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You can use Microsoft Copilot as your trusted advisor throughout continuous improvement projects like those that use the Six Sigma DMAIC phases of Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

Jan Aaare will show you how—watch his video to see how he does it.

“Copilot will give you ideas on what direction to take your Six Sigma projects,” says Aarre, a continuous improvement consultant on the Service Improvement Centre of Excellence team at Microsoft. “It can also help you structure and be more efficient with them.”

Jan Aarre how he uses Microsoft Copilot to help with his Six Sigma projects.

The first step in any Six Sigma project is to create a project charter. The charter outlines the project’s objectives, scope, timeline, and team structure.

By providing a detailed prompt to Copilot, Aarre was able to quickly draft a comprehensive project charter. His prompt included the project’s context, objectives, scope, and expected outcomes.

Measurement phase: Defining the process and identifying key metrics is crucial. Copilot can help create a SIPOC (suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, customers) diagram. In Aarre ‘s case, Copilot used the project details from the prompt to generate a SIPOC diagram that outlined the high-level process steps, providing a solid foundation for further analysis.

Analyze phase: Understanding the voice of the customer critical. Aarre asked Copilot to draft 15 VoC statements regarding dissatisfaction with query resolution times. These samples helped translate customer feedback into critical to quality (CTQ) metrics, facilitating a focused analysis.

Improve phase: In the Improve phase, identifying root causes and brainstorming solutions are key activities. Copilot assists in creating fishbone (Ishikawa) diagrams and conducting “5 Whys” analysis. By feeding project-specific data into Copilot, Aarre received structured diagrams and analyses that could be further refined in team brainstorming sessions. Suggestions from Copilot provided a head start, enabling more productive discussions.

Control phase: Copilot can help outline statistical process control (SPC) techniques, such as control charts and other methods to monitor and prevent process deviations. Although Copilot doesn’t generate control charts, it offers a clear structure and explanation of SPC, aiding in the development of control plans.

If you want to go deeper on this topic, Aaare has recorded this series of videos on these Six Sigma phases:

• Video 1: Overview
• Video 2: Measurement
• Video 3: Analyze
• Video 4: Improve
• Video 5: Control

Here are some tips for using Copilot as part of your Six Sigma processes: 

• Precision in prompting: The quality of outputs from Copilot depends heavily on the clarity and specificity of the prompts. Crafting detailed and prescriptive prompts ensures accurate and useful results.
• Contextual integration: By providing comprehensive project context, Copilot can generate more relevant and actionable insights. Repeatedly incorporating the project’s details into prompts helps maintain continuity and relevance.
• Iterative feedback loop: Continuously refining prompts based on outputs from Copilot enhances the usefulness and quality of outputs. Providing feedback helps Copilot improve over time, ensuring ongoing enhancement of its capabilities.
• High data quality: Clear and concise data is essential. Well-defined project information leads to more accurate and useful outputs from Copilot.
• Collaborative brainstorming: Using Copilot to generate initial ideas and structures can significantly boost team brainstorming sessions. Combining suggestions from Copilot with team input leads to more comprehensive solutions.

Check out Copilot for Microsoft 365.

• Watch the first video in our Copilot Champs series: Showcasing how our product managers are using Microsoft Copilot.
• Learn more about how our Copilot Champs Community is helping is drive Copilot for Microsoft 365 adoption here at Microsoft.
• Interested in becoming a Copilot Champ? Sign up for our program. 

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