- Describe how to identify, engage, and strategically align stakeholders. (Analyze)

4. Intervention techniques
- Describe techniques for intervening across levels to prevent potential project failures. (Apply)

5. Creativity and innovation tools
- Use creativity and innovation tools to develop concept alternatives (divergent thinking). (Apply)

1. Pipeline creation
- Create, manage, and prioritize a pipeline of potential projects for consideration. (Create)

2. Pipeline life-cycle management
- Create a selection process that provides a portfolio of active improvement opportunities that are clearly aligned and prioritized to meet/exceed strategic goals. Monitor, re-evaluate, consolidate, and retire pipelines as needed. (Create)

3. Regulatory impact on pipeline
- Assess the impact of regulatory statutes on prioritization/ management of pipeline of potential projects. (Understand)

4. Pipeline risk management
- Use risk management and analysis tools to analyze organizational elements, to appraise portfolios and critical projects, and to identify potential problem areas. (Evaluate)

II. Organizational Competencies for Deployment (20 questions)

1. Systems thinking
- Apply systems thinking to anticipate the effect that components of a system can have on other subsystems and adjacent systems including emergent properties. Analyze the impact of actions taken in one area of the organization and how those actions can affect other areas or the customer, and use appropriate tools to prevent unintended consequences. (Analyze)

2. Organizational culture and maturity
- Describe the implications organizational culture and maturity levels can have on improvement program implementation, including potential barriers. (Analyze)

1. Executive leadership roles
- Describe the roles and responsibilities of executive leaders in the deployment of improvement programs in terms of providing resources, managing change, and communicating ideas. (Analyze)

2. Leadership for deployment
- Create action plans to support optimal functioning of Master Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts, champions, and other participants in the deployment effort. Design, coordinate, and participate in deployment activities, and ensure that project leaders and teams have the required knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes to support the organization’s improvement program. (Create)

1. Organizational dynamics
- Use knowledge of human and organizational dynamics to enhance project success and align cultural objectives with organizational objectives. (Apply)

2. Intervention styles
- Use appropriate intervention, communications, and influence styles, and adapt those styles to specific situations (i.e., situational leadership). (Apply)

3. Interdepartmental conflicts
- Address and resolve potential situations that could cause the program or a project to under-perform. (Apply)

1. Change management models
- Describe different change management models (Kotter’s 8 Steps, ADKAR, Competing Values Framework). (Apply)

2. Techniques to gain commitment
- Describe how to gain commitment from the organization’s leadership for the improvement effort. (Understand)

3. Techniques to overcome organizational barriers
- Describe various techniques to overcome barriers to successful organizational deployment. (Apply)

4. Necessary organizational structure for deployment
- Develop the inherent organizational structure needed for successful deployment. (Apply)

5. Communications with management
- Describe elements of effective communications with management regarding organizational benefits, failures, and lessons learned. (Apply)

6. Organizational culture change techniques
- Assess culture of the organization and its ability to problem-solve and improve. Describe techniques for changing an organizational culture, such as rewards and recognition, team competitiveness, communications of program successes, and appropriate cascading of goals throughout the organization. (Apply)

1. Voice of the customer and voice of the process - Assess the appropriate collection of Voice of the Customer and Voice of the Process data, both internal and external. (Evaluate)

2. Capturing and assessing feedback
- Develop a customer-focused strategy for capturing and assessing customer feedback on a regular basis. (Evaluate)

1. Financial measures
- Define and use financial measures, including revenue growth, market share, margin, cost of quality (COQ), net present value (NPV), return on investment (ROI), cost-benefit analysis, direct costs, indirect costs and opportunity cost, project cash flow, and breakeven time performance. (Analyze)

2. Business performance measures
- Describe various business performance measures, including Balanced Scorecard, key performance indicators (KPIs), and the financial impact of customer loyalty, and describe how they are used for project selection, deployment, and management. (Analyze)

III. Project Portfolio Management (15 questions)

1. Project management principles
- Oversee critical projects and evaluate them in terms of their scope, goals, time, cost, quality, human resources requirements, communications needs, and risks. (Evaluate)

2. Project management life-cycle elements
- Apply phases of project management life cycle (initiation, planning, execution, control, and closure). (Analyze)

1. Governance methods and tools
- Develop governance documents, tracking tools, and other methodologies that will support project success. (Create)

2. Cross-functional project assessment
- Appraise interrelated projects for scope overlap and refinement, and identify opportunities for leveraging concomitant projects. Identify and participate in the implementation of multidisciplinary redesign and improvement projects. (Evaluate)

3. Executive and midlevel management engagement
- Formulate the positioning of multiple projects in terms of providing strategic advice to top management and affected midlevel managers. (Create)

4. Prioritization
- Prioritize projects in terms of their criticality to the organization. (Evaluate)

5. Performance measurement
- Design, support, and review the development of an overall measurement methodology to record the progress and ongoing status of projects and their overall impact on the organization. (Evaluate)

6. Monitoring
- Apply appropriate monitoring and control methodologies to ensure that consistent methods are used in tracking tasks and milestones. (Analyze)

7. Status communication
- Develop and maintain communication techniques that will keep critical stakeholders and communities apprised of project status, results, and accountability. (Create)

8. Supply/Demand management
- Generate accurate project supply/demand projections, associated resource requirements analysis, and mitigate any issues. (Create)

9. Corrective action
- Facilitate corrective actions and responses to customers about the corrective action and its impact. (Analyze)

1. Budgets and forecasts
- Assess and explain budget implications, forecasting, measurement, monitoring, risk analysis, and prioritization for portfolio level projects. (Evaluate)

2. Costing concepts
- Define the concepts of hard and soft dollars and use cost of poor quality, activity-based costing, and other methods to assess and prioritize portfolios. (Apply)

IV. Training Design and Delivery (10 questions)

1. Training material sources
- Determine whether to outsource the training or develop in-house, including considerations such as cost, availability of internal subject matter experts, and timing. (Analyze)

2. Adult learning theory
- Develop or select training methods and resources that adhere to adult learning theories. (Analyze)

3. Integration
- Ensure that the training harmonizes and leverages other tools and approaches being used and that it is aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives and culture. (Evaluate)

4. Training delivery
- Monitor and measure training to ensure that it is delivered effectively and efficiently by qualified individuals. (Apply)

V. Coaching and Mentoring Responsibilities (10 questions)

1. Scoping and resourcing
- Collaborate with executives and champions on scoping projects and selecting individuals and assignments for various projects. (Evaluate)

2. Executive reviews
- Collaborate with executives and champions on reviewing projects, including timing, questions to ask, and setting expectations for project timing and completion. (Create)

3. Leadership and communication
- Coach executives and champions on the need for constancy of purpose and message, and the importance of using clear communication techniques and consistent messages. (Evaluate)

4. Feedback
- Use constructive techniques to provide feedback to champions and executives. (Evaluate)

1. Belt coaching and mentoring
- Develop a career progression ladder for belts. Assess their progress and provide constructive feedback to enable them to work effectively on team projects. Use coaching, mentoring, and intervention skills as needed, including canceling or reassigning projects if necessary. (Create)

2. Project reviews
- Create guidelines and expectations for project reviews, and perform them in a timely manner. Assist project leaders in selecting appropriate content for presentation to management. (Create)

3. Team facilitation and meeting management
- Practice and teach meeting control, analyze team performance at various stages of team development, and support appropriate interventions for overcoming team challenges, including floundering, reviewing, and diagnosing failing projects. (Create)

4. Non-belt coaching and mentoring
- Develop information that will help non-belt project participants to advance their understanding of improvement initiatives and develop the necessary skills and knowledge to become effective belts. (Evaluate)

VI. Advanced Data Management and Analytic Methods (25 questions)

1. Propagation of errors
- Use propagation of errors to evaluate measurement systems based on calculated values from multiple inputs. (Evaluate)

2. Attribute (discrete) measurement systems
- Use appropriate tools and methods (e.g., percent agreement, Kappa, Kendall, intra-class correlation coefficient) to analyze and interpret discrete measurement systems. (Evaluate)

3. Variables (continuous) measurement systems- Use appropriate tools and methods (e.g., X – R, X – s, individual and moving range) based on control samples to analyze and interpret continuous measurement systems. (Evaluate)

4. Destructive measurement systems
- Use appropriate tools and methods to assess a destructive measurement system. (Analyze)

5. Process capability for non-normal data
- Calculate capability using Weibull and other methods for non-normal data. (Apply)

6. Automated process control (APC) and statistical process control (SPC)
- Recognize when to use APC instead of or in conjunction with SPC. (Understand)

1. Autocorrelation and forecasting
- Identify autocorrelated data, including time-series modeling (e.g., ARIMA) and forecasting. (Analyze)

2. Multiple regression analysis
- Apply and interpret multiple regression analysis, including using variance inflation factors (VIFs) to identify collinearity issues. (Analyze)

3. Logistic regression analysis
- Apply and interpret logistic regression analysis, including binary, ordinal, and nominal data considerations. (Analyze)

4. Model fitting for nonlinear models
- Apply and interpret fits of models that are nonlinear in the parameters. (Apply)

5. General linear models (GLM)
- Apply and interpret GLMs such as ANOVA results (crossed, nested, and mixed models), simple linear regression, multiple regression, ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) and continuous MSA. (Apply)

6. Components of variation
- Select, calculate, and interpret components of variation and nested design studies. (Evaluate)

7. Simulation
- Apply simulation tools such as Monte Carlo, dynamic process simulation, and queuing theory. (Apply)

8. Linear programming
- Understand how linear programming principles, such as critical path analysis, can be used in modeling diverse types of problems (e.g., planning, routing, scheduling, assignment, design) to optimize system performance. (Understand)

9. Reliability modeling
- Use reliability modeling and tools to enhance reliability of a product or process. (Apply)

10. Qualitative analysis
- Use appropriate qualitative analysis tools (affinity diagrams, force field analysis) and analyze the results. (Analyze)

1. Factor relationship diagram
- Apply and interpret factor relationship diagrams. (Apply)

2. Complex blocking structures
- Recognize other designs for handling more complex blocking structures, including Latin squares and balanced incomplete block designs (BIBD). (Understand)

3. DOE approaches
- Recognize when to apply approaches such as screening designs (including Definitive Screening Designs), response surface methodology (RSM), mixture experiments, evolutionary operations (EVOP), split-plot designs, Taguchi designs, and computer-generated designs (e.g. D-optimal designs). (Understand)

1. Enterprise data management
- Recognize and understand data management elements such as data governance, data architecture, data life-cycle management, data quality (accuracy, timeliness, consistency, completeness, uniqueness, validity, conformity, precision), meta data, master data, data privacy, and data security. (Understand)

2. Data analytics
- Recognize when to apply predictive analytic approaches such as decision trees (including random forest, boosted forest), neural networks, partial least squares, text analytics, image recognition, and pattern recognition (structured and unstructured data). (Understand)